Sony's net profit nearly doubled to hit a record high in the six months to September, it announced Tuesday, as it upgraded its annual forecasts, with games such as "Spider-Man" and "God of War" leading the way.
The electronics and entertainment giant said April-September net profit reached 399.4 billion yen ($3.5 billion), up 88.7 percent from a year ago and marking its best performance for the period. Operating profit and sales were both up, with video games driving the good news, including blockbuster software titles.
Sony's quality sensors for smartphone cameras saw explosive demand, becoming a major pillar of the firm's revenue. The movies and music segments also contributed to growing profits, though Sony's mobile phone business continued to struggle.
The robust six-month performance, with operating profit up 20.1 percent at 434.5 billion yen and sales rising 5.5 percent to 4.1 trillion yen, prompted Sony to upgrade outlook for the second half.
It now projects an annual net profit of 705 billion yen, which would mark a new all-time high, along with annual operating profit of 870 billion yen and sales of 8.7 trillion yen.
Sony had previously forecast a moderate slowdown for the rest of the year. "Various areas including music as well as the game and network services field" are doing better than earlier thought, the firm said. Observers said a string of third-party games this quarter would likely provide support, with newly released Red Dead Redemption II getting star reviews, while Call of Duty: Black Ops set a new PlayStation record for first day digital sales, according to Bloomberg News.
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