Sega to stop GameCube sports development

[iscariot]

sucks for Cube owners





http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2898153,00.html

After announcing slumping financial results, Sega of Japan announces that it won't continue to develop sports games for all consoles.

Earlier today in Japan, Sega released its financial results for the last six months, which showed that its operating profit was down 20 percent from the previous year, with revenue down 3 percent. The company still posted a net profit of 1.01 billion yen (about $8 million). Sega said it has been harder than expected to become a cross-platform publisher, and that its initial plans to transition from its hardware-based model were overly optimistic.
A Dow Jones report said that Sega is focusing on improving profits in its "loss-making" sports game operations in the US, which Sega has had big hopes for. While Sega doesn't plan to back down from its fierce competition with Electronic Arts on other platforms, it will completely halt GameCube sports game development as of next year.

...

 

[Qroach]

Yeah I saw this on gamespot. Doesn't suprise me really... this isn't the console to buy if you're heavy into sports.

 

[iscariot]

yep, that's true...it was like that with the n 64 as well...

 

[CaptainHowdy]

and it sucks why? nobody was buying thier games on any platform..
should we miss something we never wanted in the first place?

 

[Glonk]

It sucks because it's pushing Nintendo closer and closer to a niche/non-mainstream market.

If I were Nintendo, that'd really scare me. I'd want in with the big bucks in the mainstream too.

 

[Gollum]

Definitely not good, hopefully not a sign of things to come, but considering its only Sega Sports and not the entire Sega lineup (Monkey Ball and Sonic etc. will stay at home on GC), GC should be fine. EA still releases their sports titles on GC AFAIK, so those few of the GC demographic who dig sport can at least get some decent titles (granted the Sega titles almost consitently offer better gameplay, but they're not getting the sales they'd deserve) for their enjoyment...

As for CaptainHowdy...

 

[CaptainHowdy]

In the press conference, Sega COO Tetsu Kayama mentioned that their major game titles will be going multi-platform in the future, such as Virtua Fighter and Sonic, in order to maximize sales. Sega is also considering porting certain platform exclusive titles to other console systems, such as some of the Xbox titles. The Sega Sports division has incurred deficits of 6.1 billion yen this term, but the team is recovered and continue to develop future sports titles.

- Furthermore, Sega mentioned they may cease development of sports titles for GameCube due to losses. However the decision is not yet finalized, because it seems the EA Sports series do not sell well in GameCube either.

- Namco announced the software sales for this term has increased by 64%, due to strong performance of Tekken 4 and Dead to Rights. Tekken 4 has sold 1.86 million copies in US, and Dead to rights has sold 1.83 copies in Europe.

- Japanese magazine reported that two major new game titles will be announced in Japan in early December. No manufacturers or systems have been announced yet.


that means Panzer Dragoon/Shenmue 2 and JSRF all coming to the cube, and the sports decision has not been made yet, just an idea, I would gladly trade a few NBA games that noone bought on any system for some decent games.

 

[zurich]

I doubt Shenmue 2 will, as it was published by MS.

Dead to Rights sold 1.83 million copies in Europe ?! I didn't think there were that many Xboxes there though [and surely that's not PS2/Cube, as it JUST came out. That'd make it more successful than MGS2. I think this number is wrong]

I'm all for more Sega loving on the 'Box.. hopefully they'll put Live support in them too (VF4 drooooooool).

 

[Goldni]

Man this is another big loss for Sega. Now EA will have GCN all to itself for sports games. Sega really does'nt need to make ANOTHER stupid decision. It would help if Sega would'nt actually release the GCN version of sports game TWO FREAKING WEEKS after the other two..and in one cse a whole month later.

What's not being highlighted is that Sega's projections missed the mark bigtime one ALL THREE CONSOLES. EA whipped thier ass. If Sega wants to make the GCN a scapegoat then it should reevaluate the other genres of game that have sold for SHIT on Xbox and a few (save for VF) on PS2.

 

[Glonk]

In the press conference, Sega COO Tetsu that means Panzer Dragoon/Shenmue 2 and JSRF all coming to the cube, and the sports decision has not been made yet, just an idea, I would gladly trade a few NBA games that noone bought on any system for some decent games.

You're kidding, right?
Where did it say that?

Did you seem to forget that MS paid big bucks to make Shenmue 2 exclusive, and is in fact its publisher?

JSRF is an older game now, I'd seriously doubt it'd move to the Cube. Maybe a JSRF sequel will be multiplatform, and maybe a PDO sequel...but not the originals. IMO of course.

 

[zurich]

Wheres' the link to this press release? I've checked IGN and Gspot.

edit: NM, found it.

Here's what Xen says about Namco:

Namco released its financial results for the fiscal half-year today, and projections for the full-year ending in March 2003. Specifically, Namco reported an operating profit of 3.26 billion yen on sales of 73.4 billion yen for the first half of the year, marking a 63 percent increase from the same period last year. During the period, Namco shipped an estimated 4.36 million copies of game software including 1.86 million of Tekken 4 for the PlayStation 2, and 1.83 million of Dead to Rights for the Xbox. Despite the success of the company's core game business however, Namco's peripheral enterprises including a restaurant chain and movie theaters posted losses of approximately 100 million yen. For the full fiscal year ending in March 2003, Namco projects an operating profit of 7.7 billion yen on sales of 158.8 billion yen.

