Sega console game sector growth driven by Vanillaware’s Unicorn Overlord, big profits from Sonic and Metaphor: ReFantazio expected 

Sega Sammy Holdings released their consolidated financial results for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 (April 1 to September 30). The operating profits from their consumer sector (referring to console games and F2P mobile titles) quadrupled to 12.4 billion yen while sales rose 21.9% (year-on-year) to 95.6 billion yen.  

For console releases, catalogue game sales made up over 80% of net sales, including Persona and Sonic games released before the current financial year (source: Data Appendix FY2023/3 Q2). In their results presentation, the Sega Sammy group highlighted the continuous strong sales of Unicorn Overlord, the ambitious tactical RPG that took developer Vanillaware over 10 years to make.  

Sega console game profits in the 2025 fiscal year

Looking at the chart above, Sega Sammy recorded significant game sales in the second half of the last fiscal year (October 2023 to March 2024), especially of new titles. Similarly, profits from new releases are set to pick up in Quarter 3 of this year too (October to December 2024). Metaphor: ReFantazio (released October 11) and Sonic x Shadow Generations (released October 25) both surpassed 1 million units sold on their launch dates. The strong performance of these two titles will be reflected in the next quarter. 

Sega also plans to launch many more transmedia releases involving major IPs before the fiscal year ends on March 31, 2025. For the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, this includes the F2P mobile game Sonic Rumble and the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, both set to come out this winter. For Like a Dragon, there is the Amazon Prime adaptation that began streaming on October 25, as well as the game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, due to launch on February 21, 2025. Football Manager 25 is also part of Sega Sammy’s main IP rollout plan, and is planned to release in March 2025.