Sony is continuing it’s road to financial recovery, having recently reported an increase in profit for Q1 2015. Sony has report $780 million operating profit, up 39% compared to last year, and mostly thanks to the success of the PS4. Sony’s games devision was obviously the most profitable part of the company, reporting 350% increase in profits to $147 million.
Grand Theft Auto V is doing extremely well in retail, with develop reporting that publisher Take-Two has shipped a over 45 million copies to retail, including 10 million units for PS4 and Xbox One. The PC version of the game is expected to release on March 24th, which will further boost sales.
A new report from Digitimes claims that Sony is planning to ship a massive 16 million PS4 units before the end of the year, with mass shipments starting as early as August. The ambitious target suggests that a European release of the console could be on the cards, and appear on shelves just towards the end of 2013. The report also points out that the console will be manufactured by Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Pegatron Technology.
A new report from IDC, which forecasts the computer games industry for 2012-2016 and published last month, indicated that the PS3 has shifted more units than the Xbox 360 as of December 2012. The report highlights that Sony has shipped 77 million consoles to date, compared to 76 million Xbox 360 consoles.
Over 10 million units of DICE-developed military shooter Battlefield 3 have now been shipped worldwide, EA has announced. In comparison, the game’s predecessor Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has shipped 11m units in total since its release in March 2011. The actual sales figures have yet to be revealed, but EA Boss John Riccitiello tell investors that “sell through is strong.”
Eidos and Warner Bros. Interactive have revealed that critically acclaimed superhero outing Batman: Arkham Asylum has shipped a total of 2.5 million units to retail since the game’s launch last month. Understandably chuffed at the news, Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos, commented: “Batman: Arkham Asylum is one of the stand-out games this year,” adding, “I’ve been following the great reviews and consumer blogs and I’m delighted that gamers everywhere love playing this game as much as we do.”
