Sega turns to influencers after Sonic and Shinobi sales miss targets
▼ Summary
– Sega reported that *Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds* and *Shinobi: Art of Vengeance* underperformed sales expectations despite strong critical and user reviews.
– The company plans to overhaul its marketing strategy, shifting from targeted ads to building “fandom” through influencers and celebrities.
– Sega will reorganize its publishing structure from a regional model to a unified global strategy.
– The publisher aims to release two new titles from its flagship IPs by March 31, 2027, in addition to announced games like *Persona 4 Revival*.
– President Shuji Utsumi is focusing on globalizing development, addressing a period when most of Sega’s successes came from Europe.
Sega has acknowledged that two of its major 2025 releases, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, did not achieve their targeted sales figures, prompting a strategic shift in how the company approaches marketing and audience engagement.
In a recent business report, the Japanese publisher identified both titles as underperformers relative to expectations, despite receiving strong critical and user reception. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds surpassed one million units sold at launch and holds an 82 Metacritic score with a user rating of 8.6. Meanwhile, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance earned an 87 from critics and an 8.3 from users.
Sega attributed the gap between critical success and commercial performance to an outdated sales and marketing framework. The company now plans to overhaul its approach by globalizing its publishing structure and shifting focus away from traditional targeted advertising. Instead, Sega will prioritize “fandom,” celebrity partnerships, and influencer-driven recommendations.
The publisher described this as a “significant transformation” in both “organizational structure and mindset,” with a new emphasis on “building and expanding Fandom that drives sales.” Central to this strategy is “the expansion of third-party recommendations, including those from influencers and users.”
This pivot follows earlier comments from Sega admitting it feels “lagging” in areas like digital sales and data-driven marketing, where competitors such as Capcom have excelled. The company is currently reviewing its regionally divided publishing organization and plans to adopt a more unified global strategy.
Elsewhere in the report, Sega confirmed it will release two new titles from its flagship intellectual properties by March 31, 2027, on top of already announced projects like Stranger than Heaven and Persona 4 Revival. The company’s upcoming lineup also includes Crazy Taxi: World Tour, Virtua Fighter Crossroads, Persona 6, Total War: Warhammer 40,000, Total War: Medieval III, and Alien Isolation 2.
Since taking over as president in 2024, industry veteran Shuji Utsumi has pushed to globalize Sega’s development approach, moving beyond a period when most successes originated from its European studios.
(Source: Video Games Chronicle)
