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Sega Sammy sees loss in 2007/08, to cut 400 jobs (Reuters)

E

ElyrionX

Member
reuters said:
TOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Sega Sammy Holdings (6460.T: Quote, Profile, Research) warned on Friday that it expects to lose 26 billion yen ($242 million) this business year amid slow sales of pachinko machines and said it would cut 400 jobs at its game software unit.

Sega Sammy, the holding company for video game software maker Sega Corp and "pachinko" and "pachislot" gambling machine maker Sammy Corp, also slashed its dividend forecast for the year to March by a quarter to 45 yen.

The forecast for a group net loss of 26 billion yen in the year to March marks a sharp reversal from its prior estimate for a profit of 1 billion yen. It cut its sales forecast by 12 percent to 475 billion yen.

Pachinko is a vertical form of pinball while pachislot is a high-tech variation of a slot machine. The two, a form of legal gambling, are part of one of Japan's largest industries with annual revenues of some 30 trillion yen.

The pachinko market has been hit by tighter regulations on the industry, while the outlook for the game arcade market has been dented by the soaring popularity of Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) Wii game console that users play at home.

Sega Sammy predicted its pachinko machine segment would see operating profit fall 85 percent to 11 billion yen, and forecast its arcade division to post a loss of 11.4 billion yen, against a 132 million yen profit in the prior business year.

The net loss forecast reflects the pushing back of planned sales of real estate to the next business year and retirement benefits to the 400 employees being cut at Sega, equivalent to about 5 percent of its group workforce.

Sega Sammy said it plans to close Sega Amusements Singapore Pte Ltd and restructure globally in order to deal with its poor performance of game machines for arcades overseas.

In November, it announced a plan to close or sell 80 of its 430 arcades by March.

Prior to the announcement, shares of Sega Sammy ended at 1,100 yen, down 5.9 percent, reaching its lowest closing price since the company was formed in October 2004 after the merger of Sega and Sammy. The shares underperformed against benchmark Topix 's 1.4 percent fall. (Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Anshuman Daga)
Click to expand...

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssConsumerGoodsAndRetailNews/idUST26692820080208
 
M

My6cats

Banned
this is Ironically announced when I am sselling my Dreamcast games and sytem on E-bay. I used to be a Sega fan, but I have moved on.:D
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
This is the Sammy portion of the company losing money, not the SEGA portion. This is not likely to impact anything you love about SEGA unless you're a fucking nutcase pachinko/pachislot player, in which case go away please.
 
O

Oblivion

Fetishing muscular manly men in skintight hosery
So much for Virtua Fighter 6. :(

edit: Oh, wait it's the Sammy side? nm then.
 
M

MadOdorMachine

No additional functions
Hopefully that game by Prope (Yuji Naka) will get decent sales. Sega needs to start concentrating on quality, not quantity.
 
F

Fio

Member
They do deserve it. They do.

Keep Amusement Vision, The Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive. Get rid of the rest and try to reinvent the company.
That should be a good solution.
 
P

pswii60

Member
HK-47 said:
Whats with everyone blaming Wii for the failing arcade market?
Click to expand...

It pisses me off when these companies make excuses. They should say, "Hey, we failed, we fucked up, no excuses, but we're not going to fail again, now let's move on and succeed..." That's how real business works. Wii is no excuse. We've known consoles have been damaging the arcade market for years, and they should have been planning to make their money elsewhere for some time now if they had any sense.
 
H

Hero

Member
HK-47 said:
Whats with everyone blaming Wii for the failing arcade market?
Click to expand...

I think it has to do with the fact that what killed arcades in America is catching up to Japan. Home consoles provide similar if not better experiences for a small up front investment so people have slowed down or stopped going to arcades. The Wii happens to be the hottest system right now so publishers are quick to blame Wii.
 
H

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Hero said:
I think it has to do with the fact that what killed arcades in America is catching up to Japan. Home consoles provide similar if not better experiences for a small up front investment so people have slowed down or stopped going to arcades. The Wii happens to be the hottest system right now so publishers are quick to blame Wii.
Click to expand...

But its not really. DS is a far bigger juggernaut or are handhelds NOT hurting the arcade for some reason?
 
J

Jammy

Banned
I guess they need to make more Wii/DS games. They've had quite a few hits on both systems.

Ironically, a lot of the games that the Wii has that could potentially be "killing arcade gaming" are from Sega themselves. Sega Bass Fishing, House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, Ghost Squad, etc. are all coming or out soon.
 
B

Barkley's Justice

Member
The pachinko market has been hit by tighter regulations on the industry, while the outlook for the game arcade market has been dented by the soaring popularity of Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research) Wii game console that users play at home.
Click to expand...

because japanese gamers can win money and prizes at home on wii, of course
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Man, this is really disapointing and comes at a time when the gaming side seems to be starting to really get themselves into gear (both commercially and quality wise). Sega have been developing/publishing some really good games lately despite what the GAF hive mind might believe, and the Wii has given them quite a few commercial hits (Sonic, Ghost Squad, Mario & Sonic).
 
B

brain_stew

Member
Absinthe said:
This is from the Sammy side of the business. SEGA, the last I heard, is doing well and has emerged as one of the top developers in the industry.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but the loss is in the holding company, meaning that the Sammy side is bringing the whole business down. The less money in the company overall means the less funds there are to persue new ventures with. Any way you look at it, this is bad news for Sega as a gaming entity.
 
