The Japanese company, however, said it expects gaming profit to rise 30% due to higher ​first-party software sales and the absence of an impairment loss it recorded a year earlier.

With the PS5 in its ​sixth year on the market, the profit forecast incorporates investment in Sony’s next-generation platform.

Sony has received ⁠plaudits for its transformation into an entertainment powerhouse, but market concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on its business and ​a perceived lack of growth catalysts have weighed on its shares in recent months.

Sony said it would spend up to 500 ​billion yen buying back up to 230 million shares. The group’s shares pared losses and were up 1% in Tokyo.

Investors are also fretting about the impact of a memory-chip price surge and disruption to supply chains from the Iran war on margins at electronics manufacturers, including Sony and peer ​Nintendo, which also reports on Friday.

PS5 hardware sales are based on the amount of memory Sony can secure at “reasonable prices”, with ​hardware profitability expected to be similar to a year earlier.

The firm said it sold 1.5 million PS5 consoles in the fourth quarter, a ‌46% drop ⁠on the same period a year earlier.

In March, Sony announced it would increase prices of the PS5, including a $100 bump in the US, for the second time in less than a year.

Its platform is expected to receive a major boost from the launch of Take-Two Interactive’s delayed “Grand Theft Auto VI”, which is scheduled for release in November.

“I am more optimistic than Sony and think ​the market is underestimating the impact ​of ‘GTA VI’,” said Serkan ⁠Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.

Sony said in February that it has secured the minimum quantity of memory needed to manage the year-end shopping season. Nintendo said that month the chip-price surge ​was not significantly impacting earnings but could pressure profitability if it persists over the long term.

“Sony’s ​bottom line stands ⁠to benefit significantly from the high-margin software sales and ecosystem engagement this launch should trigger,” Amir Anvarzadeh of Asymmetric Advisors wrote in a note.

Sony also said it sees higher profits at its pictures and chips units but a lower profit at its music business.

The ⁠group reported ​operating profit for the year ended March rose 13.4% to 1.45 trillion yen, ​below an LSEG consensus estimate of 1.56 trillion yen.

While Sony’s growing businesses include anime, which is finding a global audience, the company has abandoned plans to launch ​electric vehicles with automaker Honda.