Sega has continued to show significant support for Nintendo systems in recent years, with that point being emphasized with the three-game Sonic deal that's now drawing to a close. The company's recent financial results, pleasingly, show that will continue to be the case.
The company's results showed a tough Q1 due to a limited number of releases; net income fell by more than 50% over the same period last year, but that was still for a reasonable profit. While amusement arcades and Pachinko machines remain a major part of Sega Sammy's business, meanwhile, the company still has a number of games on the way.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth on 3DS has already contributed, however, shifting 250,000 units in Japan between its early June launch and the end of that month. That's on Sega's books thanks to its acquisition last year of Atlus, of course, which will do little harm for the company's 3DS support, in particular.
In terms of what's to come, the company has significant plans for Nintendo's portable. It's estimating that by the end of the financial year 13 SKUs for 3DS titles — which could incorporate limited editions and download games — will sell around 2.27 million units, easily the biggest selling single platform for the company. Unfortunately for Wii U the forecast is that it'll be the 7th biggest contributor for Sega, behind all the other traditional gaming platforms aside from the Xbox One; PSP has no titles on the way, so it's excluded from the reckoning. Just 600,000 sales across 4 SKUs are projected for the Wii U, which doesn't suggest confidence in a runaway success for Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric; on the flipside it could be argued that it's a decent return for a small volume of products.
It's a positive, as always, to see Sega's continuing support for the 3DS, as the portable seeks a successful nine months to chase its sales targets.
[source segasammy.co.jp]
Comments 59
Hopefully SEGA can give me a variety of reasons to actually purchase something for my 3DS this year or next
Sega is now pretty much relying on Atlus (well, technically they aren't Atlus, they're Index Digital Media) to rake in the dough.
Hopefully, this might end up in Sega becoming rich enough to take some risks with their localization efforts.
(And Nintendo should really take over Sega now.)
Good that Sega is still supporting Nintendo. They should really make the Sonic deal a full thing it makes more sense to have Sonic games on Nintendo systems
Is Atlus releasing any 3ds games for the rest of the year? Other than Persona Q.
It won't have a sale from me (Persona Q) at least this year. I won't rant anymore about it!
@Spoony_Tech I'm sure SEGA won't mind if you don't buy another crappy samey 3DS RPG
@MAB Oh I'm getting it just not paying premium price for barely anything but the game. I'll wait till it's down to 30$ US
@Spoony_Tech But I will reconsider if SEGA & ATLUS can roll out a Genesis 3D Classic of this ↓
@Falchion SMT4 in Europe is the only one I can think of.
2.2 Million from 7 games? Is that worldwide or just Japan as that's a kinda low figure. It also means they must not have much faith in Alien Isolation shifting much units then which is very strange considering the budget.
@TheWPCTraveler Football Manager / Total War also makes them money as does the arcade stuff like Border Break. Pachinko makes the real money though.
@Falchion Does Citizens of the Earth count?
@MAB I'm all for that as well but I don't see it happening.
@unrandomsam Well, I guess you're right, but aside from the pachinko machines, how much do the things you mentioned earn?
I said Sega, not Sega Sammy, after all.
@Spoony_Tech They are just publishing that right? I guess so either way. Well Atlus isnt having a year like last year where they released 3 SMT games for the 3ds (at least in NA).
@Falchion Did I miss a SMT game? I thought it was 2 and 2 EO games?!
If you count CotE that makes 3 this year which is only one down from last year. 3 in one year isn't bad at all.
@Mega719: After what was Sonic Lost World, I REALLY don't want them to do something so stupid.
@S3OL Well that was all Sega, Nintendo can make a better game they are letting him stay in Smash Bros
@TheWPCTraveler Going from http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-05-09-how-are-segas-video-games-selling not that badly. Football Manager has a fanbase that always buy it ever year. Total War must be doing ok because it is almost never discounted. Over a million for a PC exclusive isn't bad. The DLC is expensive.
