Sega plans to expand its transmedia strategy to Like a Dragon and Persona, while continuing to focus on Games as a Service titles.
The Persona 5 series, which includes Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, and spin-offs like Persona 5 Tactica, has surpassed 13 million sales.
The figure was disclosed in Sega's financial report for Q1 of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. As the company details, Persona 5 Royal, which was released in 2019, sold 1.03 million copies in its first year, and that number has since grown to 7.25 million copies cumulatively.
"We believe that concentrated investment to enhance title quality, brand strength reinforced through our transmedia strategy, and the worldwide reach of digital distribution have all contributed to the growth in repeat sales," reads the report to investors.
Meanwhile, Persona 3 Reload, released on February 2, 2024, has sold over 2.07 million copies since launch. In total, the Persona series has surpassed 23.5 million sales worldwide.
Sega plans to focus on further transmedia strategies and Games as a Service titles
Back in July, Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi said that companies with a "good record" tend to have strong global Games as a Service (GAAS) business models.
"Strengthening our global GAAS offerings through free-to-play titles is a highly important element of our strategy to expand our key pillars," they remarked on the financial report. This refers to the launch of Persona 5: The Phantom X in June of this year, a free-to-play title with microtransactions via gacha rolls available on mobile and PC.
"By expanding touchpoints worldwide, we expect further value enhancement of the Persona IP and a steady contribution to earnings," Sega adds.
Meanwhile, the company also spoke about developer Rovio, which it acquired back in August 2023. Sega sees the upcoming mobile game Sonic Rumble, slated to release this year, as its way to "aim for global market success" through collaboration with Rovio. At the same time, Rovio laid off 36 employees just two weeks ago. According to a spokesperson, the redundancies were partially due to Angry Birds Dream Blast not performing as expected.
Regarding Sonic Rumble, the company adds that, being its first "full-scale global mobile title," development is "taking longer than expected" due to emphasis on quality and user feedback.
"By reinforcing the GAAS model in this way, we are aiming to further reinforce a multilayered revenue structure, like 'mille-feuille,' as a component that provides consistent, sustainable earnings," it adds.
Regarding Sega's push for transmedia, in addition to Sonic—the Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise surpassed $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts in January of this year—the company plans to expand this strategy to other IPs, such as Like a Dragon and Persona. The former got a live-action TV show adaptation last year. The strategy includes "movies, animation, merchandising, events, and other areas."
Going forward, Sega is advancing video adaptation projects based on OutRun and Shinobi. "In the past, games based on movies often became hits. Recently, that trend has reversed, with movies and anime based on games achieving great success, reflecting growing global attention toward game IPs," the company adds.
As a summary, Sega reported net sales of ¥81,026 million ($527,669 USD), an operating loss of ¥519 million ($3,379,907 USD), and adjusted EBITDA of ¥1,461 million ($9,512.28 USD).