How's Sega Doing? Key Takeaways From Its Latest Earnings Report

Sega Sammy has reported the results of its most recent fiscal year, which came to a close on March 31, 2017.

These reports remain a sore spot for Phantasy Star Online fans, as Sega notes that Phantasy Star Online 2 sales "remained robust" four years after its initial release (and one year after its PS4 launch) in Japan. The company has still not provided further word regarding a release for the game in the West, though Gravity Rush 2 received PSO2-themed DLC earlier this year.

The respective launches of Persona 5 and Total War: Warhammer were also called out as positives in its non-mobile games business, although no new sales figures were revealed. Sega reiterated that Persona 5 shipments hit 1.5 million units in April and said that the company sold 10.28 million packaged games overall during the year.

Net sales for the year were 366.94 billion yen (about $3.24 billion), a year-over-year increase of 5.4%. Operating income jumped 67.6% to 29.53 billion yen (about $261 million). Its Entertainment Contents division--which includes its game businesses--accounted for net sales of 205.7 billion yen (about $1.8 billion, up 8%) and operating income of 11.18 billion yen (about $99 million, up 165.1%).

Looking ahead to the current fiscal year, which runs through March 2018, Sega said it plans to launch more mobile games than last year while continuing to run special events in its major existing games. It expects packaged game sales to see an increase to 11.6 million units on the strength of Persona 5, Dawn of War III, Endless Space 2, and Total War: Warhammer II.