SEGA posts hefty financial loss

By Robert Purchese Published 3 August, 2009

Blames it on lack of "major releases".

SEGA has posted a hefty $109m loss for the financial quarter ending 30th June, and blames "decreased sales", "expanded operating loss" and a lack of "major titles".

Wii exclusive The Conduit shifted only 150,000 units during the quarter. But that figure comes after just seven days on sale in the US - the shooter launched in Europe in July and so hasn't been included in the results.

Virtua Tennis 2009 fared better, recording 790,000 sales for the three-month period.

Europe, incidentally, bought the most videogames from SEGA. The company thinks demand has "levelled off in Japan and North America", but believes the European market to be "relatively firm".

Games for Wii sold best for SEGA, followed by PS3 and then Xbox 360.

SEGA will hope its high-profile autumn schedule of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Alpha Protocol will draw better results.

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 (23) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • nickthegun #1 3 years ago

    More Streets of Rage, less suckass Sonic games.

    My consultancy fee is £1 million.

  • LazyDan #2 3 years ago

    How are two Sonic games not major releases? Unless they meant to say 'good' releases.

  • TheTingler #3 3 years ago

    Alpha Protocol looks utterly amazing, lets hope it does very well.

  • WolfHook #4 3 years ago

    Kill Sonic already and leave that kiddy shit to Nintendo.

    Sega were top dogs in the early 90's but someone employ people with new ideas and they might stand a chance.

  • The_Inquisitor #5 3 years ago

    They might as well make Shenmue 3 and go out with a bang rather than a wimper.

  • schnide #6 3 years ago

    Don't worry Sega (you don't deserve all capitals anymore in my opinion) you've still got the Iron Man 2 license to fuck up before you makes things even worse with Sonic.

  • penhalion #7 3 years ago

    Yea go figure. Those yanks and Japs seem to be buying games like there is a recession on or something! Anyone would think that people don't have the money to buy crap games like they used to.

    Seriously though. I expect a lot of companies to be posting poor figures as they seem to have stupidly moved a lot of their IP to next year in some vain hope that sales will have picked up by then.

  • peterfll #8 3 years ago

    It never ceases to amaze me how one of the industry's most creative developers, with some of the best talent in the business and most beloved franchises... continues to be financially inept.

    :-(

  • KrissAkabusi #9 3 years ago

    Sega needs to be bought over

  • SeesThroughAll #10 3 years ago

    Make one good Sonic game.

    ONE. GOOD. SONIC. GAME.

    Shut the f**k up, SEGA.

  • Redeye #11 3 years ago

    SEGA - bringing you nuclear-powered facepalms since the DC went tits.

  • Roamer #12 3 years ago

    Why oh why did you cancel the Alien RPG?! You've brought this on yourself...

  • Roamer #13 3 years ago

    Oh, and please release the Jet Set Radio game for Xbox as a Games on Demand-title for much needed funds.

  • riz23 #14 3 years ago

    Lack of major releases? Lack of major quality more like.

  • richyroo #15 3 years ago

    Its simple really, release a quality title and people will buy it!!! You then may see your profits go up, SEGA

  • Pasco #16 3 years ago

    I loved you Sega

  • shadowsblaze #17 3 years ago

    richyroo:

    Over the last 12 months, Sega has released Valkyria Chronicles on PS3, House of the Dead: Overkill and Madworld on Wii, plus Outrun and Virtual On Oratorio Tangram for XBox Live.

    Sega are releasing quality titles, but gamers are just not looking anymore.

  • Lamb #18 3 years ago

    Well they missed their opportunities, they could have made a better Iron Man game but no. I picked up Virtua Tennis 3 at HMV a couple of weeks ago for £8 and I'm happy with that. Its an old franchise but it was at the right price and highly recommended.

    House of the Dead and Outrun are also not new and don't draw me in like 5 years ago like Outrun 2 on the Xbox or H.O.D at the arcade. Madworld from the graphics looks like something that would cater to a niche market of art afficionados which is a small market.

    Valkyria Chronicles may be a good game but again the graphics don't pull me in especially for the PS3 which is supposed to be the "uber console".

