Hajime Satomi Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer - SEGA Sammy Holding
Sega Sammy Holdings Incorporated - the company that owns the SEGA we video gamers know and love (well, some bitter Nintendo old-schoolers might still be fighting ancient battles) - has posted a loss. That loss is apparently down to poor decision making when it came to a choice of PS3 over Wii development.
The video game (consumer games as opposed to arcade game) division saw an operating loss of 5.9 billion yen (£29.2 million) from the previous period's profit of 1.7 billion yen (£8.4 million) - this was apparently "due to slower sales of its video games in Japan."
Koichiro Ueda, head of Sega's public relations department, referred to the company's decision to release more games for the PS3 than Nintendo's best-selling Wii, saying, "As rebuilding our consumer video game business is crucial, we now need to review our game title strategy more flexibly to adapt ourselves to changes in the trend of the market".
The parent company has announced a 52.5 billion yen (£259.5 million) net loss for the year ending March 2008 - this is compared to its previous year's profit of 43.46 billion yen (£215.36 million). This turned into an operating loss of 5.8 billion yen (£28.7 million). This is down from a 76.53 billion (£378.8 million) profit in the year from April 2006 to March 2007.
Sega Sammy plans to close 110 of its 430 arcade outlets as well as cutting 400 jobs, "mainly at SEGA (the video game division)".
This must surely come as a blow to the operation in the UK at least, which has seen strong chart placings consistently with the likes of Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games, Iron Man: The Official Videogame, SEGA SuperStars Tennis.
These figures were, however, foreshadowed in the company's own report for the nine months ended December 31, 2007. This included the text, "In the consumer business, overseas videogame software sales were up compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year with strong sales of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
"However, domestic videogame software sales were down year on year. Sales volume in Japan and other regions totaled 1,880 thousand copies during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, while sales totaled 6,250 thousand copies in the U.S. and 6,520 thousand copies in Europe. Overall sales came to 14,650 thousand copies."
Sources: Hemscott
Thomson Financial
The video game (consumer games as opposed to arcade game) division saw an operating loss of 5.9 billion yen (£29.2 million) from the previous period's profit of 1.7 billion yen (£8.4 million) - this was apparently "due to slower sales of its video games in Japan."
Koichiro Ueda, head of Sega's public relations department, referred to the company's decision to release more games for the PS3 than Nintendo's best-selling Wii, saying, "As rebuilding our consumer video game business is crucial, we now need to review our game title strategy more flexibly to adapt ourselves to changes in the trend of the market".
The parent company has announced a 52.5 billion yen (£259.5 million) net loss for the year ending March 2008 - this is compared to its previous year's profit of 43.46 billion yen (£215.36 million). This turned into an operating loss of 5.8 billion yen (£28.7 million). This is down from a 76.53 billion (£378.8 million) profit in the year from April 2006 to March 2007.
Sega Sammy plans to close 110 of its 430 arcade outlets as well as cutting 400 jobs, "mainly at SEGA (the video game division)".
This must surely come as a blow to the operation in the UK at least, which has seen strong chart placings consistently with the likes of Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games, Iron Man: The Official Videogame, SEGA SuperStars Tennis.
These figures were, however, foreshadowed in the company's own report for the nine months ended December 31, 2007. This included the text, "In the consumer business, overseas videogame software sales were up compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year with strong sales of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
"However, domestic videogame software sales were down year on year. Sales volume in Japan and other regions totaled 1,880 thousand copies during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, while sales totaled 6,250 thousand copies in the U.S. and 6,520 thousand copies in Europe. Overall sales came to 14,650 thousand copies."
Sources: Hemscott
Thomson Financial
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 13 May 2008 11:45
1/14
SEGA need to stop blaming consoles they should just own up to the fact they are making crappy games that not many people are interested in buying.
All the SONIC games they have been releasing have been flops why dont they look back at the original Sonic games and do something with that?
Why not bring out a new Panzer Dragoon Orta? That was a superb game graphically and gameplay in my opinion and what about Valkerie?
SEGA did have some decent titles on the original Xbox and PS2 but in this gen they seem to have got rid of those great games they did have and are churning out rubbish.
I think Sega will be better off making games for the Wii and forget about the 360 and PS3.
