Japanese-headquartered Sega Sammy Holdings, the merged company that includes Sega and Sammy, has released its financial report for its fiscal year-to-date, which includes the nine months from April to December 2004. The report is the first survey of results from the combined company since the merger. Overall, Sega Sammy did well, with a posted net profit of $444.46 million USD and group sales totaling $3.84 billion USD. The company's strong performance comes mainly from the Sammy side of the business, with the Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) pachislot machines selling 351,000 copies in the year to date, indicating that the merger may have happened just in time for Sega. The news wasn't all bad on the videogame side of things, however: arcade titles Mushiking and Quest of D were higher-than-expected earners, and home games Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru (Feel the Magic XX/XY), Shining Tears, and Sonic Mega Collection Plus were, apparently, bright spots as well, although Sega's operating profit fell around 55 percent based on a number of Japanese arcade closures. Based on the results, Sega Sammy maintains its expectation of a final full-year profit of $514.42 million, based on $5.08 billion in sales. However, it seems that the company may be changing its North American strategy, based on yesterday's news regarding layoffs at Sammy Studios, the promise of more announcements to come from Sammy's U.S. division, as well as the recent sale of Sega's Visual Concepts division to Take-Two.