While Sonic Frontiers didn’t exactly light the gaming world on fire critically when it was released last year, it seems that hasn’t affected the game’s sales, as SEGA has revealed that the Sonic Frontiers sales have “greatly exceeded” the company’s original estimates.
This was revealed in SEGA’s latest quarterly financials report, where SEGA answered why they haven’t decreased the price all that much for Sonic Fontiers in game sales.
Q: Even though you have done sales for Sonic Frontiers, the average unit price has not decreased that much. Please tell us about your future sales strategy.
A: We are proceeding with this title based on a strategic sales plan. We conducted intensive promotions around the November release, and as announced recently, we have been able to achieve good results so far. A temporary sale was held around Black Friday, but the selling price has since returned to normal. We have been able to achieve these results while maintaining a certain level of quality, and the number of units sold greatly exceeded our original estimation. We will continue to sell over the long term based on sales strategies such as pricing, promotions, and the development of further DLC.
Not only that, but SEGA’s already thinking of a sequel to the game, and has confirmed that the company will focus on games like it, and will even feature a larger budget!
Q: With the strong performance of Sonic Frontiers and other global titles, will you be focusing more on products like it in the future?
A: We expect development costs for new titles to grow even larger in the future. We will strive to ensure solid quality in the development of major titles from our existing franchises. However, development labour costs will rise due to the impact of the global external environment, and we expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future. Since it is necessary to take on these challenges for major titles, we are proceeding with a bigger budget, even from the basic research stage. Therefore, we assume that development costs for future new titles will increase accordingly.
With the game crossing over the 2.5 million mark in just a month from release, it’s evident that there are a lot of hungry Sonic fans out there. Imagine if the sequel improved upon the originals flaws? It might even sold way more.
If you haven’t picked the game up yet, go read our Sonic Frontiers review!
Source: SEGA Sammy (pdf), TailsChannel (for proper translation)