In its 2012 fiscal year end report (ending on March 31, 2013), Sony reported a profit even though the PlayStation sector declined in both hardware and software sales.

The company's sales and operating revenue increased from last fiscal year by 4.7 percent at 6.8 trillion yen ($ 72.3 billion), and it posted a net income of 42 billion yen ($ 435.6 million). Sony says this was due to factors such as corporate restructuring and favorable financial exchange rates. It's also better than last fiscal year's report.

However, the games division showed some declines as compared to last year. Sales decreased 12.2 percent from fiscal year 2011 to $ 7.52 billion, and it posted an operating income of 1.7 billion yen ($ 18 million) – a decrease of 27.6 billion yen from FY 2011. The company pegged this as due to decreased sales of PS3 and PSP hardware and software, as well as a price reduction for the Vita.

Sony sold 16.5 million units of the PS3 and PS2 combined worldwide, which is down from the 18 million it shifted last year. Portable hardware (Vita/PSP), meanwhile, increased slightly from 6.8 million to 7 million.

Software fell for the PS3 and PS2 from 164.5 million units last year to 153.9 million this year, and portable software similarly dipped from 32.2 million to 28.8 million.

For next fiscal year, the company expects to sell 10 million PS3s and only five million units of Vita and PSP combined. Sony also predicts that the game division's sales will increase because of the introduction of the PlayStation 4 later this year, but this will largely be offset by its development costs.

[Source: Sony]

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