Sony earlier announced itsFinancial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 (October to December 2025).The data shows that although the PlayStation 5 game console is in the later stages of its sales life cycle and its quarterly sales have declined compared to the same period last year, the strong sales of its own game "Ghost of Yotei" and the exchange rate bonus have enabled the overall game business to grow against the trend.
In addition, regarding recent rumors that Sony might further split up or sell its mobile phone division after its television business, Sony Group CFO Tao Lin stated clearly at the earnings conference that the Xperia mobile phone business will "maintain the status quo" for now.
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According to financial reports, Sony Group's revenue grew slightly by 1% in the last quarter, reaching 3.7137 trillion yen, while operating profit increased by 22% to 515 billion yen.
In the gaming and online services (G&NS) segment, which is of utmost concern to gamers, a phenomenon of "decreased revenue but increased profit" emerged:
• Revenue:Sales fell 4% to 1.6136 trillion yen. The main reason was a decrease in the number of PlayStation 5 hardware units sold.
• Profit:Revenue surged 19% to 228 billion yen. The growth was driven by strong sales of its own games, increased PlayStation Plus subscription revenue, and the impact of the yen's exchange rate.
• PlayStation 5主機銷量：在第3季內共賣出800萬台，相比去年同期減少150萬台。截至2025年底，PlayStation 5全球累積出貨量已經達成9220萬台，距離1億台的銷量目標僅有一步之遙。
While hardware momentum is slowing, the software ecosystem is reaching new heights. PlayStation Network (PSN) has seen a record high of 132 million monthly active users (MAU), with digital game sales accounting for 76%, indicating a further contraction in the physical disc market.
Xperia mobile phone business: No spin-off, will remain as is.
Besides gaming, another focus of this earnings call was the future of Xperia phones.
Since Sony recently announced a joint venture between its BRAVIA TV business and China's TCL...Establish a third-party company to operate (Essentially a spin-off), there are concerns that the long-term unprofitable mobile phone division might follow suit. Furthermore, the fact that the 2025 flagship model, the Xperia 1 VII, was outsourced for the first time (by a Chinese partner) has caused production defects, further fueling market doubts.
Sony CFO Lin Tao did not directly address the "never split up" statement, but emphasized that there are currently "no plans for changes to the mobile phone business" and the status quo will be maintained. However, he added that optimizing product portfolio management remains an important issue, which the media interpreted as the Xperia brand remaining in the short term, but its operating model may continue to be adjusted.
