Sega Holiday Sales Were 'Weak'

A recent financial report from Sega has indicated that its sales of new games during the Holidays were rather sluggish. Sega had an incredibly active 2023, publishing roughly 15 titles from its catalog of IPs. Some of these were re-releases and smaller-scale titles, like ports of Persona 4 Golden to other consoles, the Etrian Odyssey collection, and Samba de Amigo: Party Central.

2023 also saw the release of brand-new Sega titles in its most prominent AAA franchises, including Sonic Superstars, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, and Persona 5 Tactica. Other releases in the year included games from Sega's European branch, like Creative Assembly's Total War: Pharaoh or Amplitude Studios' Endless Dungeon. Despite 2023 being a good year for Sega releases, it was also reportedly a slow year in terms of new game sales, especially during the 2023 holiday period.

According to Sega's latest financial report, despite having a rise in overall sales and profit, there was a decrease in sales for new titles. As a result of these weaker sales, Sega adjusted its sales and profit forecast for the upcoming financial year. «In the Consumer area, although we released some new titles in Q3, including Sonic Superstars, Endless Dungeon, and Total War: Pharaoh, sales went sluggish during the holiday sales season,» said Sega. «As a result of these factors, etc., both sales and ordinary income are expected to be lower than previous forecast.» These reports do not include the record-breaking sales numbers for Persona 3 Reload and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Sega states that sales in Europe and the United States are the main areas that were struggling, citing that the «worsening economic environment» has reached a plateau, among other factors. Inflating game development costs were also cited in this report, stating that there is an «urgent» need to respond to this changing environment. Sega expects the game market to continue growing, along with its platform diversity,