Sega has released its latest financial report, confirming that despite strong critical reception, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has failed to meet the company's expectations.
The quote from Koichi Fukazawa, director of the board and senior executive vice president, can be found on the PDF presentation from the Q2 financials release. He details an objective to sell a further 1 million copies of the game over the next fiscal year, which he hopes will be bolstered by the ongoing release of downloadable content.
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Now, I’d like to talk about Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
It has received high ratings, scoring over 80 on Metascore at “Metacritic” and earning an "Overwhelmingly Positive*1" rating on Steam's customer reviews. We recently announced that worldwide cumulative sales have surpassed 1 million units. However, initial performance did not meet our expectations, and we are aiming to sell approximately another 1 million units within this fiscal year. We aim to sustain long-term sales by encouraging players to enjoy the game over time through the continued support of the title including ongoing release of additional downloadable content.
Sega notes that its overall performance in the first half of the current fiscal year has been somewhat disappointing, citing lower-than-expected sales in the gaming division along with Rovio's performance in the entertainment sector.
The presentation highlights Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties as a major full game release for the fiscal year, but we suspect it will probably want a few more big-hitters as the wider industry grapples with uncertain economies and price hikes across the board.