Sony lifts earnings targets after strong quarter, but PlayStation 5 sales slide
The Japanese conglomerate has, over the years, made a successful pivot from household electronics to entertainment
Published Thu, Feb 5, 2026 · 12:26 PM
[TOKYO] Japan’s Sony on Thursday (Feb 5) reported a 22 per cent rise in third-quarter operating profit that trounced forecasts and lifted its full-year outlook, although sales of its PlayStation 5 console slid.
Sony’s shares jumped 4 per cent on the results, also helped by its announcement of an expansion in its share buyback scheme.
Operating profit climbed to 515 billion yen (S$4.2 billion) for October to December, comfortably above the 469 billion yen average of 10 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
It hiked its full-year operating income forecast by 8 per cent to 1.5 trillion yen, citing the performance of its music business.
The Japanese conglomerate has, over the years, made a successful pivot from household electronics to entertainment, but has seen its share price slide in recent months as investors question what its future growth drivers will be.
In one concern, Sony sold eight million units of its PlayStation 5 console during the October to December quarter, which includes the key year-end shopping season – a 16 per cent decline from the same period a year earlier.
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That said, profit at the gaming unit grew 19 per cent to 140.8 billion yen, with higher sales of software offsetting larger losses from hardware.
Hardware makers are also grappling with surging memory chip prices amid a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) investment. Shares of gaming peer Nintendo slumped on Wednesday amid concern over the impact of rising chip prices on margins.
The adoption of AI in the video games industry has also created uncertainty, with gaming stocks falling in recent days on the introduction of an AI-powered game-making tool by Alphabet’s Google.
Sony’s console business is expected to receive a boost from the launch of Take-Two Interactive’s delayed Grand Theft Auto VI, which is scheduled for release in November.
The conglomerate said that it would expand a share buyback that runs to May to up to 150 billion yen from 100 billion yen previously. REUTERS
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