Going by a Polygon report, the PlayStation VR sales brochure released by Sony features a drawing which shows the best possible room set up for the upcoming VR headset. The firm maintained its forecast for annual profit of 80 billion yen. Games and videos will be projected on a big screen in a virtual environment created inside the headset.
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Chinese consumers can start ordering PlayStation VR headsets on Thursday as the Japanese tech giant Sony Corp moves quickly to enter the Chinese virtual reality market, which is expected to buy 40 percent of global VR devices in 2016.
Drilling down, sales were up by 14.5 percent year-over-year, rising to 330.4 billion yen ($3.2 billion), an upturn Sony attributes to a “significant increase in PS4 software sales” and, in particular, the strong performance of Uncharted 4.
Sony is still projected to sell another 20 million PS4 units in the financial year which ends March 31, 2017, putting their global sales at over 60 million units. At the same time, operating margins at the game and network services business were helped by a reduction in the cost of hardware to build the PlayStation 4. This is great news for the PlayStation gaming community, as Sony clearly cares a lot about the success of the console and will actively work to ensure its success continues. That makes up 78 percent of the company’s $546 million in quarterly profits.
Elsewhere, the company trimmed its full-year overall sales forecast to 7.4 trillion yen from 7.8 trillion yen, partly because of currency impacts on businesses including games. “The first year might be a bit tough for VR, but in the long run it will contribute to profits”.
In line with this strategy, Sony on Thursday said it has agreed to sell most of its ailing battery business to Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd.
Japan’s Sony Corp on Friday said operating profit fell in its first quarter by 42 percent, less than analysts had estimated, as the electronics maker trimmed the impact of quake damage to one of its image sensor factories.
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The revenue increase at the Pictures Division was largely driven by the theatrical success of “The Angry Birds Movie” and higher TV advertising revenues in India and Latin America.
