Giuseppe Nelva
The company announced significantly improved sales and operating income, mentioning a significant recovery for the pachislot, pachinko, and amusement machines businesses.
That being said, the Entertainment Contents business (which focuses on games) recorded a “strong” performance of new titles.
Looking at the forecast for the current fiscal year, which ends in March 2023, Sega expects further growth in sales and profits in all business areas. Looking specifically at games, the company is planning for a “significant increase in new titles” on top of growth in repeat sales due to the large number of new games released in the past fiscal year.
For free-to-play games, Sega plans to enhance the operation of existing titles and schedule the release of new ones.
Interestingly, the company has identified the consumer area in the Entertainment Contents Business (basically console and PC games) as “the most important growth area for the future”
As a result, they intend to actively invest to expand gaming revenue on a global basis, giventhe “expected expansion of the global game market.”
Below you can see the sales trends for the consumer area, including a breakdown between new titles and games released in previous fiscal years.
Sega plans to invest 100 billion yen (approximately 775 million dollars) in an ongoing base until the fiscal year ending in March 2026 on its plan for the creation of “Super Games” about which we have already heard, the strengthening the global branding of existing IPs, and “promotion toward becoming a global player.”
During the current fiscal year, Sega is planning to release 13 games simultaneously worldwide and on multiple platforms. Of these, we already know Sonic Frontiers, Soul Hackers 2, Sonic Origins, Two Point Campus, and 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for Switch. They expect these games to ship approximately 13 million units.
We learn that they plan to work on ways to prolong the life cycles of products including remakes and remasters, spin-offs, and games that would change a franchise’s theme. There is no indication of how many games will fit this category, but the forecast is to sell 5 million units cumulatively. It’s worth mentioning that these are included in the 13 games mentioned above.
Lastly, the company plans to support subscription services.
If you’d like to compare with historical data, you can check out the results from the previous quarter, released in February.
