Since its launch in November 2022 last year, Sonic Frontiers has sold over 3.2 million copies, contributing to a net sales increase for publisher Sega.
In its fiscal report for the year ended March 31, 2023, Sega showcased this achievement and revealed a 19.9 percent year-on-year increase in net sales for its Entertainment Contents segment, totaling 282.8 billion yen ($2 billion). Ordinary income rose by 11.7 percent to 41.1 billion yen ($302 million) during the same period.
Sonic Is Still Popular In The Modern Era
Sega attributed the “strong performance” of new titles like Sonic Frontiers and Persona 5 Royal (Remaster) to this growth, and also highlighted the success of freemium titles such as Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! featuring Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis and Hatsune Miku.
The Japanese company provided more context by stating that new title sales reached 10.1 million units, up from 8.7 million units in the previous fiscal year. However, Sega described catalogue sales as “sluggish,” totaling 17.8 million units in FY2023 compared to 18.4 million units in FY2022.
Overall, the company sold 27.9 million software units, marking a slight increase from the 27.2 million copies sold the previous year.
As an interesting side note, Sega disclosed that Sonic titles sold a combined 8.15 million units during the fiscal year, with Sonic Frontiers’ 3.2 million sales accounting for almost 40 percent of sales of the franchise during the last 12 months.
Looking forward, Sega anticipates increased sales of new titles and stable earnings from free-to-play projects to help its Entertainment Contents business achieve net sales of 305 billion yen by the conclusion of the upcoming fiscal year which ends on March 31st, 2024. The company also forecasts operating income to reach 43.5 billion yen.
Significantly, Sega projects full game software sales of 34.5 million units by the end of FY2024, with new releases expected to make up 14.1 million of those sales.