Sega Sammy profits slide 23 percent

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Feb 7th 2007 at 9:55PM }

The Sega Sammy group has experienced a 23 percent drop in profits within the first nine months of the financial year, reports Gamesindustry.biz. Net income (stay with us here) went down from $526 million (¥63.49 billion) to $409 million (¥49.38 billion), with sales dropping by 4 percent to $3.35 billion (¥404.29 billion). The current financial state of the company isn't nearly as interesting as the reason given for a drop in profits -- pachinko machines proving less than popular.

Pachinko machines are, of course, a notable aspect of Japanese gaming that Sammy brought along when it romantically joined hands with Sega. Though the company's net profit forecast remains unchanged for the full year, it's easy to observe the parallels between Sammy dragging profits down and Sammy dragging Sega down as a developer. The Ono-like arrival of the Pachinko maker is considered by many to be the turning point for what was once a brilliant and innovative developer. Then again, what good are brilliance and innovation when you can't pay the bills?

Tags: Pachinko, Sammy, Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog, SonicTheHedgehog

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rubang B @ Feb 7th 2007 10:04PM

I'd choose pachinko over any of the recent Sonic games.

ZING!

tmmoore_nc @ Feb 7th 2007 10:15PM

Hopefully Sonic and the Secret Rings will be good. Maybe if Sega goes under, Sonic Team will go to Nintendo. The good people at least.

adam @ Feb 7th 2007 10:20PM

They need to stop making crappy sonic games, and reestablish other franchises. I think anything with the word "Sonic" in it, most people tend to think twice about.
Bring back Virtual On, House of the Dead, Last Bronx, NiGHTS, Vector Man, Streets of Rage, Virtua Cop, Fighting Vipers, Daytona USA.

dsub @ Feb 7th 2007 10:46PM

Sega Sammy needs to make another Guilty Gear game for the new systems.

geostar @ Feb 8th 2007 11:53AM

I think they are banking on Sonic and the Secret Rings. If any title they are currently offering has a chance to sell very well it's this one. Sonic games sold the best on the Gamecube last gen. There's also Golden Axe coming up, we'll see how that turns out.

adam @ Feb 7th 2007 10:59PM

Forgot about that one dsub.

NintendoFanbot @ Feb 7th 2007 10:59PM

Apparently Wii is getting a conversion of the latest Guilty Gear Arcade game. :)

http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

I also hope that at least Sonic and the Secret Rings does decent, if not well.

And Sammy should put Silk-worm on VC. >.>

MrTroy @ Feb 7th 2007 11:40PM

They need me working for them.... but they refuse!

guises @ Feb 7th 2007 11:48PM

"it's easy to observe the parallels between Sammy dragging profits down and Sammy dragging Sega down as a developer."
------------------------------------

Sega and Sammy merged because Sega was doing so miserably financially. Sega has a history of doing very stupid things with money. I love Sega as a games developer, but if anyone is dragging the two down monetarily it's Sega. Remember that those pachinko machines are the only reason that the merged company is in the black at all.

crashburn321 @ Feb 8th 2007 12:49AM

#5. is it considered owning you if i was to say arc system works released guilty gear xx accent core last decemeber? segasammy is just the publisher, they dont develop the game...

Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Feb 8th 2007 12:58AM

Sega was a great company from 1984 to 2004 because of this company CSK http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSK

Once Sammy took over Sega, they suck. I don't consider Sammy-Sega Sega at all.

ssuk @ Feb 8th 2007 3:16AM

Yeah, make more franchise games, because the same thing wont happen to them as what happened to Sonic now, will it?

Strangler @ Feb 8th 2007 4:11AM

"Sega and Sammy merged because Sega was doing so miserably financially. Sega has a history of doing very stupid things with money. I love Sega as a games developer, but if anyone is dragging the two down monetarily it's Sega. Remember that those pachinko machines are the only reason that the merged company is in the black at all."

sony has been doing simialr moves lately as evidence by the way they are handling their advertising and their gaming systems of the ps3 and psp.

Myke Greywolf @ Feb 8th 2007 6:11AM

Get bought by Nintendo, already!

DrXym @ Feb 8th 2007 7:09AM

@12, you say that but in some ways the hardware gaming divisions are the loss leaders for Sony. PS3s sell Blu-ray and Bravia TVs for example.

nithron @ Feb 8th 2007 9:24AM

...
......
.......
BRING BACK JET SET RADIO!
*ahem*.
And make it not suck, okay?

samfish @ Feb 8th 2007 9:44AM

Well, when they finally sink and go out of business, I just hope Nintendo buys up all the properties first.

sheppy @ Feb 8th 2007 10:15AM

Yeah, because Nintendo never whores out their franchises constantly to the point where any novelty the idea once had is long gone....

Mario Party...

Matthew @ Feb 8th 2007 8:46PM

I'm more distressed by losing the possibility of more Guilty Gear than I am about losing more Sega franchises.

Darcrequiem @ Feb 9th 2007 12:07AM

Sheppy, what does Nintendo whoring out Mario have to do with anything. Nintendo is still putting out quality titles. Sega is whoring out Sonic and putting out crappy titles. If Sega was putting out quality titles like they did back in the Genesis/Saturn/Dreamcast days, no one would care about them whoring out Sonic. They'd be too busy playing games like Shining Force, Phantasy Star, Vectorman, Streets of Rage, Burning Rangers, NiGHTs, etc. to notice.