I mean where the hell is the new GoldenAxe game???
All the SONIC games they have been releasing have been flops why dont they look back at the original Sonic games and do something with that?
Why not bring out a new Panzer Dragoon Orta? That was a superb game graphically and gameplay in my opinion and what about Valkerie?
SEGA did have some decent titles on the original Xbox and PS2 but in this gen they seem to have got rid of those great games they did have and are churning out rubbish.
I think Sega will be better off making games for the Wii and forget about the 360 and PS3.
I mean where the hell is the new GoldenAxe game???
schnide 13 May 2008 11:47
2/14
Koichiro Ueda, head of Sega's public relations department, referred to the company's decision to release more games for the PS3 than Nintendo's best-selling Wii, saying, "As rebuilding our consumer video game business is crucial, we now need to review our game title strategy more flexibly to adapt ourselves to changes in the trend of the market".
Well that's all very business-speak, but what you in fact need to do is start releasing games which all have something identifiable as a Sega brand and (as we've been saying for YEARS) stop releasing cash-in's such as Sonic The Hedgehog Takes A Dump.
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schnide 13 May 2008 11:51
3/14
Damn, you just pipped me.
You mean like the new NiGHTS? Er..
But yes, fair enough. That'd rock.
I think Sega just have to give up on Sonic. The 2D games are too old school to be updated anymore, and they just don't translate to 3D. They've also raped the golden ring out of the characters themselves to the point where any other decent game they're transferred into simply can't be taken seriously.
SuperSaiyan4 wrote:
I think Sega will be better off making games for the Wii and forget about the 360 and PS3.
You mean like the new NiGHTS? Er..
I mean where the hell is the new GoldenAxe game???
But yes, fair enough. That'd rock.
I think Sega just have to give up on Sonic. The 2D games are too old school to be updated anymore, and they just don't translate to 3D. They've also raped the golden ring out of the characters themselves to the point where any other decent game they're transferred into simply can't be taken seriously.
deleted 13 May 2008 12:24
4/14
Sega’s next Sonic effort will be the decider, also Biowares Sonic RPG if successful could be the way to go for home consoles, and forget the 2d-3d translation process, look at the success and shear greatness of Sonic on DS.
Why can’t Sega revert to 2D with some 3D slipped in a give an old school sonic on 360 or PS3 and Wii why must sonic be in 3D? nothing stops a game being good if it’s in 2D, I for one really enjoyed the Sonic DS series as a great retro feel and enjoyable game all round,
I haven’t enjoyed a sonic 3D game since well since they invented it, Sonic Adventure on dreamcast was only bought because it promised so much but in reality it gave nothing, I personally say either go 2D or forget the speed thing and use Mario as a guideline for making a great platformer using the Sonic brand, forget inserting Sonic into real world locations and keep it green hills, forget using action/drama with sonic and make it fun with humour,
At what point did Sega change Sonic to a Super Hero from being a weird animal saving hedgehog, when did it become a matter of saving green hills to saving earth and why did he go from saving cuddly wabbits and squirals to saving princesses and when did he focus less on speed and more on clipping with the environment!, when did Robotnik go from being a bumbling evil want to capture all cute animals and make them robots to being an ultimate evil “Eggman” who wants world domination in a world that isn’t even his own?
Its lost its way big time, and if they want to continue using sonic, they either need to go back to the original and forget all these special moves and crap just make the guy run, bounce and jump, collect rings and free ittle wabbits or take a page from Mario and make it a fun platformer.
Why can’t Sega revert to 2D with some 3D slipped in a give an old school sonic on 360 or PS3 and Wii why must sonic be in 3D? nothing stops a game being good if it’s in 2D, I for one really enjoyed the Sonic DS series as a great retro feel and enjoyable game all round,
I haven’t enjoyed a sonic 3D game since well since they invented it, Sonic Adventure on dreamcast was only bought because it promised so much but in reality it gave nothing, I personally say either go 2D or forget the speed thing and use Mario as a guideline for making a great platformer using the Sonic brand, forget inserting Sonic into real world locations and keep it green hills, forget using action/drama with sonic and make it fun with humour,
At what point did Sega change Sonic to a Super Hero from being a weird animal saving hedgehog, when did it become a matter of saving green hills to saving earth and why did he go from saving cuddly wabbits and squirals to saving princesses and when did he focus less on speed and more on clipping with the environment!, when did Robotnik go from being a bumbling evil want to capture all cute animals and make them robots to being an ultimate evil “Eggman” who wants world domination in a world that isn’t even his own?
