Net sales and profits are down at Sega Sammy, which just released its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2020.
According to the fiscal report, net sales dipped by 33.5 percent to 48.3 billion yen ($454.4 million), while profits were non-existent, with the company instead reporting a loss of 3.3 billion yen ($31 million).
Sega said that downturn was due to losses incurred by its Pachislot and Panchinko, Amusement Machine, and Resort businesses, which have all been “heavily influenced” by COVID-19.
Despite that overall decline, sales increased within the company’s consumer sub-segment, which houses its digital and packaged games business.
Sales in the sub-division rose to 32.4 billion yen ($304.8 million) from 26.7 billion yen ($251.2 million), with Sega attributing that upswing to the stay-at-home measures being used to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sega revealed that full game sales amounted to 12.98 million copies, which is roughly double the 6.49 million copies it sold during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Full game sales revenue totalled 14.4 billion yen ($135.4 million), with digital sales accounted for 66.5 percent of that total.
The Total War series was Sega’s best performer, bringing in 1.9 million sales during the quarter, while the Persona and Football Manager franchises amassed 1.2 million and 900,000 sales respectively. Sonic the Hedgehog, meanwhile, racked up approximately 800,000 sales.
Free-to-play titles also recorded “steady performances,” with Phantasy Star Online 2 leading the charge after making its North American debut in April 2020.
“In the consumer field, enjoying entertainment at home and other types of cocooning consumption grew as a result of people refraining from going out due to the impact of COVID-19, boosting demand for games,” explained the company.
“In addition, the game market is expected to further revitalize and expand on a global scale, with an increase in download sales, the upcoming launch of new platforms, revenue opportunities from new business models and services, and the development of technologies and infrastructure such as 5G and the Cloud.”
Based on its current performance and the expected impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Sega is forecasting consolidated net sales of 277 billion yen ($2.6 billion). Profits are expect to be recorded as a loss of 17 billion yen ($159.9 million)
