Recently, I was thinking about Sega, and realized I couldn't think of any notable non-Sonic games from them as of late. With the exception of Total War on the PC, but I have trouble associating them with Sega. So I decided to look over what they've done since going third party on consoles and handhelds and see if there was anything interesting to note.

The Sales Below are organized based on total millions of sales, with only games with over a million sales across non-Sega consoles and handhelds being noted. Also note that similar platforms were combined, such as all PlayStation consoles, so that I could keep this table relatively readable.

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General Observations

• There are a total of 66 games listed here, released from 2001 to 2014 on over a dozen platforms.
• Sega actually does release non-Sonic games, but it's easy to see where that idea comes from. Nine of the Top 10 games prominently feature Sonic, either as part of his series or a crossover.
• Generally speaking, Sonic fans can agree on a rough scale concerning which post-Dreamcast 3D Sonic games are better or worse. Colors and Generations top the list, while Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom are the worst. The games that sold best, however, were Heroes and Unleashed. Generations did well, but this was in large part to the 2D version on the 3DS. Otherwise, it is roughly on par with Secret Rings. Colors on the Wii fared even worse, selling less than Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog. Incidentally, the most recent Lost World and Boom are not here.
• Other than Sonic, the big concept for post-Dreamcast Sega appears to be sports games. Naturally, you have the various Olympic crossovers with Mario near the top, but even excluding them, the ESPN licensed games, non-mascot Olympic games, Sega Superstar Tennis, and Virtua Tennis have generally done well. Racing games also make repeat appearences, but mostly include Sonic in some form such as in SEGA All-Stars and Sonic Riders.

Eras of Sega

• Post-Dreamcast Sega can roughly be divided into three eras, lasting from 2001 to 2005, 2006 to 2010, and 2011 to the present. The first era was turbulent, as Sega relied heavily on older games while switching to being a third party. Both Sonic Adventure games and Crazy Taxi were ported from the Dreamcast, and the first of a few major retro compilations were released.About a third of Sega's million-sellers from this era were licensed sports games from Visual Concepts, which was sold by Sega to Take-Two in 2005.
• Sega seems to have had a revival from roughly 2006 to 2010. There are many reasons for this
  • The biennial Olympic crossovers with Mario were insanely successful, particularly the first two, on both the Wii and DS.
  • Sega's movie licensed games weren't exactly good, but sold well. Iron Man, for example, sold over 3.5 million copies.
  • The Sonic series split into more branches as Sega tried to figure out what to do with the seires, especially after Sonic 06. Hence, from 2007 to 2010, they released Unleashed, Colors, Secret Rings, and Black Knight, while also going through a series of Sonic Riders and Rivals racing games.
  • Older series like House of the Dead and Virtua Tennis made a comeback for a little while.
  • News series like Bayonetta, Vanquish, Resonance of Fate, and Valkyria Chronicles emerged during these few years.
• The most recent Sega era, from 2011 onwards, has been especially bad for the company. During this era, the only successful Sonic platformer has been Generations, a problem possibly compounded by how handheld games are now tied into console releases, unlike with the Advance and Rush games. The collapse of the movie tie-in market has also had a major impact, as has poor follow-up support for newer series such as Valkyria Chronicles and Bayonetta. Note that Bayonetta 2 and the latest Olympic crossover with Mario were actually published by Nintendo. Platinum Games, which made a habit of working with Sega for its first few games, has begun working with Microsoft, Nintendo, Activision, and even Konami since 2012. Even Sonic spinoffs are becoming rarer. Last gen saw three Sonic related racing series: Rivals, Riders, and All-Stars. Though often derided, especially when Kinect exclusive, they fared well. None of these series or any sucessors have shown any sign of life since 2012. Even Sonic Team has been quiet since 2013's Lost World, despite their once remarkable ability to release around one major game per year.

Other Notes

• The best-selling PlayStation console exclusive is Virtua Fighter 4, with 1.81 million sales, with the Sonic Rivals duo for the PSP are not far behind it. Sonic's Olympic crossovers with Mario are the best-selling Nintendo exclusives, but special mention goes to Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, which each sold over 2 million on just Nintendo consoles. Sonic's 2D adventures on the GBA and DS sold up to 3.12 million for Sonic Rush, and the Advance trilogy sold about 5.5 million combined. The only Xbox exclusive listed is Sonic Free Riders for the Kinect.
• Sales for games on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles listed above are nearly identical, both about 31% of the total. Generally, PlayStation consoles got more big games, including 43 of the 66 listed here, but these were often multiplats, while Nintendo's consoles got a few huge exclusives. The Xbox brand got 16% of these sales, mostly from multiplats. Nintendo's handhelds sold about 18% while PlayStation portables sold 4%.
• Aliens: Colonial Marines outsold Valkyria Chronicles, Vanquish, and every Yakuza game. Because.

Any thoughts? What glaring omissions did I make?

8 games in the top 10 have Sonic in the title. It makes you wonder what  would Sega be without that hedgehog!

Vanquish had the potential to sell a lot. But Sega just dropped it in the market.
I saw it on a video of the "Best Games in 2010 That You Probably Never Played".

You know, I really can't believe that total for Valkyria Chronicles. It's one of the best games of the generation and ... I just can't.

The Mario and Sonic series is enourmus, way bigger in retrospective.  Just look at the Top 10 best selling Sega games.

The first Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is the BEST SELLING SEGA GAME. Just let that sink in.

They need to be purchased. I think the obvious purchase would be by Nintendo (to complete the humiliation of Sega), but I think I would prefer Sony buy them to reignite Sonic vs Mario.

Vanquish is one of the greatest Third-Person Shooters ever made.

SEGA's mismanagement of the Sonic, Phantasy Star and Crazy Taxi franchises hurts to witness as a fan of these games. Their failure to capitalize on their former successes and current lack of quality assurance certainly isn't doing the company any favors either. Also, whatever happened to the Streets of Rage?