With billions of dollars lost during the PS3 era, Sony was in rough shape when it entered 2013. But it believed that there was huge demand for a powerful home console with great software, even if that was an unpopular opinion at the time. This belief was one that had inherent risks within the fast-moving tech industry, but has paid off with record profits.
The release of the PS4 has been a huge boon for Sony. It's been able to make profit on each unit sold as it's claimed majority market share of the home console space.
Today, Sony reported how well the PS4 is performing, and it's beyond expectations. After talking about other divisions within the company, most of which are struggling financially, it shared a "Game & Network Services Segment" slide that included great news for shareholders. It stated that 3.5 million PS4s were sold during Q1 2016, an increase of 0.5 million over Q1 2015. Most importantly, it posted a 44 billion yen operating profit.
These profits have been enough to keep Sony well into the green, with a company profit of 21 billion yen. Put simply, the PS4 is carrying the company at a time when it needs it most. It's no longer the struggling, on-the-verge-of-bankruptcy company that it was only a few years ago. It's now a thriving Japanese business with market power.
This market power has allowed it to invest additional resources into the PS4 brand. Sony has upped its financial commitment to software support, including the first-party titles that have made the PS4 stand out among its competition.
Sony is expected to reveal a mid-generation hardware upgrade for the PS4 in the coming months. Nicknamed "Neo", it will supposedly be equipped with a more powerful CPU, GPU, and newer components in order to render games at 4K resolution.
