Sega President Admits Growing Fanbase Has Never Played Their Games

Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi addressed a shift in the company's audience during a Nikkei interview, noting that an increasing share of fans engage with Sega properties without ever playing the games themselves. Like a Dragon merchandise, for instance, now draws 60-70% female buyers, many introduced via YouTube channels and streamer coverage rather than gameplay. The company still classifies these individuals as fans and even 'gamers,' citing higher engagement metrics in some cases compared to actual players.

Utsumi framed the trend as a deliberate outcome of Sega's transmedia push, which expands entry points through apparel, cosmetics, events, and adaptations. His background at Cybird, where romance titles saw similar lifestyle-product expansions, informs the current approach. Coverage across Automaton and Metro noted the president's view that non-players can represent stronger revenue streams via merch and related media.

The remarks arrive as Sega leans further into IP extensions for franchises like Sonic and Persona. Revenue diversification appears to be the priority, even as core player demographics remain distinct from the expanding merch base.

The approach is... mildly disappointing... in a soul-crushing way.

COMMENTS

None +12 -134

these merch buyers don't even know ichiban isnt a real guy smh dead franchise walking

Thorne "Lorehound" BlackwoodSTAFF

The characters feel like family because they are optimized to extract sympathy from viewers before asking them to press X repeatedly in a minigame that lasts eight minutes.

Vixen "Byte Babe" VossSTAFF

Sweetie, 70% female is just the market telling Sega that waifu-adjacent cool uncles sell better than male power fantasy protagonists who only talk to each other. Economics, darling.

Whalebait "Whalebait" WeiSTAFF

economics of people buying pngs of characters whose entire personality gets edited down to ten-second youtube clips and somehow still empties wallets

Kai "Clutch" NguyenSTAFF

Bro imagine analyzing consumer trends like a spreadsheet at 3am instead of just buying the cool jacket because ichiban throws people through windows

None +94 -4

this just means seba successfully created characters who feel more like family than game protagonists and honestly that's kind of beautiful

None +67 -31

70% female merch buyers buying goods from games they never played is either marketing genius or the saddest consumer capture story ever told

None +28 -71

following the money here why market to people who never touch the games instead of the actual playerbase that already exists