Falls in Sega’s FY2025 revenue cushioned by “strong” performance in game and entertainment division

Sega Sammy has published its results for the financial year ending March 31, 2025. Despite an overall 8.5% drop in net sales and a 16.8% fall in operating income, ordinary income from its entertainment contents, which includes its video games division, was up from ¥30.8bn in 2024 to ¥41.8bn.

The company attributes the hike to a “strong performance of high-margin repeat sales” in its back catalog, in part due to the Sonic movies, DLC sales, and license revenue despite the cancelation of Football Manager 25.

The numbers:

For the 12 months ended March 31, 2025

• Net sales: ¥428.9 billion ($2.89 billion, down 8.5% year-on-year)
• Operating income: ¥48.1 billion ($323 million, down 16.8% year-on-year)
• Ordinary income: ¥53.1 billion ($357 million, down 11.1% year-on-year)

Sega reported “mainstay” new titles have performed well and noted repeat sales “went strong” despite the cancelation of Football Manager 25. Free-to-play titles “performed as expected” with strong DLC sales and licensing revenue buoyed by the “positive impact of exchange rate fluctuations.”

The Japanese megacorp also reported “steady expansion of IP value through transmedia development,” including strong sales of Sonic x Shadow Generations, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii during the fiscal period, but did not share concrete sales data. It did, however, report Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has now surpassed $490 million worldwide at the box office.

Looking ahead, the company anticipates releasing Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, “and other new titles” during the next financial year, as well as launch free-to-play titles Sonic Rumble and Persona 5: The Phantom X, the latter of which is set to launch in Japan later this year after it debuted in China in 2024.

Sega also plans to “strengthen the operations for existing and new titles at Rovio” and affirmed its commitment to its beleaguered Football Manager series with a release in 2026, as well as “further development” of its Total War series. A sequel for Alien Isolation is also on the way.

The “revival of Legacy IP” like Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, and more are also “underway.”

Sega specifically noted plans to continue scaling up transmedia and “global GaaS” opportunities, and will invest in legacy IPs, its “Super Game” portfolio, and animation IPs, as well as “regrow European business” with its Football Manager and Total War IPs.

The company summarized the impact of US tariff increases as “minimal at this time,” but noted it could affect sales of physical games.