@S3OL Only problems with Lost World are related to lack of skill. (Which can be gained from practising a decent amount with any 3D Sonic game).
"Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth hits 250,000 sales in Japan" that isn't that good if Total War 2 got 1.13 million sales.
They made over 100,000,000$ from Border Break (Arcade exclusive). Selling Arcade machines. (Seems like AM2 is just isolated from the rest of Sega just still doing what it always did).
@unrandomsam But the bench Mark for good sales in Japan for 3ds games is 200k. The other is just an extraordinary sales for a game over there.
4 Wii U SKUs?
Are they all Sonic Boom?
@Spoony_Tech Oops my bad. As a new Atlus fan I had it in my head that Devil Survivor Overclocked was released last year. Now i know.
@unrandomsam >Lack of skill
That's really funny. People have these things and they're called opinions? Yeah that was mine you just completely disregarded. I hated Lost World not because of the difficulty, in fact it was way too easy but just because it felt and looked horrible.
@Mega719: It was SEGA and Nintendo both, haha.
@S3OL No Nintendo had nothing to do with it, that game was in development for PC until Sega signed the contract. Nintendo just has the games released on their systems not development the games
@MAB Crusader of Centy was said to rival against Legend of Zelda, but I believe that they are very different game. Crusader of Centy is about how to combine different animals' power to solve puzzles. The graphics, however, looks like that in old Zelda game.
The story of the game was about saving animals and I love it.
@S3OL I just found it funny that one group of people say Sonic Lost World is too easy while another group (including reviewers) complains it of thorny difficulties. Which group is right?
Probably Famitsu, who have reviewed games since 1980s. They give Sonic Lost World 36/40, translated to 9/10.
For me Lost World felt cheap, more than hard. Put an enemy or obstacle not even Sonic could react to the first time, then the second time you know it is there so it is not hard anymore. But not a bad game.
Guess now Sega can use Atlus' games to say they not only release Sonic games. I was somewhat interested in Persona Q till I knew about the price, now I won't get it, even in the cheap.
An old EO game would do for me, as I have no attachments to the Persona IP, which they are blatantly using to squeeze an extra $10.
@sinalefa You put my thoughts into words, thank you. I still however, think it's a bad game. It just didn't sit well with me. Ah well, preferences. I got it as my free game from the MK8 promotion so that's alright I suppose.
@GreatPlayer I wouldn't say "right" per se because everybody's opinion is different but yeah.
@Mega719 Okay, thanks for informing me.
@S3OL Call people who played Sonic Lost World extremely well on YouTube as being extraordinarily skillful. I am probably one of them. :>
@S3OL
No problem. I got the game free as well. I exchanged gifts with a friend, so I gave W101 and received LW. I liked the graphics and the cutscenes, and thankfully I never played with an expectation of how a Sonic game should play or feel.
Still I hated getting deaths by lack of time and I don't think I will go back to it in the future, as I would for something like 3D World.
@sinalefa
That was your first Sonic game then I take it? The graphics were visually pleasing but too cartoony for me. I also thing that the cutscenes were awesome, bar the deadly six.
Same here. (Sarcasm alert) Luckily for me though, I created my new main NNID not long ago so I have yet to re-complete 3D World...
@S3OL
As a matter of fact my first Sonic was Sonic Adventure, back when the Dreamcast was the newest console in town.
@sinalefa: Ah. You made it seem like you had never played one before.Was that the only one you played before Lost World then?
@S3OL
Of the 3D ones, yes. I have played some of the Genesis ones, namely 1 and 3+K. I preferred to play LW and judge it by the game it was, not by comparing it to a standard or ideal of a Sonic game, like I felt a lot of disappointed reviewers and players did. But as you may have guessed, I am not a huge Sonic fan.
@sinalefa: I think I could have seen it in a different way if I had that mindset also, but I didn't. Great thinking.
