Sony forecast yesterday annual ‌sales at its gaming business would fall 6 percent to 4.42 trillion yen ($28 billion) due to lower hardware sales as its PlayStation 5 ages and as the industry grapples with a surge in memory chip prices.

The Japanese company, however, said it expects gaming profit to rise 30 percent due to higher first-party software sales and the absence of an impairment loss it recorded a year earlier, a Reuters report from Tokyo said yesterday.

The ⁠group reported operating profit for the year ended March 2026 rose 13.4 percent to 1.45 trillion yen, below an LSEG consensus estimate of 1.56 trillion yen.

While Sony’s growing businesses include anime, which is finding a global audience, the company has abandoned to launch electric vehicles with automaker Honda

With the PS5 in its sixth year on the market, the profit forecast incorporates investment in Sony’s next-generation platform.

Sony has received ⁠plaudits for its transformation into an entertainment powerhouse, but market concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on its business and a perceived lack of growth catalysts have weighed on its shares in recent months.

Sony said it would spend up to 500 billion yen buying back up to 230 million shares.

PS5 hardware sales are based on the amount of memory Sony can secure at “reasonable prices”, with hardware profitability expected to be similar to a year earlier.

The firm said it sold 1.5 million PS5 consoles in the fourth quarter (ending March 31, 2026), a ‌46 percent drop ⁠on the same period a year earlier. In March, Sony announced it would increase prices of the PS5, including a $100 bump in the U.S., for the second time in less than a year.

Its platform is expected to receive a major boost from the launch of Take-Two Interactive’s delayed ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’, which is scheduled for release in November.

“I am more optimistic than Sony and think the market is underestimating the impact of ‘GTA VI’,” said Serkan ⁠Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.

Sony said in February it has secured the minimum quantity of memory needed to manage the year-end shopping season. Nintendo said that month the chip-price surge was not significantly impacting earnings but could pressure profitability if it persists over the long term.

Sony also said it sees higher profits at its pictures and chips units but a lower profit at its music business.