SEGA.jpg

SEGA’s latest financial report reveals it will continue to revive older and existing IP while also capitalising on external and new franchises:

With regard to the Entertainment Contents Business, the Group will continue to advance the launch of new titles in the field of digital game software. In addition, the Group will advance efforts to capitalize on existing, revival, external and new IPs in each business field.

This follows a first quarter where sales and profits across the board have generally slowed for the Japanese company. Year-over-year consolidated net sales dropped by 35.8 percent and profits dropped by 97.1 percent for the same period. Operating income has gone down from ¥3.7 billion (33.2 million) to ¥1.6 billion ($14.4 million). This is linked to a drop in combined digital and physical sales. Surprisingly, physical sales managed to outperform the existing year, despite the overall slump. 

SEGA noted how its new IP on digital storefronts had performed better. The company expects the digital arena to become increasingly competitive, hopes physical game sales can continue to expand and forecasts growth within Asia:

Regarding the environment of the Entertainment Contents Business, in the field of digital game software, as the predominance of leading publishers in Japan is accelerating, the competitive environment is further intensifying, with titles that capitalize on powerful IPs (Intellectual Properties), on top of being high-quality products, becoming hits.

In overseas business, future growth is expected mainly in Asia. With regard to the packaged game software market, expectations are rising for future expansion of the market due to the penetration of hardware of home video game console, while game distribution platforms such as Steam are expanding in the PC games market.

[source segasammy.co.jp, via gamasutra.com]