Things are getting better for Sony, as its game business has rejuvenated and the company’s own estimations for this year seem to exceed all analyst expectations. The company estimated a strong year ahead, in both videogame and TV sales, with strong demand and a significant improvement in profitability based on low-cost products and price-cuts.

The fourth quarter, ended March 31, brought Sony a ¥374.5 billion in operating profit ($3.6 billion), which is a major step ahead, compared to the ¥71.8 billion a year earlier, when the PS3 business was a little shaky.  At the same time, the revenue went up 6.9 percent to ¥8.87 trillion, due to profitable sales of digital cameras, PCs and LCD TVs.

“Global sales of PlayStation 3 gained momentum since the launch of the new model [in October] and the price cut, allowing the overall game business to turn around in the second half to March alone,” Sony chief financial officer Nobuyuki Oneda said, according to Forbes. “As a whole, sales and net profit hit a record, while operating profit grew five fold to the second-best level.”

Now that Sony’s game business is not an issue anymore, and despite some economic uncertainties and the fact that the company spent ¥51.2 billion for the re-call of PC-use rechargeable batteries, the company plans to rely on its LCD televisions business.

Tthe company sold 10.6 million Bravia LCD TVs to March 2008, compared to just 6.3 million units a year before (however, due to massive price cuts, they had an operating loss of 73 billion in the year to March 2008).

“Things will be tough,” Oneda said according to The Wall Street Journal, “but a big part of our sales will come from LCD televisions, which is a growing business. I don’t think our forecast is overly ambitious,” he also said.