Sega says strong reviews for its recent games aren’t yet translating to better sales
The Sonic publisher is aiming to improve its marketing and sales practices
Sega says the “relatively high acclaim” its modern games receive has not yet translated to higher sales, and that it’s aiming to improve its marketing and sales practices as a result.
In the last 18 months, Sega and Atlus have released a roster of critical hits, including Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (Metacritic 87), Two Point Museum (Metacritic 84), Metaphor: ReFantazio (Metacritic 94), Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (Metacritic 82), and more.
However, in its latest financial results Q&A, Sega claims that these “high valuations” of its recent titles haven’t translated to improved sales. While it did not mention any specific titles, the publisher recently called out last year’s CrossWorlds as not having met its initial sales expectations.
Asked what it sees as future challenges for its full game titles, Sega responded: “While the development costs per title for our mainstay titles are lower compared to so-called AAA titles in the industry, we recognize that our strength lies in the relatively high acclaim we receive for quality.”
It added: “On the other hand, we also recognize that such high evaluations have yet to translate into a further increase in unit sales.
“While continuing to hone our development capabilities—the source of our strength—we believe there is still significant room for improvement and earnings upside in our ‘power to sell,’ namely our marketing and sales mechanisms. As explained earlier, we are currently undergoing reforms in this area to realize a scale-up in sales.”
The publisher said it recognizes that it’s “lagging” in initiatives such as digital sales and data-driven marketing, areas in which other big Japanese game makers, such as Capcom, excel in.
Sega said it’s currently reviewing its publishing organization, which is divided by region, and will transition to a structure with a more unified global strategy.
“We will strengthen data analysis to optimize digital sales pricing by region and shift our marketing focus from individual new releases to an IP-based approach, aiming to maximize sales over the long term, including repeat sales,” it said.
The earnings Q&A was answered jointly by Sega Sammy president Haruki Satomi and group CFO Koichi Fukazawa.
Sega and industry veteran Shuji Utsumi took over as president in 2024, and has notably put efforts into globalizing the company’s development approach, following a prolonged period when most of its successes were coming out of Europe.
“We decided to have the Japanese and international [versions] launching at the same time. And having [all the] platforms, including PC, at the same time, too,” he told The Game Business last summer. “And then preparing the marketing documents for the international market at the same time.
“In the past we were Japan-first, video game-first and then [we’d] move into the global market. By changing the system, studios started to prepare for things at the earliest stages, and this has helped their thinking process when developing a game.”
