Sega Sammy Holdings, the parent company of the Sega Group, announced that they have sold a majority stake in their arcade business.
Sega issued a press release on Nov. 4 which showed the firm had sold 85.1% of their arcade business subsidiary company to the Japanese amusement park firm Genda. After the sale, Sega still retains a 14.9% stake in the business.
“As Amusement Center Operations area in Entertainment Contents Business is strongly affected by COVID-19,” the press release reads. “Utilization of facilities has declined remarkably.”
In addition to the sale of their arcade business, Sega also said that they are expecting “extraordinary” losses totaling 20 billion yen by the end of the fiscal year in Mar. 2021. However, Sega has not included the sale to Genda in their loss estimates and expects to update this forecast after investigating its impact.
Sega said that the pandemic had a significant impact on their operations, and that this impact played a role in their decision to sell the arcade side of their business. Sega has also formed a Structural Reform Committee within the company in order to better adapt to the consequences of the pandemic moving forward.