Finally, it looks like Sony has returned to profitability today. The company recorded net profits of 25.7 billion yen during its fiscal first quarter, up from the 37.1 billion yen loss it suffered last year during the same time period.

Sony was able to reduce its loses this year to just 3.8 billion yen, a significant improvement from the 36.7 billion yen loss the year before.

The PS3 was a major contributing factor to the turnaround, Sony said. PS3 hardware for the quarter hit 2.4 million units sold worldwide, up from 1.1 million the prior quarter. PS3 software sales also nearly doubled with 24.8 million units sold, up from 14.8 million.

PSP sales dropped in the quarter to 1.2 million from 1.3 million, while its software sales saw an increase to 9.2 million units from 8.3 million.

Sony is forecasting 15 million PlayStation 3 units sold worldwide this fiscal year, its highest to date. It’s forecasting about a million unit drop in PSP and PS2 sales, however.

The PlayStation 3′s worldwide install base is currently at 38 million.