Sony reports sales slump in Q2 FY2016, PS4 ships 3.9 million units

Sony has reported a decrease in sales in its earnings report on the second quarter of 2016.

Sony has published financial results for the second quarter of 2016. The quarter, which ended September 30, saw a 10.8 percent decrease in sales and operating income overall.

This year-on-year decrease is valued at ¥1,688.9 billion ($16,722 million), and was attributed to unfavourable impact of foreign currency exchange rates. Sales were "essentially flat" year-on-year, when not taking currency exchange rates into account.

As for the drop in operating income, the company said it was due to lower operating results from Semiconductors and Components segments. Charges for the earthquakes in the Kumamoto region also attributed to the operating income decrease.

The Game & Network Services division, which includes console hardware and the PlayStation Network, saw an 11.3 percent drop in sales and operating revenue. Operating income dropped 20.6 percent, or ¥19.0 billion ($188 million). Sony identified price drops for PS4, and low sales for PS3 as reasons for this decrease.

That said, the effect of this was partially offset by reduction in PS4 manufacturing costs, as well as an increase in software sales - including digital content through PSN.

Overall, 3.9 million PS4 consoles were shipped during the quarter, a 100,000 units year-on-year drop. This brings the total to 47.4 million units shipped so far, and Sony has not changed its forecast of selling 20 million by the end of the fiscal year.

There was no mention of PlayStation VR, as the headset's launch isn't included in this period. Similarly, we didn't spot any references to PlayStation 4 Pro, due to launch November 10.