The sharp increase in turnover and profits that we can see in this table is therefore not to be credited to Sega’s video game activity, which shows declining figures over the same period. The Entertainment Contents segment, which brings together video games in all their forms, still posted an operating profit of 46 million euros, but far from last year’s 86 million euros. And if turnover is increasing (752 million euros), we must take into account the reinforcement of Rovio, the acquisition of which was finalized last August.
Sega is not always stronger than you
Sega recognizes it, the new releases of the semester have disappointed on the commercial level. It must be said that between Sonic Origins Plus, Samba de Amibo: Party Central, Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection and the console releases of Company of Heroes 3 and Humankind, the program was not really strong. The second fiscal half (October 2023 – March 2024) looks more promising with titles like Total War: Pharaoh, Sonic Superstars, Football Manager 2024, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 3 Reload and Unicorn Overlord , the next game from Vanillaware.
Thus, Sega distributed 10.5 million games in the first fiscal half (including 2.7 million Sonic games, 1.4 million Persona games and 1.2 million Yakuza games) but plans to sell 17.5 million more in the second half. By adding to this high-performance mobile games (Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage in the lead) despite the upcoming closure of the flop 404 Game re:set, and the reinforcement of Rovio, Sega anticipates an annual turnover of 1.4 billion euros and an operating profit of 186.5 million euros.
Remember that Sega has entered a period of restructuring in order to improve its profitability, notably signing the spectacular cancellation of Hyenas and other unannounced games, while carrying out layoffs at Creative Assembly and Relic Entertainment. Despite these layoffs, Sega’s workforce took a big leap due to the integration of Rovio, going from 6,169 to 6,699 employees. This will be necessary to ensure the development of the “Super Game” project, a vague name designating a series of major productions with higher ambitions than usual. A carrot that Sega continues to brandish under the noses of shareholders by evoking the 2025-2026 fiscal year as the exit horizon.