SHIPPED, not sold. Still, I think that D2R number's off. Wasn't it only at ~130k in the US?

 

[marconelly!]

Tekken 4 has sold 1.86 million copies in US, and Dead to rights has sold 1.83 copies in Europe.

Shipping these amounts of games sounds stupendous... Were they really thinking that they will sell that much? Especially DtR.

Btw, I kinda doubt Sega will start porting all those old VF4, JSRF, Sonic 2 and other games. Perhaps they will do multi releases in the future, but they said it's not even yet decided.

 

[Tommy]

Being an EA sports fan, this is good news!

An occasional game EA that might not have been released...due to a Sega version being available and combined with relatively few sports games players owning a Cube...now probably will be released!


PS2 definately owns for sports games though.

 

[Glonk]

I would think it sucks for every sports fan on the GCN.

EA has no real competition on the platform, and can survive with shoddy ports...

 

[CaptainHowdy]

In the press conference, Sega COO Tetsu that means Panzer Dragoon/Shenmue 2 and JSRF all coming to the cube, and the sports decision has not been made yet, just an idea, I would gladly trade a few NBA games that noone bought on any system for some decent games.

You're kidding, right?
Where did it say that?

Did you seem to forget that MS paid big bucks to make Shenmue 2 exclusive, and is in fact its publisher?

JSRF is an older game now, I'd seriously doubt it'd move to the Cube. Maybe a JSRF sequel will be multiplatform, and maybe a PDO sequel...but not the originals. IMO of course.

thats the report on The Magic box..
doesnt say WHICH games, just says Xbox exclusives from Sega will no longer be exclusive, but there are only so many Xbox Exclusive Sega games.. so you take your pick.

 

[Vince]

Sega was arrogant for their descision to go after EA as they did - and now they'll pay.

It's definatly unfortunate though, but they did it to themselves.

 

[Qroach]

Arrogant, to think they can compete? Oh come on Vince. Sega is probably the only company that can compete in the sports market with EA. For the most part sports sales overall have been down from last year on all platforms. Probably the big reason is that this years titles aren't a big improvement over last years. Either way you look at it, even EA's titles have sold like crap on the cube. They may even limit their support, like they've done in the past with N64.

I think it's perfectly fine for sega to consider getting rid of platform exclusive titles next year. They've had lot's of exclusive PS2 games, lot's of exclusive Xbox games, and a few gamecube titles. On the Xbox, beyond panzer dragoon, I don't think thye had any more exclusives planned. Doesn't really matter anyway, becuase I don't think MS is worried about exclusive titlles for next year (they have lots).

 

[CaptainHowdy]

Arrogant, to think they can compete? Oh come on Vince. Sega is probably the only company that can compete in the sports market with EA. For the most part sports sales overall have been down from last year on all platforms. Probably the big reason is that this years titles aren't a big improvement over last years. Either way you look at it, even EA's titles have sold like crap on the cube. They may even limit their support, like they've done in the past with N64.

I think it's perfectly fine for sega to consider getting rid of platform exclusive titles next year. They've had lot's of exclusive PS2 games, lot's of exclusive Xbox games, and a few gamecube titles. On the Xbox, beyond panzer dragoon, I don't think thye had any more exclusives planned. Doesn't really matter anyway, becuase I don't think MS is worried about exclusive titlles for next year (they have lots).

if they could compete, they would have had some sales one would think? the sports games were already multiplatform, and did not sell on any of them.

 

[Tagrineth]

- Namco announced the software sales for this term has increased by 64%, due to strong performance of Tekken 4 and Dead to Rights. Tekken 4 has sold 1.86 million copies in US, and Dead to rights has sold 1.83 copies in Europe.

<joke>Wow! It's ALMOST sold twice!</joke>

 

[Gollum]

I can't seem to find any sources supporting your statement that the Sega Xbox exclusives are supposed to go Multi-platform CaptainHowdy. The only Info I can find repeatedly is that Shinobi and Sonic (PS2 and GC exclusives till now) will go multiplatform, those are the only two titles I can find a mention of. As was stated elsewhere the cancelation of Sega Sports titles for GC doesn't seem to be confirmed yet, but is apparently being considered as almost certain...

edit: whoops, make that Virtua Fighter instead of Shinobi
edit2: did some more digging and I found a note saying that some not yet specified exclusives might be ported in the future, though there's no mentioning of any platform or title. So basically any exclusive could be ported in the future not only Xbox ones like you pointed out, which is a big difference. Maybe they're going completely multiplatform soon, would certainly be good for consumers, while MS and Nintendo might not be so happy to loose rare exclusives. Visually the exclusives (maybe except for PDO) don't seem to fully exploit any target platform's capabilities anyway...