SEGA announced a shift in its game development strategy, focusing on fewer new releases but increased investment in its core studios. That means the flagship games won’t be affected, but we may see some projects canceled.
During an earnings Q&A, the company was asked about its plans for the next fiscal year, which runs from April 2025 until March 2026. SEGA said it would release fewer full games overall. The company stated, “Atlus is an important studio for us to expand Japanese IPs overseas and we think it is necessary to strengthen it, and the studios involved in the Sonic and Like a Dragon IPs are also short of staff, and we are looking to reinforce personnel through additional hiring and M&A.”
So basically, Persona, Sonic, and Yakuza / Like A Dragon won’t be touched, since those are the golden children. These games tend to make a lot of money and have a lot of support and loyal fanbases. It’d be strange to see them get reduced.
This current year saw the release of over seven full titles, including Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Sonic X Shadow Generations, and Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Despite the reduction in full game releases, SEGA said, “we expect continuous revenue contribution from repeat sales of new titles in Full Game this fiscal year and full-scale revenue contribution from new titles in F2P.”
Financial performance during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (ending December 31, 2024) showed nearly 20 million new game sales, with notable success for Sonic X Shadow Generations (over 2 million units) and Metaphor: ReFantazio (over 1 million units). Sales of older titles also did well, reaching nearly 12 million units, boosted by titles such as Persona 5 Royal, Unicorn Overlord, and various Sonic games.
There’s no guarantee of what SEGA means when it says, “The plan is currently being formulated, but we expect the volume of new titles in Full Game to be lower than this fiscal year.” That could always mean that more games will be delayed until next year, but that means the company will pay for the development of games and have fewer games pulling in revenue.
Developing games costs money, a lot of money. The goal of a company is to earn revenue, and having fewer games come out means less revenue. An easy way to inflate profit is to discontinue projects that may not have a chance at generating enough revenue to meet their costs. That’s why fewer games coming may mean killing projects.
Since SEGA may not release as many as planned, that could mean that promised revivals and games may get canceled. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds likely has nothing to worry about, but Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, and Project Century, in addition to legacy IP revivals likeVirtua Fighter, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Golden Axe, and Streets of Rage may be on the chopping block.
The Crazy Taxi reboot, in particular, is being developed as a triple-A title by SEGA Sapporo, a studio established in 2021. Rumors suggest it is likely going to be a massively multiplayer online game, which is a big risk. However, the payoff for an MMO is pretty high, which is why it gets invested in.
We will have to wait and see what SEGA will do this year, but it’s easy to imagine SEGA’s reduction will come at the cost of at least one of five classic IP revivals (Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage). Announcing a reduction in game releases may be SEGA’s way of preparing stockholders and players for some disappointing news down the road.
Source: VGC
