PlayStation 4's stunning sales success continues

PlayStation 4 continues to make huge amounts of money for Sony.

Game & Network Services, the part of Sony that includes PlayStation, saw sales increase 12.1 per cent year-on-year to $2.365bn for the first quarter of its financial year. That's the three month period ending 30th June 2015.

Sony said this "significant" increase was due to increases in PlayStation 4 software sales and PS4 peripheral device unit sales, as well as foreign exchange rates landing in favour of the Japanese company.

Operating income increased to $160m, which Sony said was due mainly to PS4 hardware cost reductions as well as the increases in software sales and peripheral sales.

Sony shifted 3m PS4s during the quarter - that's up from 2.7m in the same quarter last year. For context, that's more than double the number of Xbox Ones and Xbox 360s combined that shipped in the equivalent quarter for Microsoft (1.4m).

PS4 is now up to 25.3m sales worldwide since launch - a stunning result for a console still not two years old.

Sony expects to sell half a million more PS4s this financial year than it predicted: 16.5m rather than 16m. Sony sold 14.8m PS4s during the 2014 financial year, so sales of the console are growing.

If Sony's projections are correct, PS4 will hit 38.8m units sold by 31st March 2016.

Sony failed to mention Vita or PlayStation 3 sales for the quarter, suggesting they're both negligible.

As for Sony as a whole, sales were flat due to decreases in smartphone sales and mid-range LCD television sales. But operating income increased to $794m due to boosts in Sony's music division.