Sega sees red as sales fall

By Robert Purchese Published 29 July, 2011

"Headwind-like sluggish consumption."

Sega sales are down across the board, leading to an overall loss of 2.224 billion yen (£17.6 million) for the three months April, May and June.

During the same period last year, Sega recorded a profit of 7.036 billion yen (£55.6 million).

Why did this happen? Sales were lower and costs were higher. Sega made 28.5 per cent less this financial Q1 than the same period last year. The take for April to June 2011 was 65,331 yen (£516 million).

Costs rocketed primarily because of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which caused serious ramifications for Sega's operational functionality, as well as its pachislot and pachinko business. Arcade amusements suffered, too.

In Sega's video game business it was the "headwind-like sluggish personal consumption" of the European and US markets that meant "demand was generally weak".

During the April-June period, Sega launched Virtua Tennis 4 and film tie-in Thor in the West. In the East, Sega released Yakuza: Of the End.

Sales by title aren't mentioned, but we know that Sega managed 2.33 million sales worldwide during the three months. That broke down into 1.02 million European sales, 700,000 American sales and 600,000 Japan and other region sales.

That "is below the performance level of the same period in the previous fiscal year", Sega noted - 22.3 per cent below.

Sega did enjoy some success on iPhone, where Kingdom Conquest was downloaded 1.3 million times. Sega also mentioned curious title Samurai Bloodshow in relation to social networking services and smartphone.

"The Group needs to adapt to changing business environment in which the market demand for new content geared to social networking service (SNS) and smartphone is expanding," wrote Sega.

Sega recorded its net assets (its company worth) at ¥285.461 billion (£2.245 billion).

Sega Thor it would do better?

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • telboy007 #1 10 months ago

    Shit games, thats the only reason.

  • Lord_Gremlin #2 10 months ago

    Yakuza of the end. Release it in Europe already. They release shit like Thor and expect actual sales? Seriously?

  • retr0gamer #3 10 months ago

    I've money to give you Sega if you release Valkyria Chronicles 3

  • Zozzilla #4 10 months ago

    Make the Dreamcast 2, SEGA. you know it makes sense.

  • darkmorgado #5 10 months ago

    What was the last decent game they released? Sonic Colours?

    Not surprising really.

    Give me another Billy Hatcher, Sega. Then we'll talk.

  • DefendoCroc #6 10 months ago

    Thor and Tennis ... hmmmm .. "The Group needs to adapt to changing business environment" ... No, they need to stap making shit games and pull there thumbs out there asses.

  • richarddavies #7 10 months ago

    Fucking Thor. I was sent a review copy of that and HAD to complete it for the write up. Hardest week of my life. It felt like work slogging through it.

  • evnewell #8 10 months ago

    a beautiful HD re-imagining of Altered Beast would open my wallet. some pretty, sidescrolling and downloadable. I love Altered Beast.

  • Alestes #9 10 months ago

    Aww, poor SEGA. SEGA and Bethesda are pretty much my favorite publishers these days. SEGA released some gems in the last year like Vanquish and Yakuza 4.

    I do wish they would join the PSP Remaster Series with Valkyria Chronicles 2&3 and release them for the PS3 though. And of course, Shenmue 3 too.

  • BBIAJ #10 10 months ago

    I have to say that Captain America: Super Soldier is surprisingly good, in a Batman: Arkham Asylum-lite kind of way, combat wise at least.

  • Monkey_Puncher #11 10 months ago

    "Our shit games aren't selling, I don't understand why?"

  • Incarta #12 10 months ago

    More losses. Did any video game publisher that isn't heavily involved in COD and/or casual make any money this year?

  • [STARS]TyranT #13 10 months ago

    Thor = Worldwide release.

    Yakuza of the End= Small fraction of the world release.....

    Seriously where is the math Sega, where is the math. You've some great titles and yet you deny the majority of the world the spoils. I bought Yakuza 4 on launch day, I would do the same. For Of the End.

    While you are at. Yakuza Kenzan and Black Panther too please. I will put futher monies down. It's that easy to get monies Sega.
    Edited by [STARS]TyranT at 29/07/11 @ 17:06

  • kalinichenko #14 10 months ago

    Just release Bayonetta for PC already.

  • KrispyBacon #15 10 months ago

    I wish Sega could get back to the days when they made really fantastic games. I wish.....

