Sony forecasts big jump to record annual profit on winning gaming strategy

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's Sony Corp. boosted its annual profit outlook by 30 percent to a record level after a strong second quarter, propelled by popular game titles like "Marvel's Spider-Man".

The results are a reflection of a strategic shift by the entertainment and electronics firm, which is more likely to be revenue-generating and less likely to be revenue-generating.

"Sony has become, more than most people realize, a company that generates profit through content. Until just a few years ago, "said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Securities.

Sony now expects annual operating profit of 870 trillion yen ($ 7.7 trillion), a level that comfortably beats market expectations of 796 trillion yen. The gaming business will be the biggest profit driver generating 310 trillion yen.

Big gaming hits exclusive to Sony PlayStation 4 console, now five years old.

Action-adventure title "God of War" sold 3.1 million copies in its first three days of its release in April, the fastest sales rate of any PlayStation first-party title in history. The record was reiterated when Marvel's Spider-Man was released in September and sold 3.3 million in its first three days.

Hiroki Totoki Chief Financial Officer said at an earnings briefing. "The lineup will remain strong in the second half of the year."

Its PlayStation Plus subscription-based service has also seen steady growth in Japanese mobile gaming market, the role playing game "Fate / Grand Order" published by Sony's music division continues to deliver a strong performance.

In the second-quarter, operating income climbed 17 percent to 239.5 billion yen. Profit for its gaming division surged 65 percent.

Sony also reported its annual profit forecast for its semiconductor division, which includes imaging sensors, by 17 percent to 140 billion yen.

Although the global smartphone market is maturing, demand for Sony's image.

Sony now aims to invest $ 600 trillion in the first half of the year.

Sony controls more than half of the imaging sensor market for smartphones, with Apple customers and most other major handset makers.

Meanwhile, Sony's own handset business is one of the weakest in the world, and it is now bracing for a loss of $ 95 billion for this year and expects the business to return to profit in the year from April 2020.

"Totoki said," We're going to scale down the business further to minimize risks, but added that the company had no intention of exiting the business entirely.

Also on Tuesday, domestic gaming peer Nintendo Co Ltd said sales of Switch consoles and games operated operating profit up 30 percent in the July-September period to reach the firm's highest quarterly result in eight years.

($ 1 = 112.71 yen)