Sony posts big sales increase thanks to the PS4

Thanks to the PlayStation 4, sales in Sony’s Game & Network Services division increased 83.2 percent year-over-year to 309.5 billion yen ($2.77 billion) according to the company’s consolidated financial results (PDF link) for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014. On a constant currency basis, a calculation designed to eliminate the effects from exchange rate fluctuations, sales increased 74 percent year-over-year for the quarter that began July 1, 2014. Sales to external customers, year-over-year, increased 97 percent. “This significant increase was primarily due to the contribution from PS4 hardware sales,” the document reads, “a significant increase in network services revenue related to the introduction of the PS4 and the contribution from PS4 software sales, partially offset by a decrease in PlayStation 3 (‘PS3’) hardware and PS3 software sales.”