Sega Corp. said Wednesday its group operating profit in the first half jumped 64.3 percent to 7.57 billion yen due to cost reductions in its video game software business.
Pretax profit surged 53.4 percent from a year earlier to 6.16 billion yen in the April-September period, and net profit soared to 5.93 billion yen from 1.01 billion yen a year earlier.
But group sales slipped 1.8 percent to 93.47 billion yen due to decreased video game software sales in North America, company officials said. Sega's overseas sales fell 23.7 percent to 11.31 billion yen.
Sega has been reducing the cost of developing video game software to improve profitability, leading to fewer new titles and declining sales, they said.
Domestic sales meanwhile rose 2.3 percent to 82.16 billion yen, thanks to thriving sales of arcade machines such as the driving game "F-Zero AX" and hit software titles like the sport simulation "Let's Make Up a J. League Pro-Soccer Club! 3."
For the full business year to March 31, Sega forecasts a consolidated net profit of 8 billion yen, a consolidated operating profit of 14 billion yen and group sales of 195.7 billion yen.