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The first quarter of the year hasn’t been to kind to Japan and its video game industry. What with the tsunami and earthquakes that ravaged the lands. Its not that surprising seeing SEGA-Sammy post about losing revenue.
“During the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, some uncertainty prevailed in the Japanese economy due to various impacts in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake that took place on March 11, 2011, including the concern for the availability of parts and materials and the struggle to cope with the shortage of electricity supply which is now likely to be prolonged”
This means that operating their Japanese studios, pachinko slots and arcade buildings cost more than previously, thus where some loses come in. But what about SEGA, the consumer division?
Sadly they didn’t do so hot. They loss, by themselves about $50 million dollars for Q1 2011. SEGA sold 2.3 million pieces of software for the first quarter, but what title sold what hasn’t been revealed. What we do know is that SEGA released three new titles in the first quarter. Thor: God of Thunder, Virtua Tennis 4 and Yakuza: Of the End (Japan only).
SEGA doesn’t expect to be making much money in the next quarter, stating they expect to lose upward to $64 million. Not good.
[Source: Eurogamer]
Comments:
As Knuckles likes to repeatedly say: ‘Oh no!’
This probably happens when they stop releasing games suddenly. Outside of Virtua Tennis 4, what did they have? Downloadables? Terrible licensed games?
And then considering upcoming games, all they have is Sonic, Sonic, and more Sonic to spam at Christmas. Shinobi looks iffy and is on a weak platform, and I doubt a Kinect exclusive is going to be a major hit (does Microsoft even promote it?). The same goes for Move. The downloadables look solid, but they are not going to be massive hits.
Everything seems set to be spammed out around next March as usual, and Yakuza seems missing this time (one less sale from me!).
They needed another 2 retail games and maybe more Sonic games considering this should be their biggest year in the franchise for a long time. Sonic 4 Episode II and something simple like Sonic Jam HD could have been released in between.