Sega plans shift to influencers after Sonic and Shinobi sales disappoint, despite strong reviews

Sega has revealed that its 2025 releases, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, fell short of the sales targets it had set, prompting the company to announce a sweeping overhaul of its marketing strategy.

In its latest financial briefing, the Japanese publisher highlighted that both titles underperformed relative to expectations, even though they received strong praise from critics and players alike.

CrossWorlds, which shipped over a million copies during its launch window, boasts a Metacritic aggregate of 82 and an average user rating of 8.6, while Shinobi achieved a Metacritic score of 87 and a user average of 8.3.

The disappointing commercial results have underscored a critical need for Sega to revamp its sales and promotional tactics. The company is moving toward a globally integrated publishing framework and intends to pivot from narrowly targeted ads toward cultivating fandom communities, leveraging celebrity endorsements, and partnering with social media influencers.

Sega is announcing a sweeping overhaul of its internal framework and culture, aiming to cultivate a vibrant fan community that fuels sales growth. The company plans to broaden third‑party endorsements, tapping into influencer and user recommendations to amplify its reach.

Earlier this year, Sega acknowledged that it has been trailing behind industry peers—particularly giants like Capcom—in digital sales and data‑driven marketing initiatives.

The publisher is currently reassessing its regional publishing structure and will move toward a more unified global strategy to streamline operations.

In a bold move, Sega has set a target to launch two fresh titles from its flagship franchises by March 31, 2027, alongside the already announced releases, Stranger than Heaven and Personal 4 Revival.

Sega has unveiled an impressive slate of upcoming games, ranging from the high‑octane revamp of Crazy Taxi: World Tour to the next chapter of the iconic fighting series with Virtua Fighter Crossroads. The lineup also includes the long‑awaited Persona 6, two fresh entries in the Total War franchise—Warhammer 40,000 and Medieval III—and a sequel to the tense horror hit, Alien Isolation 2. By spanning action, fighting, RPG, strategy, and survival horror, Sega is positioning itself to appeal to a wide spectrum of gamers.

In 2024, veteran industry executive Shuji Utsumi took the helm as president of Sega, steering the company toward a more globally integrated development strategy. This shift follows a prolonged era in which most of Sega’s major successes were produced in Europe, and it signals a renewed focus on international collaboration and market expansion.