Electronics giant turns a $540 million quarterly profit despite its game division ending the period $237 million in the hole. 

Sony released its financial report for the first quarter of its fiscal year today, and the numbers show that the company wound up in the black, despite growing losses from its gaming division.

For the three months ended June 30, Sony Corporation revenue totaled nearly $16.1 billion, a 13.3 percent bump over the same quarter the previous year. The PlayStation 3, LCD TV sets (except LCD rear-projection sets), digital cameras, and the box-office performance of Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 3 were all cited as revenue drivers. Of that money, it reported $540 million of it as net profit, doubling year-over-year results.

Sony's gaming segment revenue was up more than 60 percent year-over-year to $1.6 billion. The boost was attributed primarily to the PS3 (which had not yet been released in Sony's previous first quarter). However, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable hardware sales had also seen a bump in worldwide unit sales for the time frame.

Despite that, operating losses for the gaming division continued to mount. Sony said its gaming division lost $237 million for the quarter, a shortfall roughly 8 percent greater than it posted for the previous first quarter. All of Sony's other business segments turned operating profits during the quarter.