Sega Sammy profits up despite faltering video game sales

Japanese entertainment outfit Sega Sammy has posted its financials for the nine month period ending December 31, 2015, with the company returning to profit despite stuttering game sales. 

Looking at the business as a whole, net sales fell to 245 billion yen ($2.1 billion), a year-over-year drop of 8.5 percent. Profits, on the other hand, clocked in at 6.5 billion yen ($55.5 million), a shift in fortunes considering the company posted a loss of 2.77 billion yen ($23 million) at this point last year. 

Within Sega’s entertainment contents business, which is responsible for the company’s video game releases, net sales suffered a setback, dropping by 3.5 percent to 143.6 billion yen ($1.23 billion) by the end of December. 

Breaking that figure down, digital games were Sega’s best performers, bringing in 39.9 billion yen ($340.6 million) over that nine month period - which was still a year-over-year dip of 5 percent. 

The decline of Sega’s physical releases was even more pronounced, with the company taking in 28.9 billion yen ($246.7 million) from its packaged games, a drop of 17 percent on the previous year. 

Sega had previously cut its forecasts for this financial year, mainly as a result of its faltering pachinko business - which forced the company to offer voluntary retirement to around 200 employees back in September 2015. 

As it stands, Sega Sammy is expecting to end the financial year with overall net sales totaling 335 billion yen ($2.85 billion).