Bayonetta platinum, Mario & Sonic sells 5.67 million

After leading its fiscal year off by posting a ¥10.29 billion ($115 million) loss on revenues down 19 percent year-over-year to ¥60.46 billion ($679 million), Sega Sammy has slowly been retaking ground. Reporting on the first nine months of its 2010 fiscal year today, Sega Sammy announced net sales of ¥285 billion ($3.19 billion), down just 7.7 percent from a year prior. The Japanese publisher also managed to get back in the black, posting a ¥16.9 billion ($189 million) profit for the April-December period.

Sega Sammy attributed its turnaround in large part to its pachislot and pachinko machine business in Japan. The segment posted revenues of ¥126 billion ($1.41 billion) during the nine-month period, up 17.7 percent from the year before. Operating income, which the publisher said was bolstered by increased sales and decreased cost of production, skyrocketed 409 percent during the period to ¥26.9 billion ($301 million).

As for the company's home gaming software business, Sega Sammy said that while the Japanese market remained strong, it saw sales declines in the US and Europe due to "adverse market conditions" and the delay of unspecified games to its next fiscal year. On the whole, Sega Sammy's home software business posted a net sales decline of ¥83.1 billion ($930 million). Notably, the segment reversed its ¥5.6 billion ($62.9 million) operating loss from a year ago to post a ¥1.4 billion ($15.7 million) income during the period.

To date, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games is the publisher's top-selling title launched during its current fiscal year, selling 5.67 million units on the Wii and DS in the US and Europe. Though its US and European launch occurred outside the reporting period, Sega Sammy said that PlatinumGames' critically acclaimed Bayonetta has sold 1.1 million units in the US, Europe, and Japan across the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Other top sellers during the period were Football Manager 2010, which sold 740,000 units on the PSP and PC in the US and Europe. Phantasy Star Portable 2, which is thus far only available in Japan, rounded out the company's top software, selling 540,000 units on the PSP since its December launch.