C

camineet

Banned
Come on SEGA, were are the MODEL 2 and MODEL 3 (and other arcade hardware) game compilations that I KNOW are possible for the Xbox 360, PS3 and perhaps even the Wii ?

SEGA you literally have many many dozens if not a couple hundred arcade games that have either never been brought home, or not been brought home perfectly, that would be a blessing for any and all systems that get them.

That and Herzog Zwei 2 (yes I know Sega didn't develop HZ, Tecnosoft did)
and Phantasy Star V.
 
S

seattle6418

Member
hey sega! did you see what they are doing with bionic comando? with super street fighter 2?

just do that with sonic, streets of rage and vectorman and next quarter you won't be bleeding.

but then again, people running this company seems to have no idea what gamers want. if they can't see potential in this, then they really deserve this shit.

and i use to love those bastards...
 
L

Lobster

Banned
Is this just Sammy side?

I don't see how they can see loss after the huge success of Secret Rings and Mario&Sonic 0_o

edit:should've read the thread instead of just the article.
 
D

Diablohead

Member
seattle6418 said:
hey sega! did you see what they are doing with bionic comando? with super street fighter 2?

just do that with sonic, streets of rage and vectorman and next quarter you won't be bleeding.

but then again, people running this company seems to have no idea what gamers want. if they can't see potential in this, then they really deserve this shit.

and i use to love those bastards...
Click to expand...
Sega ages stuff, make the good stuff downloadable and i'll pay.
 
P

Pachael

Member
Absinthe said:
This is from the Sammy side of the business. SEGA, the last I heard, is doing well and has emerged as one of the top developers in the industry.
Click to expand...

Not quite, but close! Sega's arcade division is showing losses, and I pin it on the lower popularity of VF5 arcade and how Sega as usual mucked it up.

and forecast its arcade division to post a loss of 11.4 billion yen, against a 132 million yen profit in the prior business year
Click to expand...

So Sega, why are you building a arcade complex in Dubai huh? Just make more Shadow the Hedgehog games and we'll all be happy.
 
P

Phife Dawg

Member
This was to be expected, they had a profit warning in late 2007.

Stumpokapow said:
This is the Sammy portion of the company losing money, not the SEGA portion. This is not likely to impact anything you love about SEGA unless you're a fucking nutcase pachinko/pachislot player, in which case go away please.
Click to expand...
Sega Sammy Holdings (6460.T: Quote, Profile, Research) warned on Friday that it expects to lose 26 billion yen ($242 million) this business year amid slow sales of pachinko machines and said it would cut 400 jobs at its game software unit.
Click to expand...
While the Sammy portion lost the money, the game software unit apparently has to do the bleeding - poor Sega. Unless of course there's a Sammy pachinko game software unit (who does all these millions of pachinko games starring different animes).

Pachinko does contribute 40% of the combined sales for Sega Sammy, maybe they want to revitalize that business first and think they can get away with cuts in the gaming department? Beats me.
 
J

Jonnyram

Member
This is not the Sammy side of the business at all. Maybe the Reuters article didn't make it clear but all 400 cuts are from Sega. They are voluntary redundancies though and they are giving people until the end of March to quit. Because it is voluntary, I imagine there will be a decent package, but it still sucks to see such massive losses.
 
P

Phife Dawg

Member
Jonnyram said:
This is not the Sammy side of the business at all. Maybe the Reuters article didn't make it clear but all 400 cuts are from Sega. They are voluntary redundancies though and they are giving people until the end of March to quit. Because it is voluntary, I imagine there will be a decent package, but it still sucks to see such massive losses.
Click to expand...
Well the article says it all. Business is down because of slow sales of Pachinko/Pachislot machines (Sammy's business) and because of that 400 jobs are cut at the software unit (I read that as Sega as well, thanks for the confirmation).

People just read the first part and asumed the job cuts were for Sammy as well.

It sucks Sega has to bleed for the Sammy losses but we don't know what thought went into that (maybe none at all? :D ).
 
V

VonGak!

Banned
Jonnyram said:
This is not the Sammy side of the business at all. Maybe the Reuters article didn't make it clear but all 400 cuts are from Sega. They are voluntary redundancies though and they are giving people until the end of March to quit. Because it is voluntary, I imagine there will be a decent package, but it still sucks to see such massive losses.
Click to expand...

But didn't we already know this? I mean they were scheduled to close ~100 Arcade halls (didn't know about the amusement park, thought they were going to open new ones).

Anyway as long as it won't hurt their game studios I do not really care (NO ONE TOUCHES CA!).
 
I

Innotech

Banned
I know people say alot of bad shit about Nintendo and it would seem almost blasphemous...but I really think Nintendo should form a partnership with SEga. almost to a 2nd party degree. I honestly think it would be a good idea and produce some very good games. But thats me.
 
L

Lobster

Banned
So basically Sega is keeping Sammy afloat so Sammy cuts down on Sega when Sammy makes losses :\

Thats just fucked..

Nintendo should buy SEGA from Sammy..
 
T

Taker666

Member
Why don't Sega Sammy (and Namco Bandai for that matter) just team with Nintendo again and make a Wii based follow up to the Triforce arcade machine?

They'd be pretty cheap to produce, they could make a load of freaky shells to attract the casuals...and pull current Wii owners into arcades to get a preview of the games they'll be playing in 12 months.
 
B

Borys

Banned
Time for Microsoft to step the fuck in and buy this hollow carcass of a former great company.

Shame on you SEGA, eternal shame on you and your management.
 
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