Sony Corp. Lifts Annual Outlook Driven by Gains in PlayStation and Music Businesses

Alexander Garcia
17 Feb, 2025
Miami

Sony Corp. surged 3.06% to $23.90 after the electronics and media company reported steady revenue and profit growth for the fiscal third quarter ending in December.

Total sales increased to ¥4.41 trillion from ¥3.75 trillion, net income rose to ¥373.74 billion from ¥363.92 billion, and earnings per diluted share climbed to ¥61.82 from ¥58.96 a year ago.

The company estimated full-year sales of ¥13.2 trillion ($87.6 billion) on the back of strong performance in its gaming and music business in the third quarter, compared to ¥13.02 trillion a year ago.

Sony also raised its outlook for annual operating profit to ¥1.34 trillion ($87.6 billion), a 2% increase from the previous financial year.

 

Business Segments

Sony reported significant increases in games and network services and music segments during the third quarter, but operating income in the pictures unit declined 7.6% to ¥34.0 billion.

Sales in entertainment, technology, and services (ET&S) plunged 31.2% to ¥704.5 billion, while in imaging and sensing solutions (I&SS) sales dropped 4.2% to ¥500.9 billion from the same quarter a year ago.

While revenue in the financial services division surged 406.7%, operating income declined 30.9% to ¥46.4 billion in the quarter.

For fiscal year 2024, the company estimated total operating income of ¥1.34 trillion, compared to ¥1.21 trillion in the previous year.

Sony expects annual sales growth in all segments except for the financial services and the entertainment, technology, and services (ET&S) units.

Sales in ET&S are estimated to decline to ¥2.42 billion from ¥2.45 billion a year ago, impacted by slower sales of televisions and smartphones, while financial services is expected to fall to ¥1.30 billion from ¥1.77 billion a year earlier.

 

PlayStation

The number of monthly active users across PlayStation (PS) platforms in December increased 5% compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 129 million accounts, the highest number in PS history.

Total play time also increased 2% year-on-year, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of annual growth.

In November, Sony released a beta version of a cloud streaming feature on the PlayStation Portal remote player.

PS Plus Premium subscribers can now play over 120 PS5 game titles on the PS Portal streamed directly from cloud servers without going through a PS5 console.

In December, Sony’s ASTRO BOT received prestigious game awards in four categories, including Game of the Year and Best Family Game.

In addition, the live service game Helldivers 2, released in February last year, won the best ongoing game and best multiplayer game awards.

Helldivers 2's large update, Omens of Tyranny, released in December 2024, has also been well received by users.

Sony plans to release games such as the major title Ghost of Yōtei and the sequel to the popular title Death Stranding, and so expects further expansion in earnings from first-party software.

 

Music

During the quarter, new albums from artists such as Tyler, the Creator, and ATEEZ became hits.

Bad Bunny's new album, released from Rimas Entertainment on January 5, 2025, has become a big hit as well, capturing number one on the Billboard 200 and making him the fastest male artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify.

At the 67th Grammy Awards held on February 2, 2025, Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER won the award for Album of the Year.

Beyoncé, who has been nominated for ninety-nine Grammys over the course of her career, the most of any artist, was nominated in eleven categories this time, and she won three categories, including Album of the Year.

 

Pictures

In motion pictures, there is still some impact of the strikes, such as the postponement to the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, of the theatrical releases of the next Spider-Man and Jumanji movies.

However, production activity is recovering, and the production of new shows, which was impacted by the strikes, has almost stabilized.

At Crunchyroll, streaming of the second season of the anime series Solo Leveling, produced by Aniplex, began last month, and it has become a big hit in many countries.

Additionally, going forward, Sony aims to further strengthen its engagement with anime fans around the world, including through the scheduled release of Crunchyroll Manga, a digital comic service for paid subscribers in North America.

 

Imagining and Sensing Solutions (I&SS)

The global smartphone market continued to slowly recover during the quarter, and mobile sensor sales were essentially in line with the company’s expectations.

Sales of new mobile sensor products increased 15% for the nine-month period ending in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year.

Regarding automotive sensors, there has been a slowdown in the growth of the electric vehicle market, especially in the U.S. and Europe, but demand from EV manufacturers in China remained strong.

Furthermore, Sony has expanded its business by shifting toward higher pixel count sensors in what is a small-proportion production as compared to overall segments.

The market for interchangeable lens digital cameras has seen the single-lens reflex camera market shrink at a faster rate than the growth of the mirrorless camera market, which is driven by Sony.

The interchangeable lens market is continuing to grow steadily, with the combined market size for cameras and lenses exceeding ¥1.20 trillion in 2024.

The imaging market requires the integration of multiple advanced technologies, such as optics, mechatronics, and image processing.

With regard to this, Sony expects to generate a high market share and profitability, relying on its image sensors and 5G communications technology to meet the needs of creators.

Sony Financial Group

Sony is preparing to spin off and list Sony Financial Group as a separately traded company in October 2025, and the deal’s details will be announced in late May.