Its lost its way big time, and if they want to continue using sonic, they either need to go back to the original and forget all these special moves and crap just make the guy run, bounce and jump, collect rings and free ittle wabbits or take a page from Mario and make it a fun platformer.
realvictory 13 May 2008 12:57
5/14
Well, I don't completely blame SEGA, but I can't deny that a proper new Sonic would be a brilliant idea.
Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis, etc, were pretty good, though, I thought. Still, I'm waiting for Outrun 3, to be honest.
Virtua Fighter, Sega Rally and Virtua Tennis, etc, were pretty good, though, I thought. Still, I'm waiting for Outrun 3, to be honest.
Joji 13 May 2008 13:43
6/14
I agree the Sonic DS games were a step in the right direction, they a true to what Sonic is all about , while dipping a toe in some cool 2d/3d bosses. On the flipside, the home console versions focused too much on 3d visuals, which can't be appreciated properly at speed. Were those home games 2D, with a high degree of 2d detail like say a Guilty Gear game, they would have been awesome and sold better.
Yeah, they were not the only ones to back PS3 by mistake, but it was an easy mistake to make. Sega hedged their bets well with some early 360 games, but kind of failed to build on that like they should have, with producing some new IP.
I look at Sega's excellent looking Valkyrie of the Battlefiled on PS3, and I see no reason why that game couldn't have been on 360 too, if not before hand. While Sega pushed out Viking recently, and we welcome something new, we still yearn some of their best licenses to be used. I hear Skies of Arcadia 2 is also going to PS3, but where is the 360 version, a console that needs such rpgs more, and sells more outside japan?
What should they be using? Stuff like MotorRaid, Daytona and Scud Race should be on Live and PSN DLC with online play. Stuff like Cosmic Smash and Planet Harrier should be gracing Wii too. Arcade stuff aside (since its clear Sega can't survive on such past efforts alone, Sega need to dig deep and revitalise the Shinobi series to match Ninja Gaiden, a free roaming Panzer Dragoon game with online play maybe. Burning Rangers and Jet Set Radio series still have great room for expansion in their series.
Sega have made a smart move, in a similar way to Capcom, by working and investing in western studios, which will reap kudos for them, if they look to create more cool new IP, but also remake those classic we love. Universe at War, Viking and Condemned 2 are cool steps in the right direction though. And with their games like Samba De Amigo and Space Channel 5 due on Wii (both which should do well with the casuals), Sega will be making up a lot of ground lost while waiting on PS3.
Yes, more games welcome on 360 too, please.
Yeah, they were not the only ones to back PS3 by mistake, but it was an easy mistake to make. Sega hedged their bets well with some early 360 games, but kind of failed to build on that like they should have, with producing some new IP.
I look at Sega's excellent looking Valkyrie of the Battlefiled on PS3, and I see no reason why that game couldn't have been on 360 too, if not before hand. While Sega pushed out Viking recently, and we welcome something new, we still yearn some of their best licenses to be used. I hear Skies of Arcadia 2 is also going to PS3, but where is the 360 version, a console that needs such rpgs more, and sells more outside japan?
What should they be using? Stuff like MotorRaid, Daytona and Scud Race should be on Live and PSN DLC with online play. Stuff like Cosmic Smash and Planet Harrier should be gracing Wii too. Arcade stuff aside (since its clear Sega can't survive on such past efforts alone, Sega need to dig deep and revitalise the Shinobi series to match Ninja Gaiden, a free roaming Panzer Dragoon game with online play maybe. Burning Rangers and Jet Set Radio series still have great room for expansion in their series.
Sega have made a smart move, in a similar way to Capcom, by working and investing in western studios, which will reap kudos for them, if they look to create more cool new IP, but also remake those classic we love. Universe at War, Viking and Condemned 2 are cool steps in the right direction though. And with their games like Samba De Amigo and Space Channel 5 due on Wii (both which should do well with the casuals), Sega will be making up a lot of ground lost while waiting on PS3.