  • bloodflowers #16 10 months ago

    They released a cash shop type function in Phantasy Star Universe in Japan, but this option was never offered on the local servers, that's some more money thrown away right there. Due to customers not getting those updates and other content updates and generally wretched support from SoA, people are cancelling subscriptions too.

    Sega kind of bring this sort of thing on themselves basically, and that Sonic Generations demo wasn't very good either, dropping the frame rate in a very fast scrolling platform game results in too much blur to see obstacles properly. They should just give the Sonic Fan Remix guys a job.

  • sugarbaron #17 10 months ago

    Shenmue 1 & 2 collection; instant profit $$$
    Edited by sugarbaron at 29/07/11 @ 18:38

  • God_Octo #18 10 months ago

    Well Sega, if you don't have any products, you aren't going to sell anything.

    I'm beginning to lose sympathy for companies that complain about terrible sales when they either just release shovelware, or nothing at all- I'm looking at you Namco.

  • Butr0sButr0s #19 10 months ago

    "Just release Bayonetta for PC already."

    Yup, one of the few games I'd pay full price for.

    Also - This is one of the few times I actually want a company to sell out and sell 'hd remastered' versions of all their games. Where's Panzer Dragoon Saga and Panzer Dragoon Zwei?

  • George-Roper #20 10 months ago

    SEGA really should just fuck off and die. They completely lack vision, being more than happy to think they can get away with awful film tie-ins and retro re-releases.

    I'm happy that they're being hit where it hurts. They deserve nothing less. Talentless fucks.

  • Pasco #21 10 months ago

    It's depressing. They try to sell Thor, the third sequel to a Tennis game that got everything right the first time around a Sega Rally with a shitty framerate and wobbly controls and soon a new Sonic with a shitty framerate. Instead of using Yu Suzuki who up until recently was their last remaining good game-maker to make Daytona 3 or whatever, they put him on the side-lines because of a single (colossal) flop, as if he wasn't the one who carried half the company for a decade.

  • MrVengeance #22 10 months ago

    Thor is meant to be great on the DS - can't find it anywhere though.

    Nice one Sega!

  • Bander #23 10 months ago

    Tips to Sega:

    Release PSO2 globally and make the servers international also. No lock-outs that end up dividing the players from each other.

    Sonic Generations seems good, but don't bother continuing to make the Modern Sonic levels. They'll only hold the game back. Try and get it all running at 60fps instead.

    Acknowledge that you're sitting on an amazing arcade back-catalogue.

    What's with the random console exclusivity all over the place? Do you really think 360 and Wii owners wouldn't want games like Valkyria Chronicles?

    Let Yu Suzuki do what he wants. The guy basically invents popular genres, over and over and over again.

    Use some common sense! Shinobi used to be a bigger name than Ninja Gaiden, but you wouldn't think so to look at the 3DS game. You've done several full body motion games before, so why put Sonic Riders on Kinect?

  • Ryze #24 10 months ago

    The London Olympics crap will save them, but really, they should fail and hopefully Apple would pick them up and FIX them!

    SEGA must DIE.

  • Pasco #25 10 months ago

    @Bander
    "Let Yu Suzuki do what he wants. "

    Suzuki is not at Sega anymore:
    http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/64...

  • C.CFanboy #26 10 months ago

    I haven't bought a Sega game in years 0_o They still here?

  • [STARS]TyranT #27 10 months ago

    Maybe now is the time to dig into that back catalogue for real Sega.

    Shenmue 1 + 2 on XBLA/PSN is a license to print money, but the real gem would be a full Panzer Dragoon HD Anthology. No remakes, just spruce up some of the textures, up the framerate and remaster the FMV sequence in HD, and I'll pay anything you ask of me. Panzer Dragoon Saga is still the masterpiece.

    The original NiGHTS, would also make a great download game.
    Edited by [STARS]TyranT at 30/07/11 @ 12:22

  • Gastrian #28 10 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • lolercopter #29 10 months ago

    Loving all the Sega hate here. They're releasing a dudebro space marine game early next year to make you all happy.

  • Bander #30 10 months ago

    @Pasco Oh. That really should have been news here. It's certainly more relevant than most of the non-stories about random developer's personal opinions.

