Sony’s PlayStation division accounted for 78% of its Q1 2016 profits

Gaming is the bright shining star at Sony Corp.

The company reported the results of its first fiscal quarter today, and it revealed that it generated $3.2 billion in revenues from its game and network services division during the three-month period ending June 30. That is up 14.5 percent from the same period in 2015. This segment of Sony’s business also brought in $427 million in operating income, which is up a massive 126.3 percent year-over-year. That makes up 78 percent of the company’s $546 million in quarterly profits. Sony has the dominant console in the $99.6 billion worldwide gaming business, and the PlayStation 4 is turning into one of its most important money makers.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":2016748,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"arvr,business,games,media,","session":"A"}']

Sony points out that the increase in its sales is primarily due to games and not new hardware sales.

“This significant increase was primarily due to a significant increase in PS4 software sales including sales through the [PlayStation Network], partially offset by the impact of foreign exchange rates and decreases in PlayStation 3 hardware and software sales,” reads Sony’s fiscal report.

Overall, Sony’s financials are down year-over-year 10.8 percent to $15.7 billion. And its profits were down 42 percent to $546 million. And you can see that the PlayStation 4 is almost single-handedly responsible for the entirety of Sony’s income. In the company’s financial report, it points to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake as well as declines in its smartphone, life insurance, and semiconductor businesses as dragging down its performance. The PS4, meanwhile, is the only things offsetting the retraction of the other business segments.

Moving forward, with Sony relying even more heavily on the PS4, the company is expecting even more from its console, games, and PlayStation Network services. But it is recognizing that won’t necessarily happen. It is revising down its full-year revenue guidance for the division from $16.2 billion to $15.35 billion. Sony is still anticipating $1.3 billion in operating income, which is unchanged from its previous guidance.

“[Game-division] sales are expected to be lower than the May forecast due to the impact of foreign exchange rates, partially offset by an increase in PS4 software sales, including sales through the network,” Sony reported. “The forecast for operating income remains unchanged from the May forecast mainly due to the above-mentioned increase in PS4 software sales, offset by the negative impact of foreign exchange rates and an increase in marketing costs.”