The Japanese conglomerate raised its operating income forecast by 4% and income before taxes forecast by 5% for the year ending March 2026.
Sony Group has raised its profit outlook for the current fiscal year, citing its revised estimate of the impact of U.S. tariffs and the strength of the company’s gaming business.
According to a Bloomberg report, Sony’s pictures business is set for gains after the “Demon Slayer” movie earned a record 12.9 billion yen in its first 10 days at the Japanese box office.
Meanwhile, the company’s in-house studio is set to release “Ghost of Yotei,” a sequel to its hit game “Ghost of Tsushima”, in October, aiming to build on the strong sales momentum from its gaming division last quarter, even as Sony focuses on reducing marketing costs.
The Japanese tech and entertainment conglomerate now estimates a tariff impact of 70 billion yen (approximately $480 million), down from the 100 billion yen it forecast in May.
That comes after Japan and the U.S. struck a trade deal last month, which sets a reduced 15% tariff rate on Japanese exports in exchange for a $550 billion package of U.S.-bound investments and loans.
However, Sony, which also supplies camera sensors for smartphones, is still exposed to U.S.’s 100% tariff on semiconductor imports and another possible levy on products containing chips.
As such, Sony has raised its operating income forecast by 4% to 1.33 trillion yen and income before taxes by 5% to 1.35 trillion yen for the year ending March 2026.
Sony Group’s shares surged 4.4% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Thursday, the most in about four months.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for the company’s U.S.-listed shares, SONY, shifted to ‘neutral’ heading into Thursday’s premarket trading from ‘bearish’ a day ago.
The outlook is supported by strength in Sony’s games unit, which includes PlayStation.
In the first quarter, revenue from Sony’s Game & Network Services unit, including PlayStation consoles, subscriptions, and game sales, surged 72%, prompting the company to raise its full-year forecast by 20%. Music sales were also strong, climbing 23% in Q1, with annual projections similarly lifted by 20%.
Sony sold 2.5 million PlayStation 5 units during the quarter, representing a 4% increase from the same period last year. Last week, Nintendo reported robust quarterly results driven by the early sales of its new Switch 2 gaming device.
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