Profits double at Sony’s gaming arm
SONY’s European gaming business, which has a major base in Liverpool, reported pre-tax profits of £74m last year.
Recently filed accounts show lower distribution costs and administrative expenses helped double the pre-tax figure in the year to March from £36.6m last time.
Total sales at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe were static at £2.2bn.
The division is responsible for the sales, marketing and distribution of gaming hardware and software, as well as the development and publishing of games.
Around 200 staff are based in Liverpool working on quality assurance and testing. It also has people handling external development – managing the development of games made externally but published by Sony.
In August it announced the closure of the games development office in Liverpool, which started out as Psygnosis, with the loss of around 50 jobs. The group wanted to move the investment to other games development studios.
Despite this, the accounts show staff numbers increased by 1%, or 12 people, to 1,548 during the period, and spending on research and development rose to £95.6m from £83.3m. It said it was particularly keen to expand development of interactive “social gaming”.
The division also has offices in London, Guildford and Cambridge and trades across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
In the report it said: “The market in which the company and the group operates continues to be an extremely competitive one with a number of global companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo operating within this area and offering alternative handheld and game consoles in all markets.
“The group also operates in a challenging European economic climate with tightened consumer spending and tough conditions for some of our key retail customers on the High Street.”
