Sonic is business, and business is booming.
Continue reading SEGA Financials: SEGA Sammy Foresees Bigger Budgets and Sets Higher SalariesSEGA Financials: Sonic Frontiers Nears 3m Units Sold, Annual Series Sales Tops 6.7m
Sonic Frontiers has proven to be a standout release for SEGA, as the company disclosed in its latest quarterly investor call that the free-roaming adventure sold over 2.9 million units worldwide by the end of December 2022.
Annual Sonic series sales has also exploded year on year, with 4.12m unit sales sold during this third fiscal quarter, adding to a current FY total of 6.75 million units – already surpassing the previous FY 2022 total of 5.8 million units.
SEGA Sammy has attributed a lot of its sales fortunes over the last quarter to the “strong” performance of its newly-released titles, such as Sonic Frontiers and Persona 5 The Royal (which sold 1.3 million units in the same timeframe).
However, it noted that “repeat sales” of older games “went weak”, which has led SEGA Sammy to revise its forecasted FY total game sales from 34.2m units by year’s end to 28.2m units. Still, while the YOY Q3 full game unit sales comparison is a downward trend (20.7m units sold in Q3 2023 compared to 21.9m units in Q3 2022), SEGA’s revenue from those sales have been stronger this past quarter (142.5 billion yen in Q3 2023 compared to 119.6 billion yen in Q3 2022).
SEGA’s strategy for the near-term, according to its reported forecast, is to launch several major IP titles (one of which we can assume involves Samba de Amigo which was recently announced for Nintendo Switch) as well as a “revaluation of asset quality of some titles.” Guess we’ll have to wait and see what that means.
Check out SEGA Sammy’s full Q3 2023 fiscal report right here.
Read More...
Sonic’s Moved 1.51 Billion Game Sales and Downloads (If You Include Mobile)
How many hedgehogs does it take to maintain a 30-year-old multimedia franchise? At least 1.51 billion according to SEGA Sammy’s latest 2022 Integrated investor report, spread across physical and digital game units and mobile downloads.
Continue reading Sonic’s Moved 1.51 Billion Game Sales and Downloads (If You Include Mobile)Read More...
Sonic and the “Super Game” Show Strong in SEGA SAMMY 2020 Investor Briefing
Who likes financial briefings! Now, don’t raise your hands all at once, I know we’re all really excited to get new financial numbers, but for those of you who aren’t already sifting through the 74-page 2020 Results Presentation on SEGA SAMMY’s investor relations site, here are the highlights.
Although several other sites latched onto the “Super Game” mentioned eight times in the report, the way it appears in the presentation suggests “Super Game” might just be a term they use for a game that they can sell to a global audience. It may include new IP considering they have a separate 3-year plan to globalize their existing IP, but it would be very weird for a 5-year plan to include making some sort of global omni-game containing multiple titles. Not impossible, but very weird.
Other notable bits from the report include:
- The Sonic series led traditional software sales with 4.4 million units sold, followed by Total War (4 million), Football Manager (3.8 million), and Persona (3 million).
- Sonic is used as an example of strengthening the brand through media mix, specifically citing the original Sonic movie, the upcoming sequel, and the Netflix series Sonic Prime.
- Games highlighted for release during fiscal 2021/2022 are Humankind, Shin Megami Tensei V, Total War: Warhammer III, Lost Judgment, and Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis.
- SEGA’s European studio is working on an unspecified FPS project.
- SEGA is instituting an approach of Remaster-Remake-Reboot in regard to current and past/dormant IP. Examples listed under past IP include Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, NiGHTS, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, Altered Beast, House of the Dead, Streets of Rage, and Soul Hackers, all with the asterisk “*Under examination of which IP to utilize.”
- Game software sales stayed strong, and Free to Play titles were really strong throughout quarantine/social distancing.
- SEGA SAMMY reiterates that they were hit hard by the economic effects of Covid, leading them to restructure (voluntary retirement, sale/restructure of arcade divisions). Spaces most prominently affected were the arcade business, arcade machines, pachinko/pachislots, and their resorts.
- If you’ve ever wanted to know how much SEGA SAMMY is worth, they report having 367.6 billion yen in liquid assets as of March 2021 (or roughly 3.4 billion USD, 2.4 billion GBP, or 2.8 billion EUR). This amount is just liquid assets, and does not include the value of property the company owns or the IP it holds.
- SEGA SAMMY acknowledges responsibilities regarding environmental sustainability, diversity, job satisfaction, and addiction prevention.
Oh, and hey, they’re working on a Gamera pachislot machine, which I personally like for esoteric reasons.
Read More...
Sonic Rescues SEGA – Company Posts Return to Profit
After two years of stinging losses, SEGA has announced that it has returned to profit – and it thanks its trusty mascot Sonic the Hedgehog for helping it get there. Continue reading Sonic Rescues SEGA – Company Posts Return to Profit
Read More...
SEGA Expects Healthy Growth Following Dreamcast Discontinuation
SEGA has said it will meet its projections for the fiscal year, and has set ambitious sales targets for the next twelve months as the company predicts a surge back to growth. Continue reading SEGA Expects Healthy Growth Following Dreamcast Discontinuation