Sales and profits down at Sony despite steady PS4 sales

Sales and profits are down across the board at Sony, with the company's financials for the quarter ended September 30 showing a notable dip. 

Company-wide sales fell by 10.8 percent to 1.68 trillion yen ($16.7 billion), while profits dropped by 85.6 percent to 4.8 billion yen ($48 million) year-over-year. 

Looking specifically at the company's Games and Network Services wing, which houses Sony's video game operations, quarterly sales were down by 11.3 percent to 319.9 billion yen ($3.16 billion).

Operating income in the division also took a hit, falling to 19 billion yen ($188 million) from 23.1 billion yen ($220.8 million). 

According to Sony, those waning sales are the result of stuttering foreign exchange rates and the impact of the latest PlayStation 4 price-drops. 

Yet, by slashing the price of the PlayStation 4, the company ensured sales of its flagship console remained largely unchanged, with Sony shipping 3.9 million units this quarter compared with 4.0 million in Q2 2015.

Sony believes it's on track to meet its July sales forecast, and still expects to see sales of 7.4 trillion yen ($71.8 billion) by the end of the fiscal year. 

The company has however revised its profits forecast, and is now anticipating end-of-year profits of 60 billion yen ($573.6 million), as opposed to the 80 billion yen ($764.9 million) it predicted in July.