Sega suffers sales and operating income dip although Sonic and Aliens pass 1m units sold

Japanese publisher Sega Sammy has reported an 18.7 per cent drop in net sales for the year ending March 31st 2013.

In total the numbers fell from 395,502m to 321,407m. Operating income dropped 67.3 per cent to 19,073m.

However, a number of factors including sales of investment securities, employee pension fund changes, subsidiary liquidations and tax issues led to a 53.3 per cent jump in net income to 33,460m.

Net sales at the company’s consumer business (home to its video games operations) fell two per cent to 84,740m while operating losses fell from 15,182m in 2012 to 732m.

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed was the company’s best selling game in the period, shifting 1.36m units in the US and Europe. Aliens: Colonial Marines lagged just behind with 1.31m sales.

Football Manager 2013 has sold 940k copies while Olympic tie-in London 2012 sold 680k.

Digital sales accounted for 46 per cent of the company’s overall software output. Sega expects roughly the same in its current financial year.

Sega Sammy predicts a moderate recovery for the Japanese economy in the year ahead although the company has pledged to rationalise” its packaged game software business in an effort to establish a structure that can consistently generate profit”.

It also expressed its intentions to publish on next-generation consoles and to address the expanding market for new content in the field of digital game software”.

It predicts a 50.9 per cent jump in net sales and a 282.7 per cent increase in operating income for the current financial year.