Japan's Sony sees profit grow on demand for games, but quake damage
still unclear
[July 31, 2026] By
YURI KAGEYAMA
TOKYO (AP) — Sony Group Corp. reported a 32% profit growth in the fiscal
first quarter Friday while warning of a negative impact from the
earthquake that hit southwestern Kumamoto earlier this week.
The Tokyo-based entertainment company said its semiconductor facilities
there were affected, and production remained suspended at one, while
others were back up.
There was no major damage. However, the impact on Sony’s bottom line was
still being assessed, so that was not included in Friday’s results.
Before the quake, Sony had said it was on track to report record profit
for the fiscal year.
Sony, which makes the PlayStation video game machines, Bravia TVs and
“Spider-Man” movies, said net profit for the April-June period rose to
342.2 billion yen ($2 billion) from 259 billion yen. Quarterly sales
edged up 8% to 2.84 trillion yen ($17.7 billion).
The 7.1 magnitude quake that struck July 28 in the Kumamoto area in
Japan 's southwestern main island of Kyushu caused at least 34 deaths.
It also halted operations at factories, left hundreds of homes without
electricity, flattened buildings and stopped trains.
Sony’s music business did well in the latest quarter, with both digital
streaming and publishing businesses recording healthy results.
Among the top-selling projects for Sony Music for the quarter were
releases from Michael Jackson like “Thriller” and “Bad,” which continue
to have strong global appeal, as well as more recent recordings from
Ella Langley and Bad Bunny.
Sony’s imaging and sensor business saw solid profits and sales. In a
separate development, camera lens maker Tamron said this week that it
had received an acquisition proposal from Sony and was reviewing
options.
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A Sony logo is seen at the headquarters of Sony Corp. in Tokyo on
May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
 Sony’s video-games division also did
well, selling 1.6 million PlayStation 5 machines during the three
months, up from 1.5 million units in January-March.
Cumulative PS5 sales are now estimated at more than 93 million
machines. Active players total 125 million people, according to
Sony.
The film unit did not do as well, partly because there weren’t as
many box office releases in the first quarter compared to the same
period a year ago. The main release for the latest quarter for its
Pictures unit was “The Breadwinner,” directed by Eric Appel about a
stay-home dad.
On the positive side, subscribers to Crunchyroll, a Japanese
animation streaming service, continued to grow. Licensing revenue
from its TV catalog also worked as a plus.
Sony is projecting a 1.2 trillion yen ($7.5 billion) net profit for
the full fiscal year, up 17% on year. It expects 12.5 trillion yen
($77.8 billion) in annual sales through the fiscal year ending in
March 2027, little changed from the previous year, inching up less
than 1%.
Sony Group stock was trading little changed in Tokyo, compared to
the previous day, after the earnings results were released.
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