Sega has released its Q1 financial report for the three months ending 30th June 2024, and while net sales are down 3.2% year-on-year, the company’s entertainment division (which includes video games) is up 34% (via GamesIndustry.biz).
A large part of this increase has been attributed to the developer’s acquisition of Rovio, the maker of the hugely popular Angry Birds franchise. Sega acquired the company back in August 2023, and it seems to have given it a bit of a boost this quarter, where it made 8.7 billion yen.
Ordinary income is up 181%, with Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance being one of the company’s key sellers for the period. The enhanced release of Shin Megami Tensei V sold 500,000 copies in just three days, which is pretty impressive. The Sonic the Hedgehog movies also continue to perform well, and with the third film out in December 2024, Sega expects its profits to stay strong.
Persona 5 Royal also helped boost Persona series sales by a further 790k units. That means the series has sold around 9 million copies since April 2022. Other “repeat titles” (essentially, games launched before the current period) mentioned by Sega include Vanillaware’s brilliant tactical RPG Unicorn Overlord, the latest Yakuza/Like A Dragon title Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and the Persona 3 remake Persona 3 Reload, which are continuing to sell well for the company.
Even though overall profits are down — which the company puts down to the successful launch of its Smart Pachislot Hokuto No Ken in the same period last year — things are looking good for Sega. We’ve mentioned Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but the company also has Sonic X Shadow Generations on the horizon. Plus, for non-Switch owners, there’s Atlus’ new IP Metaphor: ReFantazio and the mobile party game Sonic Rumble.
Let us know what you think of Sega’s financials in the comments.
