DLC and back catalog sales drove Sega’s ‘strong’ second-quarter games business

Sega posted its second quarter financials for the 2024-2025 financial year, and its older and post-launch output led the pack.

The quarter ended on September 30, 2024, and the company’s games (or Entertainment Contents) business specifically saw a “strong performance” thanks mainly to DLC for its various titles. The overall division posted 41.7 billion yen ($927.9 million) in net sales and 18.7 billion yen ($122.4 million) for operating income, up respectively by 16.4 percent and 136.7 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023-2024.

Sega’s game sales for 2024-2025’s second fiscal quarter.

Sega’s shareholder letter praised DLC expansions for Creative Assembly’s Total War series as a standout, along with “the expansion into subscription services for catalog titles.”

Meanwhile, full-game sales were a tale of two stories: thanks to new and old titles, the sub-segment grew 18.4 percent and made a combined 27.7 billion yen. New games specifically made 5.6 billion yen, and sales fell from 3.9 billion yen to 1.7 billion yen between the first and second quarters.

While those new game sales were “sluggish” in the first quarter, Sega still spotlighted Metaphor: ReFantazio and Sonic x Shadow Generations, which both sold over 1 million copies a day into their individual launches.

Full-game sales for Sega’s recent fiscal years.

Sega’s back catalog fared better, despite also having a drop. Older titles like Unicorn Overlord had a “strong” performance, and the sub-segment saw a slight dip from 11.2 billion yen to 10.9 billion yen in the same quarterly timeframe.

In the same earnings report, Sega also revealed it sold off Endless Dungeon developer Amplitude Studios, in what’s been deemed an “extraordinary loss” of around 5.9 billion yen.