Sony sold 3.3 million PlayStation 4s worldwide during the three months between July and September, bringing its total unit sales to 13.5 million.

Though the summer months are usually slow for game companies, they proved to be the second-best quarter for the PlayStation 4 yet, having surpassed the 2.7 million units it sold between April and June, and the 3 million units between January and March.

The next-gen system's performance continues to outperform Sony's internal targets. Game income for the quarter soared to $195 million, and as a result Sony has increased its full-year targets by $89 million.

Sales of PlayStation 4 were so strong that Sony claimed it was a key reason why revenue for the whole business climbed 7.2 per cent.

However, the company-wide problems persist, particularly as it tries to absorb an impairment charge of $1.58 billion.

Meanwhile, PlayStation Vita sales were not reported again. Sony instead merged that number with PlayStation TV and PSP sales, though together this still only reached 700,000 units for quarter.

Overall, the corporation's lost $806 million during the quarter. This figure was a better outcome than most investors feared.