SEGA post 2012 Q1 report

[Aki-at]

SEGA Sammy posted an operating loss of 2.2 billion yen (Or $28 million) there were several reasons, obviously the disaster that occured in Japan has greatly taken its toll on the company as well as demand for certain video games being low in the European and Western markets. Now for some quick facts.

- Game sales was 600k for Japan, 700k for US and 1,030k for Europe
- Consumer business posted the biggest operating loss at 3.8 billion
- Virtua Tennis 4 was the best selling game for SEGA, 670k
- Yakuza of the End = 430k
- Thor = 400k (This is a pretty bad bomb!)
- Kingdom Conquest had 1.3 million registered users
- All of SEGA Sammy missed their fiscal targets

http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20110729_hosoku_e_final.pdf
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20110729_tanshin_e_final.pdf

I will be making a more detailed post later today on this matter.

[ROJM]

I wouldn't say THOR was a flop considering the minimal budget it had, it did ok. Being mentioned in the report at all meant that it was the third best selling title of the quarter, Of course we have to see how most of these titles did after the full year is completed in March 2012.

[CosmicCastaway]

1.3 million for Kingdom Conquest sounds pretty good.

[Waffle]

1.3 million for a free game is not pretty good. It was free.

As for Thor failing... that is what happens when you make horrible games based off of films. It depends on the success of the film. SEGA should make their own games that are judged by their own qualities.

[CosmicCastaway]

1.3 million for a free game is not pretty good. It was free.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that... ^^""

[Nathan]

1.3 million for a free game is not pretty good. It was free.

But those users paid for content. If I remember right, it was a pretty good success.

[Waffle]

It has microtransactions. I doubt it made much, it is just a nice number to put on the report.

[Sharky]

I heard it didnt do to badly actually, microtransactions are taking off because it's a pretty good buisness model. Free = more people playing and people playing for longer.

Whilst probably 60% of them will never buy anything, the other 40% will continue to buy things for longer if there is an active community and theres like always the 10% of OCD types that buy everything and end up paying out enough to keep the game profitable.

[ROJM]

i really wish people actually understood economics before making sweeping statements. KC has more or less got its budget back twice over by now and you really can't progress in that game without paying for it. "micro transactions" is a ridiculous quote to make.
And Thor being a flop? You might as well say that about YAKUZA OF THE END as well which despite being based off a five year old engine is still pretty costly to make. Sega is expecting more from cap than Thor oh and here's a tip, sega never mentions any flops on their public reports, ever.

[Waffle]

Kingdom Conquest is marginal at best. Even if it did make double its budget, that is not much to brag about. Although I am not sure where you get that figure. It is a free game that 'sold' over a million, it does not seem that big of a hit. It was free.

As for Thor compared to Yakuza - they do not compare. Thor had 3 - 4 different SKUs and was on around half a dozen platforms in multiple regions. Yakuza was on just PS3 in only Japan. Thor also reviewed bad.

[ROJM]

Kingdom Conquest is marginal at best. Even if it did make double its budget, that is not much to brag about. Although I am not sure where you get that figure. It is a free game that 'sold' over a million, it does not seem that big of a hit. It was free.

As for Thor compared to Yakuza - they do not compare. Thor had 3 - 4 different SKUs and was on around half a dozen platforms in multiple regions. Yakuza was on just PS3 in only Japan. Thor also reviewed bad.

That's the point, it didn't cost much to make KC. So this micro-transaction nonsense you are so fond of spouting doesn't mean the game hasn't been succesful on a financial level.Considering Sega's experience on these type of mobile games I very much doubt that the majority is not paying to progress. And to be honest i think the majorty of users registered are from Japan. Now SPIRAL KNIGHTS is a different matter because PC gaming has been more open to get away with doing stuff for free, Iphone or whatever is a different matter altogether especially after hackers were stealing peoples accounts from the Apple KC registery.
And you missed the point again, YAKUZA's budget drawfs THOR by a lot, and the budget for THOR hasn't changed just because the main code was ported to three different systems. THOR was a cheap game to make and produce,ALL of the Marvel games are. This report came out near the end of July and Thor came out in may.It's done ok to get to that level in a matter of two months.

[max_cady]

When the next report comes out, I don't see good numbers for Captain America: Super Soldier, it barely made a dent in the UK in it's release week.

But maybe word of mouth will get it higher up.

Sega's release calendar sees Rise of Nightmares and Aliens: Infestation in September, it's a quiet month.

Some of Sega's biggest money makers won't be out at least until Q3 and Q4.
Football Manager continues to rake in yearly mullah that's garanteed.

Sonic Generations will probably make Sonic Colors numbers while Mario & Sonic at The London Olympic Games, it's kind of'a a gamble, you see...

The with the Wii-U being now Nintendo's big console, the Wii doesn't have as much as appeal as it once had but...

[ROJM]

I'll be suprised if it doesn't dent the US charts, myself. As for the Wii U,actually i think this isn't a nintendo only problem and its bigger than appeal, I think all the major players will be heavily affected theres signs of it already,the world economy is getting worse and it will have reprecussions on the gaming industry despite what certain gamers who think the industry is recession and crash proof.

[max_cady]

It's not. Even before things got worse now, we had at least two major software companies going bankrupt in the previous years.

But the things is that the current state of the video game market is well... it has seen better days.

[ROJM]

Well even with the bad news from this fiscal report, it has n't stopped Sega trying to buy the company that owns Thomas the tank engine and Bob the builder,(and the key word is trying)despite the strong competition it has from other potential buyers...

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/263594/Bob-The-Builder-fixes-it-for-takeover

You'd think Sega would at least be trying to buy something more worthwhile or better yet something it has a chance to actually succeed in buying.