After two years of stinging losses, SEGA has announced that it has returned to profit – and it thanks its trusty mascot Sonic the Hedgehog for helping it get there.
According to a report on Gaming-Age, SEGA Corp in Tokyo revealed that it has hit an operating profit for the year ending March 31 of 14.2 billion yen ($110.9 million), recovering from a loss of 52 billion yen the past year.
It’s not totally great news – the company still suffers from a group net loss for the fifth year running, but it’s nowhere as big as it was last year. The loss narrowed to 17.8 billion yen for the year, from an eye-watering 51.7 billion yen the year prior.
Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as the SEGA Sports series and the lack of costs associated with handling a hardware business, have been credited to the surge in operating profits. However, due to the Japanese economy and the declining birth rate in Japan, SEGA also noted that it will reinforce efforts to appeal to Western markets with future game projects.
Source: Gaming-Age