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Tokyo (dpa) - Sony is still getting through the corona pandemic well thanks to the business with its Playstation game console.
At the same time, the Japanese electronics giant profited in the past quarter from the demand for more expensive televisions - and in Hollywood studios, TV productions helped over the downturn in cinema.
Sony sold 4.5 million units of the new Playstation 5 console, which was released for Christmas.
The demand was so high that the Playstation 5 was hard to come by.
At the same time, game sales and online services relating to the Playstation increased.
The division increased sales by 40 percent to 883 billion yen (seven billion euros) and operating profit by 50 percent to 80 billion yen.
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Overall, the group turnover rose in the Christmas quarter by nine percent to almost 2.7 trillion yen (21.3 billion euros), as Sony announced.
In terms of profits, there was a jump of 62 percent to around 372 billion yen.
After the strong performance, Sony raised its forecasts for the fiscal year that will run until the end of March.
In the business with films and TV programs, Sony made less sales given the closed cinemas.
But this also eliminated the marketing costs for theatrical releases.
And in the pandemic, license revenue in the TV business and home video sales rose.
As a result, the division's operating profit jumped from 5.4 to 22.2 billion yen (176 million euros) - even if sales dropped by almost a fifth.
The electronics sector also benefited from the sale of more expensive televisions and cameras, while the number of units fell.
Sony had geared the offer to premium devices.
The division increased its operating profit by almost a third to around 106 billion yen (838 million euros), while sales remained unchanged at 649 billion yen.
Sales of Sony smartphones, which had been ailing for years, continued to decline.
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The business with camera sensors for smartphones from other providers, which has become a mainstay for Sony in recent years, was meanwhile slow.
Sony sold fewer sensors at lower unit prices - but expects an improvement.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210203-99-283845 / 2
Sony on business last quarter