The financial year 2017 (ending 31 March 2018) has been a good one for Sony, as the company records profits reaching $6.7 billion from revenues worth $78.1bn-- in good part thanks to the success of the PlayStation 4.
PS4 sales for fiscal 2017 total 19 million units, a decline from the 20m sold in fiscal 2016. However, one has to keep in mind the PS4 is fast approaching its 5th birthday, and such sales still outnumber those of other game consoles. The Nintendo Switch comes closest, with 17.79m units sold since March 2017. As for lifetime sales, the global PS4 install base totals 76m, far beyond the 30-50m lifetime sales estimate of Xbox hardware sales (Microsoft does not detail actual Xbox numbers in its financial reports).
In all, the Sony gaming division sees revenues worth $1.6bn-- a total driven not only by the aforementioned PS4 sales, but also an increase in PlayStation Plus subscribers, favourable foreign exchange rates and strong sales of exclusive titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Uncharted and Nier: Automata.
Results for other Sony divisions are mixed. For instance, home entertainment and sound profits total $784m, up from the $535m of fiscal 2016. On the other hand the mobile business continues to fail, with revenues falling from $6.9bn in fiscal 2016 to $6.6bn in fiscal 2017, in part due to an "impairment charge against long-lived assets" worth around $253m.
As for the near future, the Japanese company has something of a gloomy outlook, with revenues falling to $76bn and profits of $6.1bn. How come? Sony expects a drop in the semiconductor profits as well as poor foreign exchange rates, leading to something of a rough start for new CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.