Sony Slips Out of Profitability, Adjusts Annual Profits Forecast

Sony’s brief period of profitability came to a cruel conclusion with its second quarter financial report earlier today, as it posted a net loss of ¥19.3 billion ($197 million) for the period spanning July to September. The company had previously recorded profits of ¥3.5 billion ($35 million) in the first quarter of 2013, but now it's right back in the red that new gaffer Kaz Hirai has fought tirelessly to pull the firm out of.

It was the organisation’s movie division that was largely to blame, with Sony Pictures recording a whopping ¥17.8 billion ($181 million) loss during the window, compared to a ¥7.9 billion ($80 million) profit the year prior. The loss was attributed to the disastrous performance of White House Down, which flopped terribly compared to sure-bet The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. We’ve got to be honest, we’ve never even heard of the former flick.

Nevertheless, the PlayStation division didn’t exactly help matters. The gaming group lost a comparatively slender ¥800 million ($8 million), compared to a ¥2.3 billion profit ($23 million) the year prior. The company attributed the loss to the PlayStation Vita’s price cut, as well as the ongoing development costs of the PlayStation 4. The corporation sold two million PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 consoles during the quarter, compared to 3.5 million year-over-year. Disastrously, portable sales halved from 1.6 million to 0.8 million.

The overall loss forced the electronics giant to slash its annual profits forecast for the fiscal year by 40 per cent, with the firm now predicting that it will pull in ¥30 billion ($305 million) by the end of March 2014. It cited decreased expectations in the sales of “certain electronic products” as the reason for that, but there’s no sign that its impending next generation console will factor into that statement, as it still anticipates that the PS4 and PS3 will move 15 million units this fiscal year.

At the Tokyo Game Show, group president Andrew House revealed that the platform holder hopes to shift five million units of its soon-to-be-released system before the close of the important business calendar, and it looks like it’s sticking to that prediction. Still, with the overall firm back in the red, the pressure is on the PlayStation business to once again bring in the goods for Sony as a whole. Good thing the platform’s been pre-ordering pretty well, huh?