Sony has lifted its annual profit forecast after reporting a 40% surge in first-quarter profit, a result the company described as exceptional.
The gains came despite a 33% drop in PlayStation console sales year-on-year, a slowdown that Sony attributed in part to recent price increases on the hardware.
Tariff refunds and weak yen boost earnings
As reported by Reuters, Sony benefited from US tariff refunds and a favourable exchange rate, with the weaker yen boosting the value of overseas earnings. Those factors helped offset the impact of lower console volumes.
The company sold a third fewer PlayStation 5 consoles than in the same quarter last year. While slower sales are expected this late in a console generation, the recent price hike is thought to have depressed demand further.
Component costs passed to consumers
Sony’s strategy of passing higher component costs on to customers has paid off, and the company does not expect the ongoing component shortage to affect it over the next year.
"We have secured the quantity of memory necessary to meet our projected sales volume for FY26, and there is no change to our plan for hardware profitability for FY26 to remain similar to FY25," Sony's earnings statement reads.
GTA 6 expected to drive revenue
Sony is also expected to gain significantly from the release of GTA 6, one of the most anticipated games of the century. With PlayStation holding a much larger market share than the Xbox Series X|S, Sony is likely to see a major revenue boost from copies sold on its platform when the game launches this November.
The upbeat financial picture contrasts with gamer sentiment, which has been soured by Sony's decision to discontinue PS5 disc production from January 2028 and by recent layoffs across several first-party studios.