    Sure, John Carmack is a great coder and has lots of things to say about FPS games. But it was Yu Suzuki's Virtua Fighter that managed to get 3D people moving on screen, at 60fps with collision detection, and showed how 3D could offer more than 2D could even if the gameplay remained mostly 2D. And he nailed it first time; the arcade machine was number one until its sequel. Every other developer was just floundering by comparison, and nobody has pushed things forward so much since.

  • KopparbergDave #31 10 months ago

    It's depressing there's more good ideas in the few comments here than in the whole of Sega. They have a "golden age" back catalogue of games. Games that would still be fun and enjoyable today if ported well. Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS. Why they completely abandon the good they have done, while ceaselessly making sequels of their crappest stuff I honestly will never know.

    It's an absolute tragedy and while I'd love to see a resurgent Sega, they need some people to push them in the right direction otherwise they really do deserve all of the crap they've brought upon themselves by lacking vision and originality. It's a real shame. Come on Sega, get a grip, I loved you, but you left me!

  • Lusterpurge #32 10 months ago

    The gamers have spoken! They want more sequels and remakes!
    Edited by Lusterpurge at 31/07/11 @ 09:41

  • Vermillion3000 #33 10 months ago

    Is this slightly indicative of the general state of the Japanese game industry? Where are the major new games that really succeed and get some momentum worldwide, particularly in the core gamer Market? I used to have an almost exclusively Japanese game collection but these days I hardly buy any. They just just seem stuck in the late 90s, same old genres, same old usability problems, same old idiotic save structures.
    *sigh*
    It's a shame. These is much talent and commitment to games in Japan. I feel we're missing out because they've stopped evolving.

  • Mazrim_Taim #34 10 months ago

    @Gastrian they have released DLC versions of SoR and other classics on Steam and PS3 and I assume other systems too. but having bought a few of their steam releases, the emulation is horrible. Its funny how the community made emulators work better than the ones made by the actual company who released the console in the first place.

  • Collymilad #35 10 months ago

    I love SEGA, they make and publish some brilliant games.

    However, they also make and publish a lot of shit games.

    Stop doing the 2nd bit and I'm sure everything will turn out ok.

    Also, Shenmue I/II on XBLA/PSN, do it. It puzzles me how out of all the good DC games, they've released the four they have.
    Edited by Collymilad at 31/07/11 @ 15:41

  • George-Roper #36 10 months ago

    It's depressing there's more good ideas in the few comments here than in the whole of Sega. They have a "golden age" back catalogue of games. Games that would still be fun and enjoyable today if ported well. Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS. Why they completely abandon the good they have done, while ceaselessly making sequels of their crappest stuff I honestly will never know.

    Because they're creatively bankrupt and always after the quick buck.

    There's a reason why they're so intrinsically associated with movie tie-ins. Low cost and no expectations other than meeting the movie-release based deadline.

    Yes, they have a wonderful back catalogue of games to pick and choose from but the best you'll ever see is again quick, low-cost retro re-releases without any, and I mean any[/i] additional effort put in.

  • hiddenranbir #37 10 months ago

    Time for Sega to release FM12 to make their recovery. ;)

  • TheTrueSpin #38 10 months ago

    You see Sega, things have changed since the 90s. We are no longer little kids that will buy a game based upon a flashy front cover. We read reviews, we remember crap games and we know to treat anything that comes from you with EXTREME caution - particularly if it includes the word "Sonic".

  • Bander #39 10 months ago

    "You see Sega, things have changed since the 90s. We are no longer little kids that will buy a game based upon a flashy front cover. We read reviews, we remember crap games and we know to treat anything that comes from you with EXTREME caution - particularly if it includes the word "Sonic"."

    It's true. Reading, writing and adults didn't exist in the '90s, and all the front covers of Sega's games were consistently exemplary.

  • pinchofsalt #40 10 months ago

    Poor Sega.
    Either hire someone with some vision to start working with world-class developer talent around the world like, I dunno, the remains of Bizarre and BlackRock for starters. Or hire someone with some business sense that can use that huge portfolio of IP for good not evil.

  • lolercopter #41 10 months ago

    We are no longer little kids that will buy a game based upon a flashy front cover.

    Nintendo sell far too many bad games for this to be true.

  • acmilan1899 #42 10 months ago

    How the once mighty Sega has fallen - once the maker of some of the best games ever, now it's game are pitiful.