Sega’s second-quarter financial results landed earlier today with plenty of good news for investors. Revenue and operating income for the owners of Sonic the Hedgehog are up, and Sega is now floating the notion that it’s going to build future revenue from–you guessed it–non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
First, some second-quarter numbers for the time period ending September 30 2021. Sales across the company jumped year-over-year from ¥110.2 billion (about $973 million) to ¥134.8 billion (about $1.9 billion).
That’s a modest growth in revenue, but the better news is the shift from loss to profit that occurred year-over-year. In Q2 2021, Sega Sammy lost ¥3 billion (about $26 million). During Q2 2022, its operating income was ¥14.6 billion (about $129 million).
Sega credited this new success to the company’s Entertainment Contents division (its game sales and revenue), with revenue rolling in from new games like Humankind, and older titles like Hatsune Mike: Colorful Stage!, Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis, and Fist of the North Star Legends ReVIVE.
But of course we’re here to talk about NFTs. Buried in Sega’s financial reports is a note about how the company plans to expand its future income. And in a slot that wraps up the NFT business with “improved development resources, the company states that “Investment in newly emerging business areas such as NFT,” are part of its future.
Sega Sammy anticipates this strategy could be part of a push into a consumer spending strategy worth ¥100 billion (approximately $883 million).
The brief mention seems to be Sega telling investors “yeah, we’re looking into it,” with little mention of the security concerns or huge environmental concerns that are folded in with the technology.
And there’s plenty of financial reason for Sega to look into the business–it’s already well aware that fans will pay top dollar for collectible versions of its well-loved characters like Sonic the Hedgehog. If there’s money to be made by turning those collectibles into a financial asset, it’s going to push in that direction, CO2 emissions and GPU shortages be damned.