Strong sales of the PlayStation 4 have helped Sony reach a better-than-expected profit during the quarter ended 30th June, the company reported today.

　　Sony's Game and Network Services division--of which PlayStation is a part--posted a profit of 4.3 billion yen ($41.8m, £24.7m), compared with a loss of 16.4 billion yen a year earlier. That's an impressive 96 percent increase on the same period last year.

　　Overall, net profit was 25.7bn yen ($249.8m, £148m), up from 3.1bn yen a year ago.

　　Sony attributed its successful financials to strong sales of the PS4, as well as a "significant increase" in network services revenues (which includes PlayStation Plus). Sony Pictures also helped boost the financials, posting a profit of 7.8 billion yen ($75.9m, £44.9m) compared with earnings of 3.7 ($35.9m, £21.3m) billion yen a year earlier.

　　While Sony didn't break out individual sales figures for its consoles, combined, 3.5m PS3s and PS4s were shipped during the quarter. This compares favourably to the 1.1m combined Xbox One and Xbox 360 units Microsoft shipped during the same quarter.

　　Combined, the PSP, PS TV, and Vita shipped 750,000 units, which is up on the 600,000 reported last year. 85m games were sold during the quarter, up from 68m.

　　Despite all the good news, Sony still expects to post a net loss of 50bn yen ($486, £287.5m) for the financial year through March 2015.