SEGA Announces Profit, Bayonetta Sales

SEGA has announced that overall revenue for the company went down by 7.7% for the nine months of 2009, which ended on December 31 compared to the same period in 2008.

The good news is that despite the slowing sales, SEGA has managed to turn a profit, something not attained in the final nine months of 2008. Income is now sitting at 16.95 billion Yen, which is the equivalent of about 189.68 million dollars. The profit can be attributed to better overall management and to the turn around measures the company implemented.

The stagnant Japanese market and the unfavorable exchange rate for the Yen were to blame for holding back SEGA, which has relied heavily on Bayonetta and on Sonic to generate sales, even as its arcade machine business is seeing further decline. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games managed to reach 5.67 million units in sales, while the recently launched Bayonetta has already moved more than 1.1 million copies.

A statement from SEGA reads, “While domestic sales were mostly firm thanks to streamlining the development by narrowing down the titles, overseas sales were weaker than expected following the adverse market condition, and also, the launch of some titles was postponed to the next fiscal year.”

At the moment, SEGA is gearing up for the release of Napoleon: Total War, the Creative Assembly created strategy title that it publishes. The game combines real-time tactical battles with turn-based overall moves and aims to allow players to conduct the conquests of Napoleon in the early XIX century or thwart them when playing as his enemies.

The game promises to improve on the engine and the mechanics used in Empire: Total War, while introducing a more capable Artificial Intelligence and offering a narrower, narrative-driven single player experience.