Yes, more games welcome on 360 too, please.
schnide 13 May 2008 15:44
7/14
Sorry guys, but I disagree. Sega's future is not in 2D Sonic games. Sega's past is in 2D's Sonic games.
Which is kind of the problem they have - they don't have a handle on new franchises but have messed up their old ones. Maybe they could - although I think it's unlikely - make some more decent 2D Sonic games but even if they did, they simply wouldn't sell. They scream nostalgia and that's not going to have copies flying off the shelves.
So it might make for a good game, but it won't keep the company afloat for long. Sega need to tighten up and follow a model like Capcom, and really get their IP as well as their finances under control. Go back to nostalgia when you can afford it, update it to make it profitable as well as playable, or get a new in-house style that everyone will recognise and most importantly as a business, buy as well.
Which is kind of the problem they have - they don't have a handle on new franchises but have messed up their old ones. Maybe they could - although I think it's unlikely - make some more decent 2D Sonic games but even if they did, they simply wouldn't sell. They scream nostalgia and that's not going to have copies flying off the shelves.
So it might make for a good game, but it won't keep the company afloat for long. Sega need to tighten up and follow a model like Capcom, and really get their IP as well as their finances under control. Go back to nostalgia when you can afford it, update it to make it profitable as well as playable, or get a new in-house style that everyone will recognise and most importantly as a business, buy as well.
SuperSaiyan4 13 May 2008 16:00
8/14
So I assume you hate Street Fighter from Capcom because its in a 2D style?
deleted 13 May 2008 16:07
9/14
how do explain Sonic on DS being 2D being the best Sonic game since, the 2D platformers and also selling a load while at the same time escaping the retro-ness(is that a word?) of its past?
schnide 13 May 2008 17:25
10/14
SuperSaiyan4 wrote:
So I assume you hate Street Fighter from Capcom because its in a 2D style?
YES!
No, only joking. I don't "hate" Sonic or anything else 2D, I like a lot of 2D games but the mass market, which lets face it funds development whether for either niche or commercial titles, really isn't so fussed.
Yes it's a generalisation but Sonic, in my opinion, was a novelty that's past it's time. You could still take a game like Super Mario World or Street Fighter and reinvent it to make it relevant to today, but Sonic? I'm not so sure.
realvictory 13 May 2008 17:38
11/14
I wouldn't say backing the PS3 is a mistake; what I think was a mistake was making the wrong kind of games for specific consoles. If they had only done this, though, I would blame them, however they released quite a few good ones too, e.g. Sonic Rings, Sega Rally...
But it turned out that they put a lot of effort into the worse ideas, and hence ended up bastardising some of their best franchises.
They need to realise who they are, and get back to basics - all the way back to the basics, not simply "Sonic on the DS". They need to realise not only why Sonic in 2D is a good idea, but also what's wrong with Sonic in 3D.
Last of all, 3D is a fad. 2D is the best and always will be.
But it turned out that they put a lot of effort into the worse ideas, and hence ended up bastardising some of their best franchises.
They need to realise who they are, and get back to basics - all the way back to the basics, not simply "Sonic on the DS". They need to realise not only why Sonic in 2D is a good idea, but also what's wrong with Sonic in 3D.
Last of all, 3D is a fad. 2D is the best and always will be.
schnide 13 May 2008 22:09
12/14
realvictory wrote:
Last of all, 3D is a fad. 2D is the best and always will be.
This is true, I heard GTA V is going to be another top-down affair.
I hope they bring the Hari Krishna's back!
deleted 13 May 2008 22:26
13/14
schnide wrote:
realvictory wrote:
Last of all, 3D is a fad. 2D is the best and always will be.
This is true, I heard GTA V is going to be another top-down affair.
I hope they bring the Hari Krishna's back!
I heard its a 1D affair comprising of a single straight line critics estimating 20 million sales in the first week! although the budget of £8.76 means that each copy can be sold for 8 pence
schnide 14 May 2008 09:18
14/14
haritori wrote:
I heard its a 1D affair comprising of a single straight line
(That's still 2D, surely? - Metaphysics Ed)