Sega is a mess

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VideoGameCritic
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Sega is a mess

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 3rd, 2015, 9:22 pm

I was just reading this article about how bad Sega is doing, partially because they shifting to the "freemium" mobile market which apparently is saturated.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder ... g-mistake/

Instead of following the latest trends which come and go, why don't they resurrect their old properties before it's too late? I think if a knowledgeable person like me was running Sega I could turn it around.

Wallyworld
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby Wallyworld » August 3rd, 2015, 11:32 pm

Seems like it would be easy with the IP'S they have. They should have done Shenmue themselves instead of giving it away. How about a new Phantasy Star, Shining Force, or Streets of Rage? Instead they churn out one terrible sonic after another.

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Gentlegamer
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby Gentlegamer » August 4th, 2015, 2:12 am

It will take the crash of the "AAA" market for any semblance of the Sega of old to return with some of its older IPs in the form of traditional games.

Sega, like many others, is stuck in the wasteland left after the death of the "middle class" game, and unfortunately mobile "freemium" games are the only avenue of profit in this market for a company like it.

Konami is basically in this space, having announced they are leaving traditional game publishing and development for mobile and pachinko. Capcom is also on its way to this fate.

Hardcore Sadism
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby Hardcore Sadism » August 4th, 2015, 2:13 am

Sega had been a mess since ever affirming that their Dreamcast was a failure, a great system failed by an increasingly cocky corporation. Their mainline series have on and off, horrifically wrecked whatever reputable status they had as a software studio.

Don't get me started with Sonic fanboys, they should have nothing to say at all.

SEGA's true killer were their ego, they should have taken an early bird approach with the Dreamcast. Saturn fan here.

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scotland
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby scotland » August 4th, 2015, 7:12 am

There are some bright spots for Sega. The Sonic The Hedgehog comic, begun during Sonic's heydey in the early 1990s, is still going strong. This is an amazing achievement for a non-Marvel, non-DC comic. Its published by Archie Comics, who themselves are having a nice comeback after updating their style. If you are in a grocery store, look for a magazine sized Archie, Afterlife with Archie (zombie apocalypse in Riverdale) or Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. In addition, Archie comics has been having success with a Mega Man comic, and had a Mega Man / Sonic crossover event.

What this means is that Sega has other venues for reaching young people than through Mario teamups or mobile games. Archie may not have the capital, but a Sonic cartoon or animated movie could really revitalize Sonic or show how he could be used in conjunction with other IPs.

As for other IPS, yeah, there is a shelf life on those that Sega is ignoring. Whether its merchandise, kindle books, using them in ads like a car commercial did with Skeletor recently, anything. Come on...I'd buy a car from Shinobi.

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velcrozombie
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby velcrozombie » August 4th, 2015, 7:42 am

Critic, I don't know if you've seen this article from about a month ago. After Sega acquired Altus (which they allowed to operate independently) they began to take notice of their success in the North American market and have realized how far astray they themselves have gone:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder ... important/

scotland wrote:What this means is that Sega has other venues for reaching young people than through Mario teamups or mobile games. Archie may not have the capital, but a Sonic cartoon or animated movie could really revitalize Sonic or show how he could be used in conjunction with other IPs.


As badly as the Sonic Boom games have been received, the accompanying cartoon has been popular and is supposedly a decent product.

Rainbowsix
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby Rainbowsix » August 4th, 2015, 10:48 am

I've enjoyed their Sonic games for the most part, but I am disappointed to see them neglecting their other properties. It's too bad that 3-D remake of Streets of Rage never happened, what little I saw of it looked quite promising.

I also would like to see a sequel to Alpha Protocol, though oddly enough Obsidian actually owns the rights to that series, and they supposedly have no interest in making a sequel.

David
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby David » August 4th, 2015, 3:57 pm

I was watching Kinda Funny on Youtube and they made a good point about Sega - they've really only had a small period of great success. The Genesis was huge in the early nineties, but the Sega CD, 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast all bombed. They haven't been a hugely popular developer in 20 plus years. Are there that many people that want to play their old franchises? I'm sure there's a hardcore following that would, but I don't think Sega is sitting on any cash cows.

Sut
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby Sut » August 4th, 2015, 4:01 pm

They need a brave and bold CEO. Their reputation is damaged but I believe they still have enough good will from gamers for a rebirth but that time is expiring.

I agree they need to bring some of their IP's back but not in a scattergun way, they need to be nurtured and polished like Rockstar and Nintendo do with their IP's.

They also need to make their games proper multi platform and make the releases an event. None of this splitting releases between formats. Let everyone know Streets of Rage is coming with a single release date across all formats and build up the hype. Have a companion mobile app if need be rather like Fallout 4 to help with earnings.

Come on Sega we want you back !
Although I'm sure the CEO stated that they are going to work to win back their fans trust - here's hoping.

jon
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Re: Sega is a mess

Postby jon » August 5th, 2015, 11:24 pm

As much as I want to disagree, I think maybe SEGA doesn't have a huge fan base anymore and they're probably not sitting on any cash cows. There are some unfortunate things that happened. First, and I don't think Sega ever recovered, was the SNES getting Street Fighter 2 a year before Sega. In fact by the time the Genesis got it, it was the Championship Edition and that was a month after a 2nd SNES SF2 game, SF2 Turbo. Think about that, there were 2 SNES SF2 releases by the time the Genesis got SF2 Championship Edition. Imagine if it was the other way around and the Genesis got it a year early. People always talk about, oh well the SNES was so much better, it was inevitable they were going to overtake SEGA. Well, before SF2 came out I think the Genesis was selling better. Another thing that hurt them was that they had absolutely incredible arcade games in the mid 90s, with the Model 2, Daytona USA, Virtua Cop series, Virtua Fighter series, Virtua Striker, and for whatever reason, maybe a lack of technology for consoles, but they couldn't port those games to the home market fast enough. If they had gotten great home ports of those games by 1995, at or before the PS1 came out, things could have been a lot different. The Saturn just couldn't handle those games and give them proper ports in time. And by 1996 it was over anyways.


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