Sega’s Gaming Division Sees 13% Sales Decline

Sure, here’s a rewrite of the article:

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So, Sega, that big shot in Japanese gaming—oh, you know them, right?—just dropped word about their first quarter, fiscally speaking. Apparently, sales took a 13% nosedive. Figures, right?

The part of Sega that deals with your average home-gamer stuff—let’s call it their “Consumer vertical” just ’cause it sounds fancy—raked in ¥44.6 billion. That’s about $301 million if you’ve been daydreaming instead of doing math. Last year, same time, they pulled in ¥51.3 billion. Quick math says that’s a 13% drop. Ouch. What’s worse? Their games’ operating income just plummeted, doing a 66% faceplant. From ¥8.9 billion down to ¥5.2 billion. Money doesn’t grow on hedges, huh? Take that, Sonic.

Now, Sega’s tried to put on their best poker face. They said games sales were “steady.” Which is kind of funny when steady means “down by 33%”—from ¥3.9 billion to ¥2.6 billion. Catalogue sales went all wibbly-wobbly too, diving 21.4%.

Anyway—wait, I’m jumping ahead of myself—looking at the whole year’s picture, Sega’s got this hopeful glint in their eye. Seems they’re pinning dreams on Sonic Racing: Crossworlds and the Football Manager title doing big things. Fingers crossed, eh?

And oh, Sega Sammy—the parent bunch—reported a 22.7% fall in net sales. Down to a mere ¥81 billion. So what are they doing with all that cash? No idea. Probably something lucrative. Or not. Who knows.