Sega president Shuji Utsumi says more fans discover Sega IP through streams, merch, films and online culture first, reshaping its transmedia strategy for 2026.
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Sega is treating non-playing fans as part of the audience, not an edge case
Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi has said the company is seeing a growing number of fans who are interested in its franchises despite never having played the games themselves. In a September 7 interview with Nikkei Gaming, reported in English by Automaton, VGC and IGN, Utsumi said Sega has noticed that shift “across all our titles” in recent years.
The tension is obvious for a publisher whose main products are still games. Sega is no longer framing discovery as a straight line from trailer to purchase to fandom. According to Utsumi, some people enter through official YouTube content, popular streamers, merchandise, films, television and other media, then build attachment to the worlds and characters before, or without, buying a game.
Utsumi’s comments are useful because they name a change major publishers have been circling for years: the game is still the source material, but it is no longer the only place fandom forms. Sega’s version of that shift is its transmedia strategy, which the company is applying across brands such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona and Like a Dragon, according to IGN’s account of the interview.
Like a Dragon is Sega’s clearest example of the split
Utsumi singled out Like a Dragon, the series formerly known in the West as Yakuza, as an example of how fandom can separate from the act of playing. As reported by Automaton and VGC, he said Like a Dragon merchandise has performed extremely well for Sega, with women accounting for roughly 60% to 70% of customers.
That figure is important because Utsumi presented it as a different audience profile from the one associated with the games themselves. VGC noted that his comments imply the merchandise buyer base does not necessarily match the user statistics for the games. Sega did not provide those game-user statistics in the reported interview, so the exact size of the gap is not public from these sources.
The discovery path Utsumi described is specific. Fans watch Sega’s own YouTube channel or streams from popular creators, then become attached to the Like a Dragon universe, its story and its characters. Among that group, he said, many have never actually played the games. That makes Like a Dragon an especially revealing case because its appeal is heavily tied to recurring characters, drama, humor and long-form narrative, all of which can travel through clips and streams even when the viewer is not holding the controller.
Utsumi’s key claim is about engagement, but Sega has not defined the metric
The most aggressive part of Utsumi’s argument is not that non-playing fans exist. It is that Sega values them as fans and, in his words as translated and reported by IGN and VGC, considers even people who have never played games to be fans and gamers. He also said the strength of transmedia is that it increases the entry points and contact points through which people can become interested in an IP.
Utsumi went further, saying that in some cases engagement from these audiences can be higher than engagement from fans who actually play the games. Automaton correctly flags the unresolved part of that statement: he did not clarify exactly what “engagement” means. It could refer to merchandise purchases, event participation, video consumption, social sharing, repeat exposure to characters or some combination of those behaviors, but the interview excerpts do not provide Sega’s internal definition.
That caveat matters. A player who buys a full-priced game, finishes it and leaves may be less visible to a modern marketing department than a fan who buys character goods, watches official videos, attends events and boosts the IP on social platforms. But without Sega’s metric, “higher engagement” should be read as a signal of business priority rather than a public data point about total spending or loyalty.
The merch strategy is moving beyond collectibles
Utsumi connected Sega’s current approach to his earlier time at Cybird, where he was president and CEO before rejoining Sega Sammy in 2019, according to VGC. In the Nikkei interview, he said he previously worked on romance games aimed at a female audience and saw a major shift in merchandising around those games.
The examples he gave are telling. Alongside traditional character goods such as pin badges and acrylic stands, Utsumi said Cybird saw lifestyle-oriented licensed products, including apparel and cosmetics for everyday use, as well as limited-edition and commemorative goods made with amusement facilities. He said that experience broadened his perspective and is informing the transmedia strategy he is implementing at Sega.
This is where Sega gaming business news starts to look less like a narrow discussion about game sales and more like audience architecture. A character who works on a shelf as an acrylic stand is valuable. A character who can live on clothing, cosmetics, event tickets, music, clips and fan conversation creates more surfaces for attachment. Sega’s president is effectively saying that those surfaces are part of the brand plan, not side revenue to be handled after launch.
Sonic, Persona and Angry Birds show how 2026 becomes a transmedia test
IGN points to Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona and Yakuza as Sega franchises that have crossed into film and television as part of the company’s broader transmedia push. IGN also reported that the three live-action Sonic movies have collectively made $1 billion at the box office, with a fourth movie to come, and referenced an upcoming Persona live-action TV project at Netflix.
Automaton’s report adds that Utsumi said Sega will continue strengthening transmedia efforts, with 2026 described as a big year for Persona and Angry Birds. The available source material does not include detailed release timing, pricing, platforms, cast information or product plans for those 2026 efforts, so those remain unannounced in this context.
Still, the direction is clear enough to read as strategy rather than coincidence. Sonic has already demonstrated how a Sega character can function across games and film. Persona has a fanbase built around music, style, characters and social identity as much as combat systems. Angry Birds entered Sega’s portfolio through Rovio and is already a brand that many people recognize through mobile games, animation and merchandise. Those are different franchises, but each can support discovery outside a traditional console or PC purchase.
For publishers, the 2026 marketing funnel starts before the controller
The broader lesson for major publishers is that the first conversion may no longer be a game sale. It may be a stream view, a character clip, a song, a film ticket, a hoodie, a cosmetics collaboration, an event photo or a creator reaction. Sega’s president interview makes that shift explicit: the company sees value in people who form an IP relationship first and a player relationship later, if they ever become players at all.
For game marketing in 2026, that encourages a different balance. Publishers are likely to keep investing in creator-friendly scenes, official lore videos, music releases, character-led campaigns and merchandise that does not require mechanical literacy. A fan does not need to understand Like a Dragon’s combat systems to care about Kiryu or Majima. A Sonic moviegoer does not need to know the current state of 3D platforming to recognize the character. A Persona viewer may arrive through style and music before learning how the RPGs play.
The risk is that publishers over-optimize for spectators and under-serve players. Utsumi’s comments, as reported by VGC, still acknowledge that most Sega fans play the company’s games. The core audience is not being replaced in the confirmed statements. But Sega is widening the definition of audience around its IP, and that has consequences for how announcements are packaged, how characters are promoted and how success is measured.
For readers, the practical guidance is simple: when Sega talks about Persona, Sonic, Like a Dragon or Angry Birds in 2026, do not assume every major beat will be a game reveal. Some of the most important moves may be adaptations, creator campaigns, events or merchandise lines. That does not make them irrelevant to the games business. Based on Utsumi’s comments, Sega increasingly sees those touchpoints as part of the same long-term strategy.