Topic: Sega Reports First Quarter Losses

[Flames_of_chaos]

Even with strong Wii software sales, Sega reported a net loss in the first quarter of their fiscal year.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=19145

 Sega Sammy, the parent company of Sega, has reported a decline in sales and a net loss in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year ending in June. Sega's revenues totaled $638.44 million, a decline of 16 percent from last year. They also suffered a net loss of $108.66 million in the first quarter, slightly lower than the net loss of $111.19 million that the company reported a year prior.    

Sega has also revealed sales figures for their two latest titles, The Conduit and Virtua Tennis 2009. The company reported that 150,000 copies of The Conduit have been sold in North America and Europe. Virtua Tennis 2009 managed to be a bigger success for Sega, selling a total of 790,000 copies across Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in North America and Europe. The company has not reported platform-specific sales numbers for VT2009.    

Sega sold a total of 2.65 million copies of software worldwide in the first quarter. Across all platforms, they sold the most software on Wii, with 550,000 copies sold.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Mario & Sonic Resort will fix those financials.

[Flames_of_chaos]

If anyone is curious about the console software sales breakdown (cumulatively)    Wii - 550,000  PS3 - 310,000 Xbox 360 - 200,000.

[Stogi]

"Go to where the market is"

Now if they focused all their efforts on the Wii, they'd be in business.

[broodwars]

"Go to where the market is"

Now if they focused all their efforts on the Wii, they'd be in business.

If they focused all their efforts on the Wii, we wouldn't have Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 (and soon to be PSP) and the world would be a much sadder place.   

[TJ Spyke]

But Sega would be better off financially, Valkyria Chronicles bombed.

[broodwars]

But Sega would be better off financially, Valkyria Chronicles bombed.

It did alright in North America and did quite well in Japan.  Sega had the brilliant idea to launch that game last November in the midst of a lot of high-profile games, which does not help the sales of any new IP (especially a niche strategy game like VC).  Still, the sales have recovered nicely since the recent (temporary?) price drop the game got and all the good "word of mouth" that got out on the game.  In any case, I'd rather Sega be putting their efforts into new IPs rather than raping what's left of the Sonic franchise again.  That'll pay off for them in the future, just as so far it apparently has with the Wii M-rated trinity this year.

[NWR_Lindy]

Madworld, The Conduit, and HOTD: Overkill all had underwhelming sales, so I highly doubt a title like Valkyria Chronicles (which is just as niche) would have done any better on Wii (it also wouldn't be nearly as good visually, a key factor in VC's appeal).  Sega makes a lot of niche games, tries to convince everybody they're a big deal, and is then baffled when they don't do well at retail.  They remind of pre-Cooking Mama Majesco.

[broodwars]

Madworld, The Conduit, and HOTD: Overkill all had underwhelming sales, so I highly doubt a title like Valkyria Chronicles (which is just as niche) would have done any better on Wii (it also wouldn't be nearly as good visually, a key factor in VC's appeal).  Sega makes a lot of niche games, tries to convince everybody they're a big deal, and is then baffled when they don't do well at retail.  They remind of pre-Cooking Mama Majesco.

Hasn't Sega been trying to convince us for a couple months now that they're "satisfied" with the sales of at least Madworld and HOTD:Overkill?  Yeah, they weren't all that great, but if the production costs to make them were low enough it might not matter so much.

EDIT: And btw, saying VC "wouldn't be nearly as good visually" on the Wii is quite the understatement (for those of you curious: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-valkyria-chronicles/42355 ), but there's quite a few gameplay elements I wish Nintendo would blatantly copy for their own Fire Emblem series.  Alright, that's the last time I'll plug VC here, I promise.   

[NWR_Lindy]

Yeah, that's their spin on it.  "Long tail" and all that.  Pretty much grabbing at straws in my opinion, but if they can make money selling those games at $20 or less, more power to them.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Madworld, The Conduit, and HOTD: Overkill all had underwhelming sales, so I highly doubt a title like Valkyria Chronicles (which is just as niche) would have done any better on Wii (it also wouldn't be nearly as good visually, a key factor in VC's appeal).  Sega makes a lot of niche games, tries to convince everybody they're a big deal, and is then baffled when they don't do well at retail.  They remind of pre-Cooking Mama Majesco.

What I find funny is that Valkyria Chronicles 2 is for PSP. In E3 '08, Sony mistakingly showed VC1 as PSP game. It's obvious that Sega thinks that VC2 will sell more on PSP than on PS3.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Madworld, The Conduit, and HOTD: Overkill all had underwhelming sales, so I highly doubt a title like Valkyria Chronicles (which is just as niche) would have done any better on Wii (it also wouldn't be nearly as good visually, a key factor in VC's appeal).  Sega makes a lot of niche games, tries to convince everybody they're a big deal, and is then baffled when they don't do well at retail.  They remind of pre-Cooking Mama Majesco.

That is true, though HOTD:O was profitable at least.

[noname2200]

"Go to where the market is"

Now if they focused all their efforts on the Wii, they'd be in business.

If they focused all their efforts on the Wii, we wouldn't have Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 (and soon to be PSP) and the world would be a much sadder place.   

While it's true that a VC-less world would be a less happy world, a world with VC on the Wii would have personally made me a happier man. I'm going to have to go with Yashogi on this one.