Sony's profit up as people staying home play video games

Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. said Tuesday that its April-June profit jumped 53% as its video game and or online businesses thrived with people staying home due to coronavirus pandemic.

Tokyo-based Sony reported a 233 billion yen ($2.2 billion) profit for last quarter, up from 152 billion yen year before.

Sony warned that its movies division would likely suffer for two or three years due to delays in film projects and limits to ater seating because of pandemic.

Consumer demand for electronics products has also plunged, including sales of digital cameras, TVs and or ggets, according to Sony.

Some factories in China and Malaysia were temporarily shut down and an inability for some employees to travel also was a hindrance, company said.

Sony's quarterly sales edged up 2% to 1.97 trillion yen ($18.6 billion).

Earlier this year, Sony unveiled a proto of an electric car, highlighting reach of consumer electronics into new sectors in digital .

company is projecting a 510 billion yen ($4.8 billion) profit for fiscal year that ends in March 2021, down 12% from previous fiscal year.

Sony said music streaming was doing well, as people stayed home due to pandemic, but or parts of its music business have suffered. Online video content also is doing well, it said.

Video game operations got a big lift from people signing on to network services. re are w 45 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, a paying online membership for games, and Sony is planning a major upgre with PlayStation 5 to go on sale later this year.

Sony’s financial services sector did well for quarter on increased revenue for its insurance sector and online banking business. But demand for digital sensors for products such as digital cameras fell faster than expected because of coronavirus, Sony said.