The Silicon Review ^Asia

The PlayStation gaming segment helped Japan's Sony Group Corp (6758.T) on Thursday increase its annual operating profit forecast by 1.7%, although the most recent projection still narrowly falls short of analysts' expectations.

As opposed to its prior projection, made public in November, of a 1.16 trillion yen profit, the electronics and entertainment juggernaut now anticipates its operational profit for the year ending March 31 to equal 1.18 trillion yen ($9.17 billion).

According to Refinitiv data, the reduced projection is below analysts' average forecast of a 1.19 trillion yen profit and slightly short of the record profit of 1.2 trillion yen reported a year earlier.

Sony reported that sales of its PlayStation 5 gaming consoles increased significantly from 3.9 million units a year earlier to 7.1 million units in the crucial year-end shopping period from October to December.