TOKYO - Sony Corp. says its April-June profit plunged to 34.98 billion yen — about half what the Japanese electronics and entertainment company recorded the previous year.

Faltering results at its mobile phone joint venture Sony Ericsson, price competition in its core electronics sector and a strong yen that eroded sales were behind the results released Tuesday.

The absence of a blockbuster film like "Spider-Man 3," which lifted performance in Sony's movie division a year ago, didn't help.

In a bit of bright news, the Tokyo-based maker of the PlayStation 3 and Walkman player turned profitable in its game section in contrast to losses the previous year.