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SEGA Reports 44.3 Billion Yen Growth for 2013, Digital Market Thrives

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SEGA Sammy has released their earnings report for 2013, yielding a net profit of ¥44.3 billion, or $434 million, and a 564% increase year over year. The company attributed it to strong Pachinko performance and the sales of investment securities and non-current assets.

On the home electronics side, SEGA’s top three performing titles were Football Manager 14 at 680,000 units, Sonic Lost World for a combined 640,000 units, and the Japan-Only SAKATSUKU Pro Succer Club wo Tsukurou! for 200,000. Despite this, the nine-month period ending on Dec. 31, 2013 in which SEGA tracked numbers returned only 6.5 million total units of games moved, a decrease it attributes to “the harsh market environment.”

It’s not all doom and gloom because the company also found what they call “continued favorable” success on the digital side with Phantasy Star Online 2 and mobile phone titles Puyopuyo!! Quest and CHAIN CHRONICLE as the top runners there. The whole division saw a 19.7% increase year-to-year in net sales to a total of ¥72,934 million.

Keep in mind, back in November, SEGA purchased Atlus-parent company Index for a seemingly paltry ¥14 billion.

The release of the financial data comes hours after SEGA unveiled its plans for a massive spin-off of Sonic The Hedgehog with Sonic Boom.

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SEGA closes European and Australian offices

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Another sad day in SEGA land folks, SEGA has announced today that they will be closing their European and Australian offices. Koch Media will be the distribution partner for the European territories, except for Benelux, which will be handled by Level03 Distribution. Australia territory will be handled by 5 Star. SEGA UK will remain open as the European HQ. So it isn’t all that bad.

“SEGA is entering a new and exciting phase that will position the company as a content led organisation maximising sales with strong and balanced IP such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, Football Manager and the Aliens franchise. The company will benefit from a clear focus and realigned strategy for our digital business and packaged goods and we are confident that this will lead to a successful future.” – COO of Sega Europe Jurgen Post

This goes with the rumor they sort of predicted during E3, only that the rumor wasn’t 100% right. Actually still think the guy just guessed and happen to hit some of the mark. What do you guys think? Is this ‘new and exciting phase’ for SEGA or is this bad?

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SEGA to expand arcade business to China

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China has like, a lot of people and SEGA thinks all those kung-fu loving communist would like to play some arcade games. So what are they going to do about it? Expand their arcade business to China, make exclusive arcade games tailored for the average Chinese consumer.

Should be interesting to see what arcade cabinets SEGA will launch with in China and what kind of titles they will develop for the country. Maybe some exciting stuff?

[Source: Kotaku]

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