PlayStation game sales drive sharp rise in Sony profits

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Sony Corp. profits nearly tripled in the latest quarter, boosted by a jump in PlayStation 4 software sales, the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant said Tuesday.

The company reported profits of 226.4 billion yen ($2.0 billion) for the April to June quarter, up from 80.9 billion yen in the same period last year and 21.2 billion yen in 2016.

Sales rose 5 percent to 1.95 trillion yen. Gaming sales, which account for about a quarter of Sony's revenue, rose 36 percent to 472 billion yen.

Sony raised its sales forecast 3.6 percent for the fiscal year ending March 31 to 8.6 trillion yen, largely on an upward revision to PlayStation 4 software and hardware sales.

The company's mobile business fell on slumping smartphone sales in Europe and Japan, while its life insurance business grew about 11 percent.

Japanese game maker Nintendo Co. also reported strong profit growth Tuesday thanks to increased sales of games for its Nintendo Switch machine.