A strong quarter at the movies couldn’t stop Sony from taking a dive in terms of profits.
The Japanese electronics conglomerate reported revenues of $20.3 billion for the quarter, besting Zacks’ estimates of $18.6 billion.
However, profits fell approximately 31% year over year, with $1.8 billion this quarter compared to an adjusted profit total of $2.5 billion this time last year.
The Japanese giant continued to benefit from its domination in the video game field, as well as creating must-have image sensors for everyone’s smartphone. But this quarter, Miles Morales was the star of its motion picture division.
The animated star of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” contributed to better-than-expected earnings at the company, with the blockbuster sequel earning $684 million worldwide at the box office thus far. Most of that came in June, and papered over comparatively soft performances from “Big George Foreman,” “The Machine” and “No Hard Feelings.”
It helped the overall division claim a profit of $111 million, down well below the $394 million in profits in the first quarter of 2022. (Those figures are at current yen-dollar exchange rates; Sony reported a profit for the division of $115 million in its financial releases based on a different rate.) The theatrical department was up, but revenue from new TV series and streaming licensing was down alongside increased promotional costs.
The biggest bucks still come from video games and electronic components. The gaming and network services division posted revenue of $5.39 billion, up 27% from $4.25 billion in the same quarter last year.
Sony is expected to sell 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles over the course of 2023 as supply chain issues recede. Meanwhile, the demand for newer and better smartphones, for which Sony is a major supplier, does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
