PS4 Hits 47.4 Million Units Shipped Ahead of PS4 Pro Launch

Sony has revealed its financial earnings report for the three-month period ended on September 30, 2016. Revenue and profit fell in the Game & Network Services division, due to the the release of the PlayStation 4 Slim, subsequent price drop for the PS4, and the strength of the yen. Total division revenue came to ¥319.9 billion yen ($3.17 billion), down 11% year-on-year, while operating profit dropped 20% to ¥19 billion ($188 million).

"The year-on-year decrease in sales was mainly due to the appreciation of the yen. The current quarter was a period during which our hardware was changing due to the launch of a new model of PS4 in September. The year-on-year decrease in operating income was primarily due to the price cut of the new PS4 model," said the company in prepared statements.

PlayStation 4 shipments, not sales, were rather solid. The company shipped 3.9 million PlayStation 4 system during the quarter, down only 100,000 from the same quarter last year. There's no way to tell if that slowdown is because of demand for the PlayStation 4, or anticipation of PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation VR.

Speaking of PlayStation VR, the headset went on sale after the reporting period, but Sony did say that sales were "on track" with expectations. Back at launch, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe president Jim Ryan told CNBC that sales were in the "many hundreds of thousands", but Sony has yet to give concrete sales numbers. Next quarter, perhaps.