Amidst a period of decreased profits at SEGA’s parent company, the Sonic the Hedgehog series still manages to remain at the top.
The video game series for the famous blue hedgehog recorded a cumulative total of five million unit sales after the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, which was between October to December 2023 on the calendar.
Despite the achievement, the number was a decrease of nearly two million unit sales when compared to the same time period last fiscal year.
Sonic’s performance was a reflection of the bigger picture at SEGA, as the publisher disclosed to investors that some of the new titles released in the reported quarter “performed weak.”
As expected, specific sales numbers regarding each title were not shown. Titles that were released between the quarter include Sonic Superstars, Total War: Pharaoh, Persona 5 Tactica, and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.
Although the sales in SEGA’s entertainment division by themselves have shown a growth of 4.2%, with ¥219.3 million JPY, this quarter has brought an ordinary income of ¥19.7 million JPY, a drop of roughly 52.5% year-on-year.
SEGA executives brought up possible reasons to explain the sluggish sales. CFO Koichi Fukazawa mentioned that Sonic Superstars released near other companies’ big releases, and that it could have hindered the starting sales.
It was also commented that the acquisition of Rovio increased “securities and goodwill” from investors, with it also being said that sales also have increased in some ways thanks to the acquisition of Rovio.
The company also commented that for its’ next quarter, new titles from the Like a Dragon and Persona series are expected to give a significant boost to its’ performance. With sales of both Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload at one million units each, SEGA believed that the year-end fourth quarter could be stronger than the third quarter.
