Sales and losses down at Sega

Japanese developer and publisher Sega has announced mixed results for the quarter ending June 30th 2009, with the period bringing a decrease in the firm’s operating losses – but also an annual decline in software sales.

Net sales for the period reached YEN 60.47m, a decline of 19 per cent year-on-year. However, operating loss was also down, climbing from YEN 10.3m in the same period in 2008 to YEN 7.82m this year. Net loss was down from YEN 10.53m to YEN 10.3m.



Europe was the publisher’s leading territory in the console space, with total software sales in the region hitting 1.1m units. This compares to 990,000 in North America and 530,000 in Japan.



The consumer business in isolation suffered a 40.8 per cent decline in sales, with operating loss climbing from YEN 4.1m last year to YEN 4.5m this time out.



Sega’s pachinko arcade business enjoyed a strong quarter, with the overall struggles in the sector in Japan being balanced out by the thirst for newer replacement machines. Overall the pachinko business enjoyed record quarterly sales of YEN 19.76m, a 60 per cent year-on-year increase.



Sales in Sega’s arcade machine division declined by 42 per cent to YEN 8.42m. Its arcade centre operations saw an 18.9 per cent decline in sales.



A statement from the firm read: Corporate business performance and the employment outlook in Japan worsened, and weak personal consumption persisted, due to the global economic recession that has grown more acute since last year.



In the home video game software industry, growth in demand for software has levelled off in Japan and North America, due to the popularization of the current generation of game platforms. Nevertheless, demand remains relatively firm in Europe.”