Sony reports higher profits due to healthy demand for its video games, movies and music

TOKYO – Sony’s profit rose 6.5% last quarter due to strong demand for its video games, movies and music, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said Wednesday.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s profit in the April-June quarter totaled 231.6 billion yen ($1.6 billion), up from 217 billion yen, it said.

Quarterly sales rose 1.6% to 3 billion yen ($20 billion) as Sony’s entertainment business remained strong, although its financial services business fell short.

Sony officials said global demand for its animated offerings like “Demon Slayer” remains strong, including on streaming services like Amazon Prime.

Hiroki Totoki, chief financial officer and president, promised to take advantage of Sony’s powerful offerings, which he says are rooted in the diversity of its workers and creators.

The partnership with US video streaming service Crunchyroll was proving extremely successful, according to Sony.

Sony, which also makes digital cameras and TVs, raised its forecast for the full year to March 2025 by 1% to 980 billion yen ($6.7 billion). This is better than the forecast made in May, which predicted a profit of 925 billion ($6.3 billion).

Responding to reporters’ questions about Sony’s interest in acquiring Paramount, Totoki denied it, saying that a deal of this size was too risky.

Last month, Paramount announced it was merging with Santa Monica, Calif.-based Skydance, which helped produce Paramount’s big hits like Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible.” .

Sony acquired Columbia Pictures in 1989.

Although sales of PlayStation gaming machines have declined recently, more than 2.4 million machines were sold worldwide last quarter, with the estimated number of global gamers remaining at 116 million people.

Popular music releases during the quarter included “Cowboy Carter” by Beyoncé, “We Don’t Trust You” by Future and Metro Boomin, and “SOS” by SZA.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X: