Sega bleeds money, mostly from its gambling machines biz

Sega Sammy Holdings just had a disappointing quarter (ended June 30): It posted a 7.9 billion yen ($63.8 million) loss, on revenues that were down 41.2 percent as compared to the same period last year. The company had seen a profit of 5.2 billion yen ($42 million) then.

However, losses in the company's "entertainment contents" category -- what we think of as "Sega," and which includes mobile, console, and arcade games as well as Sega's toys and animation businesses -- shrank year-on-year.

Sales rose to 41.9 billion yen ($338 million), a 4.1 percent increase. But the division still made a loss: 739 million yen ($6 million). Those results actually better year-on-year; the company made a 1.4 billion yen ($11 million) loss for the same period last year.

There were no significant arcade or console titles released during the period, according to Sega's earnings release, but it did have strong free-to-play mobile launches in the form of tactics RPG Hortensia Saga and action RPG Monster Gear (pictured).

The company's biggest losses -- $6.7 billion yen ($54 million) -- came from the company's pachislot and pachinko division, which produces gambling machines for the domestic Japanese market, and which saw steep declines in sales. Ironically, that's the biz that saved Capcom this quarter, thanks to a Resident Evil 6-themed machine.