Sega Sammy raises forecasts, despite losses driven by COVID-19

November 11th, 2020, 17:29 Posted By: wraggster

Sega Sammy has reported operating losses and decreased sales for the first half of its financial year -- but still raised its full-year forecasts.
The company reported sales of ¥110.2 billion ($1.1 billion) for the six months ended September 30 -- down 33% year-on-year from ¥165.5 billion ($1.6 billion).
It posted an operating loss of ¥3 billion ($29 million), down from an operating income ¥14.6 billion ($141.2 million) in the same period last year. Operating loss was recorded at ¥3.5 billion ($33.8 million), down from an operating income of ¥12.6 billion ($121.9 million).
Within this, the Entertainment Contents division -- which includes both its video games and amusement businesses -- showed sales were down 16% from ¥115.7 billion ($1.1 billion) to ¥97 billion ($938.6 million).
However, the division saw increases in operating and ordinary income, up 13% and 30% to ¥14.9 billion ($144.2 million) and ¥16.8 billion ($162.6 million) respectively.
This segment of the business fared well thanks to increased appetite for video games during the coronavirus pandemic and increased download sales thanks to "the advance of digitalisation."
Sega Sammy expects the games market to continue to thrive thanks to the arrival of Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, as well as the increased possibilities afforded by cloud gaming and the spread of 5G infrastructure.
During the six months, the company sold over 19 million games -- up from 12 million during the first half of the previous fiscal year. This was driven by a mix of back catalogue sales and new titles like A Total War Saga: Troy.
These successes helped offset the sharp losses seen in the company's resorts business, as well as the slow recovery of its pachinko segment.
Sega Sammy notes the pachislot and pachinko industry has shown a "gradual recovery" since the state of emergency lifted in Japan, a measure introduced to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...en-by-covid-19

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