Western Vanquish and FM11 sales "slow"
Both fail to reach one million units sold.
Sales of Platinum Games' Vanquish, Sports Interactive's Football Manager 2011 and Nintendo platforms game Sonic Colours in Europe and North America were "slow", SEGA has said.
In its latest financial report the Japanese company said demand for videogames was "generally weak" in western markets.
Why? Because of "sluggish personal consumption". SEGA sold just under six million game units in Europe, 5.8 million in the US and 1.9 million in Japan and other regions.
According to a Siliconera report, both Vanquish and Football Manager 2011 failed to sell a million units.
Vanquish, which launched in October last year, sold 820,000 copies. Sonic Colours sold 1.85 million. Football Manager 2011 for PC and PSP was the third best-selling game with 690,000 units sold in Europe and North America.
Football Manager 2011 went straight in at the top of the UK all-formats chart last November. SI boss Miles Jacobson said first weekend sales of the PC version beat those of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 on multiple formats.
Looking to the future, SEGA said it needs to adapt to provide new content geared to social networking services and smartphones. Guess we can expect more Facebook and iPhone games, then.
Despite the doom and gloom, SEGA did well overall as a result of impressive performance from its pachinko and amusement segments. Net sales for the first three quarters of its fiscal year ending 31st March 2011 amounted to ¥310,103 million (£2.3 billion), an increase of 8.7 per cent for the same period in the previous fiscal year. Operating income was ¥62,970 million (£478 million), an increase of 118.2 per cent for the same period. Net income amounted to ¥36,821 million (£279 million), an increase of 117.3 per cent.