    *rant*((Although that was factually disproven over a hundred times by now through the software. Except for its inbuilt wifi, great disk drive and ability to play 720p or 1080p without RROD. Microsoft made some blunders this gen but I doubt it will do the same in the next gen especially with Xbox Live being so dominant.))*rant*

    The market is oversaturated with competition and mainly mediocre games. Even the best AAA titles are woefully lacking in AI so it doen't take much effort not to bother looking at inconsistent game companies.

  • ILOVEU #19 3 years ago

    Can I point something out and the company "Sega." They are no longer "Sega" but "Sega/Sammy Holdings," Sammy being the Japanese pinchinko company that bought them out a few years back. Sammy also have their fingers in everything from a anime studio to real estate. What this means is that when you see these "Sega made/lost X amount of money" reports they are usually an amalgum of the whole company-so its actually quite hard to tell whether Sega -the gaming bit of the firm is the bit losing the money or whether the Sammy bits are losing the cash.

    Last year we had "Sega post massive losses" however Sega (again I mean the gaming section) made profit. Sammy-lost the money. The arcade division of Sega made a loss, however the home games section made the best profits it had in years. Mario+Sonic at the Olympics shifted 4million + copies. Iron Man shifted 2.6 million copies, Sonic Unleashed sold just over 2million copies. Forget what came 4th I think it was some crap that you wouldn't think would sell like Hulk, then Empire Total War shifted around a million copies and again behind that you things like Footy Manager and Yakuza 3 on half a million or so copies.

    What has flopped for Sega are games like the new Sega Rally, Mad World, House of the Dead Overkill and my fave Valkyrie Chronicles. In other words all the games the critics seem to rate by the company. To me the gaming press with their constant whinning articles about the Sonic games have created a totally distorted picture of the reality of Sega, that is when it comes to what sells its mostly what they regard is trash is doing brilliantly, whereas the supposed good stuff bombs everytime.

    Sega would have to be barking mad world mad really to persist making critically acclaimed yet flopped titles, infact frankly its a minor miracle they still do. And no its gamers fault why this happens -you lot simply don't buy enough of the good stuff. The chap who says "Valkyrie Chronicles might be a good game but the graphics don't pull me in" sums up exactly why they are failing. Not because theres something wrong with the graphics, just that totally shallow people who buy games purely for the graphics and corporate hype factor are what makes up the majority of the gaming community these days.

  • Lamb #20 3 years ago

    Oh ILOVEU too!!! What pitiful excuses they merged, one division is making a loss the other isn't. What does that have to do with putting out trash like Iron Man and besmirching their company name or your name if you work for them. It doesn't matter how many millions of copies they sold. A hefty financial loss is a loss any way you spin it.

    Did you guys even fix that Iron Man glitch yet?

    Who is more shallow for suggesting to buy a game based on excellent reviews even though the games graphics don't draw me in. :D

    Who is more shallow for supporting lazy programmers who can't code any graphics? :D

    Seriously ITROLLTOO you like Valkyria Chronicles then good for you. At that sort of graphics level I would be looking to buy it on the Wii if I was even in the market for it. I expect more graphics for the "UBER" PS3!!! And seriously what kind of game play are you saying is not shallow could it be the rock paper scissors or the shoot em up or the grinding levels which type? Because the AI is weak for all! :D
    Edited by Lamb at 03/08/09 @ 23:50

  • richyroo #21 3 years ago

    shadowsblaze:

    Those 'quality titles' that you mention,just dont get my interest at all. The old Sega that I once knew and loved released a steady stream of quality titles that everybody talked about!

  • retr0gamer #22 3 years ago

    @Lamb

    The graphics in Valkyria Chronicles are some of the best this generation but if you just can't handle a game that looks like a cartoon then you deserve to miss out on probably the best game of last year. Enjoy your bald space marines and grey environments.

  • shadowsblaze #23 3 years ago

    richyroo:

    Which Sega games are you talking about? When I think of Sega's past, I think of the likes of Sonic, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, Panzer Dragoon, Outrun, House of the Dead, Shenmue, etc. Out of those, Sonic, Sega Rally, Virtua Fighter, Vitua Tennis, Outrun and HOTD have either been rereleased as download or has received an update on this current generation of consoles. While Sonic has gone down the drain, you really can't complain about the other titles that's been released. Let's face it, the only reason Sega is not mentioned by the masses any more is because of their lack of marketing which, to be honest, has been worse than crap ever since the days of the Sega Saturn.