Sega addresses the huge discrepancy between review scores and sales of its games

Sega has acknowledged the growing disconnect between critical reception and full-price sales of its major game releases. While the Japanese gaming giant is still investigating the issue, shareholder pressure prompted Sega management to share some of its preliminary findings, identifying several possible factors behind the slower-than-expected launches of its recent titles.

Over the past four reporting periods, Sega Sammy's revenue has been declining, while profits have gone from flat in FY2025 to markedly under pressure in FY2026, which runs through March 2026. For the six-month period ending September 2025, the company reported sales of ¥201.1 billion, down 1.3% ~$1.3% from the previous year. A 69.3% YoY decline in operating income, which fell to ¥10.1 billion (~64.6 million). While the gentle revenue decline was largely attributed to a normalization in pachinko business earnings after a temporary high performance last year, the sharp drop in profits has put all aspects of the group under investor scrutiny.

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Sega acknowledges the gap between review scores and launch sales of its latest games.

Sega management fielded a number of questions during a November 2025 Q&A session about the company's ongoing challenges. Among other points, executives acknowledged that recent full-price launches have missed internal targets despite receiving generally favorable reviews. While no specific titles were named, nearly every major Sega release in recent years has either had modest launch sales compared to critical reception or struggled to maintain momentum. In the latest example of recent events, Metaphor: ReFantazioAfter becoming JRPG Atlas' fastest-selling title to date, its sales fell sharply, clearing one million copies on its first day but needing another eight months to double that number after several discounts.

Start the sales and review score breakdown of Sega's recent major releases

Sega sees fixed editions as one of the possible reasons for poor-expected launch sales

While Sega said it was still investigating the incident, the Q&A session saw it identify several possible reasons why its critically acclaimed titles underperformed at launch relative to their review scores. One factor the company has acknowledged is consumer expectations of certain future versions, which it sees as a potential concern, but admits it's a problem of its own making. This trend is largely driven by Atlus, which is known for its long practice of releasing expanded versions of its games – even before becoming a Sega subsidiary – including titles such as Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Night, Persona 4 Golden, Personality 5 Royal, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encoreand, more recently, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Revenge. Reload Personality 3 did not receive a royalStyle re-releases, and Atlas indicated Metaphor: ReFantazio Nor is this strategy suggesting internal transformation.

Sega suspects marketing missteps affected current game sales performance

Sega also cited possible marketing missteps as contributing to weaker-than-expected full-price sales of its flagship titles. “We believe the problem also lies in our marketing, which did not adequately convey the appeal of our games to users,” a company representative said. In recent times, Sega has experimented a lot on the marketing front, but not always with success. For example, Reload Personality 3 The game's live-action trailer has been widely panned by fans Umbrella Academy Star Aidan Gallagher argued that it misrepresented the game and failed to communicate its appeal to anyone unfamiliar with the franchise.

The Q&A session also saw company executives mention Sports Interactive's latest title. Targeting a continuous review bombing campaign Football Manager 2026 Despite UI issues, bugs, and missing features compared to its predecessor, Sega said the game is selling faster than any previous entry in the franchise, though without providing specific figures.

Sources: GameBiz, Automaton West