Sega has released its financial summary for the first quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal year, and things aren't looking too good for the Sonic and Persona studio, although the outlook for the rest of the year is a little rosier.
As revealed in Sega's latest financial presentation, sales and income for the company's core gaming segment have fallen when compared to the same period last year. Sega puts this down to "repeat sales", i.e. sales of games from its back catalog, performing "weaker compared to expectations".
Indeed, across the board, Sega's sales are down by around 23%, with income also falling significantly. Despite this, Sega says its first quarter "exceeded expectation", with the company's pachislot and pachinko machine segment getting "off to a good start" this year.
According to Sega, its releases for this quarter, which include titles like June's Raidou Remastered and a remaster of Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, performed "as expected", as did the company's existing free-to-play offerings.
Additionally, Persona 5: The Phantom X, a free-to-play game released in the West in June, has gotten off to a steady start, according to Sega. Unfortunately, these games weren't enough to make up for a shortfall in back catalog sales for Sega.
The company's forecast for the rest of the year is looking a little more optimistic, however. Sega reckons it'll do better this year than last when it comes to sales, driven largely by the release of new Sonic Racing and Football Manager titles later in 2025.
Indeed, Sega's first quarter may have been a little more lucrative had the studio not canceled Football Manager 25 in order to focus on its successor earlier this year, but from a quality perspective, that was likely the right decision to take.
If you want to get stuck into the numbers, you can check out a full breakdown of Sega's first-quarter financials right here. Stay tuned for more.