@unrandomsam I feel that nowadays many gamers do not have any self-awareness. When others can beat a game but he or she cannot, the person blames the game (as opposed to blaming themselves as being clumsy or having bad eye-hand coordination). They never question why others can do it but I can't? It reminds me of kid's attitude when failing a course at schools nowadays. :>
I miss Virtua Fighter.
I think a fair few of these SKU's will be 3D DL games towards the end of this year. Outrun, Afterburner, Fantasy Zone I & II
@Hernandez lol they won't receive the money if you throw it at the screen
neatly puts the money in the disc drive
now that's how you do it!
I Love the former Atlus games so please keep it coming. From SEGA i really really want a Total War for the Wii U !!!
Comment? Hmm... Sonic Boom looks awful. Hope I will be proven wrong.
SegS biggest selling title will be football manager 2015
Sonic Bomb.
I don't think Persona Q will do very well outside of Japan. Too chibi.
I'll put my money on SMT IV.
@GreatPlayer Famitsu's credibility is 0. As of late seems like every damn game is superb, and that's obviously not the case.
@GreatPlayer Yeah, stuff like parallex scrolling on the overhead trees would look good in 3D... Also it has some cool bosses
@MAB It has some of the best graphics on Genesis. Good port for 3DS.
When Crusader of Centy came out, it was said to target at young audience as the game was easy. However, if you compares its difficulty with today's games, they are probably the same. Zelda fans who are waiting for the new game should try out this game.
I'll be getting Bayonetta 2, and possibly Sonic Boom on Wii U.
But man, I'd love to see a megadrive disney classics collection. Quackshot, the illusion games, etc. Or even better, a best of Saturn compilation disc, like the megadrive one. Ah im dreaming....
@GreatPlayer It's really no more difficult than Link to the Past which I found rather easy anyway... The bosses in CoC are harder than the ones in ALttP
eyeing this but... I still don't like the new design to knuckles.
Since Atlus seems to be the only part of Sega that has GOOD games for the west nowadays, Sega needs to give Phantasy Star IP to Atlus.
@MAB That would be awesome!
I'm just waiting on more classic 3d games from sega- Outrun and Fantasy Zone. I would love to see them do a 3d classic for shining in the darkness. Go sega Go sega Go sega!
@Nomad

Damn straight it would be awesome
If I was CEO of SEGA I would have a team pumping out classics at a alarming rate so that new generations of gamers never forget
@MAB i Agree!!...sega is run like crap!! I would have sega On all 3 systems! Now! ...outrun series....afterburner..fantasy zone 1&2....golden axe series...streets of rage 1-3....virtua cop 1&2...virtua tennis...virtua fighters series...virtua racing...nights into dreams...quartet...columns...phantasy star 1-4....Oasis series...space harrier...toe jam n earl series...crackdown...house of the dead 1-4....power drift...SEGA rally series...enduro racer....super hang on....teddy boy...turbo...wonder boy series...shining force series...Baku Baku...All sonic classics...castle of illusion...quack shot...vector man 1&2...sports talk baseball & football...world champ soccer...truxton...super fantasy zone...thunder blade..zaxxon..Congo bongo ...crazy taxi 1-3..space channel 5..SEGA bass fishing...astal...confidential mission...and sooo many other classics I cant think of now....if SEGA put these and other classics on wii u ,PS4, Vita,3DS, and Xone...watch their profits improve tremendously!! C'MON SEGA!!! What in the world are you waiting for????
@joey302 Nice list mate, and that is just a appetizer... There is still plenty more for the main course and dessert
Sega should change their name to Atlus
Cause I have everyone of their western releases except the princess one
@MAB oh I'm confident I left out a truckload of SEGA titles! I did that "quickie" list off the couch while watching TV lol. But SEGA sitting on as much if not more classics than Nintendo is IMO!! I Think theyre missing out on mucho $$$!
@joey302 Actually, I think sega is doing pretty well on PC gaming industry. I heard raving comments on Total War series. Their football manager series is also popular. They are just not the type of games for Wii U.
That is why they keep making profits these days.
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