Sony on Thursday raised its full-year operating profit forecast by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen ($9.01 billion), citing expectations that the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs would be muted.
Sony expects the tariff impact to be 70 billion yen, compared with the May forecast of 100 billion yen. The company said the estimated impact is based on tariff rates as of August 1 and that the situation remains fluid.
Japanese companies have been adjusting their expectations for a tariff hit as countries including Japan reached trade deals with the United States last month.
“There are still some unstable aspects, such as product-specific tariffs,” Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao said at the earnings call.
The company expects that uncertainty in the business environment, such as U.S. tariffs, will have a greater impact starting in the second quarter.
Sony also said its gaming business had stronger profit prospects, driven by sales of online services and favorable exchange rates.
Sony, once known as a maker of home electronics such as the “Walkman” portable recorder, is now an entertainment giant spanning games, movies and music, as well as a leading maker of image sensors for smartphones.
The group reported a 36.5% rise in operating profit to 340 billion yen in the April-June quarter, beating the 288 billion yen average forecast by eight LSEG analysts.
Shares of Sony Corp., which reported results during the midday break, were up 4%. The stock is up about 15% so far this year.
Sony sold 2.5 million PlayStation 5 game consoles in the first quarter, a 4% increase from the same period last year.
“Death Stranding 2: The Beach” was launched in June and received positive reviews, and “The Soul of the Rampant” will be released in October.
Quarterly operating profit from the games business more than doubled to 148 billion yen, driven by higher sales of online services and non-Sony games.
“Sony is further consolidating its dominance in high-fidelity gaming,” said Serkan Toto, founder of consultancy Kantan Games.
“In my opinion, Sony is now more competitive with the PC than it is with the Xbox,” he said, referring to Microsoft’s console.
The console industry was expected to get a boost from the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 this year, but the latest entry in the popular series has been delayed until 2026.
Nintendo, seen as a potential beneficiary of GTA 6’s delayed release, last week reported strong early demand for its new Switch 2 gaming device.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony is preparing to cut its stake in its financial unit to less than 20% through a partial spin-off, which will be listed in Tokyo on September 29.
© Thomson Reuters 2025