Sega's mixed and matched new dev teams

[zurich]

At a strategy conference held today in Tokyo, new Sega president Hisao Oguchi announced ambitious plans to more than double the amount of console software they sell within the next five years. As part of this initiative, Oguchi will restructure Sega's nine development studios into five, while creating two new game-making teams, in an effort to create products more capable of appealing to a large audience.

Under Oguchi's plan, Sonic Team and United Game Artists (makers of Space Channel 5 and Rez) will merge and form a company whose aim is games for casual users. Hitmaker and Sega Rosso will come together to create "new forms of gaming", Wow Entertainment and Overworks will merge into a single company making games that are "the standard of the next generation", and Amusement Vision and Smilebit will form an outfit concentrating on movie-like productions. Sega-AM2 will stay as is, concentrating on fighters and other hardcore-gamer favorites. In addition to this, Virtua Fighter designer Yu Suzuki will form a new development team, and team members from Smilebit and Amusement Vision will create a brand new sports-game studio.

According to Oguchi, the restructuring is part of a move to make Sega's games appeal to a broader audience. "Our games up to now have leaned too far towards the core audience," he said at the conference. "I want our games to become more accessible again... We will continue to provide new forms of excitement that nobody has ever seen or experienced before."

As part of Sega's new theme (termed "The Excitement Company" by Oguchi), the Japanese publisher will also explore new paths for its arcade business, which is its biggest moneymaker but also a declining marketplace in Japan. Among these paths: a new entertainment complex for adults who wouldn't normally visit arcades, although Sega declined to release any details on this project.

According to the company's financial documents, Sega expects to sell 9.25 million units of software worldwide during the 2004 fiscal year. Oguchi also plans to be ready with several launch titles for the next generation of consoles from Sony, Microsoft and so on.

http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/famitsu/games/news/30354.shtml

Ugh, now I can definitely kiss my Rez sequel goodbye.

 

[marconelly!]

Ugh, now I can definitely kiss my Rez sequel goodbye.

That's the first thing I thought. Not that I think Rez needs a sequel (I consider it be an artwork after all, and that needs no sequel), but something as crazy and creative will hardly come out of new Sonic+UGA studio...

 

[zurich]

Ugh, now I can definitely kiss my Rez sequel goodbye.

That's the first thing I thought. Not that I think Rez needs a sequel (I consider it be an artwork after all, and that needs no sequel), but something as crazy and creative will hardly come out of new Sonic+UGA studio...

I consider it artwork that was too short, leaving me wanting more

 

[zurich]

Also, if you look at each teams past console experience..

Sonic Team (mostly GC) + UGA (mostly PS2)
Hitmaker (multi) + Ross (arcade)
WOW (multi) + Overworks (mostly PS2)
AV (mostly GC) + Smilebit (mostly Xbox)

Wierd, but this restructuring is probably looking foward into next gen, where current platform experience is more or less irrelevant.

 

[London Geezer]

ambitious plans to more than double the amount of console software they sell within the next five years.
Under Oguchi's plan, Sonic Team and United Game Artists (makers of Space Channel 5 and Rez) will merge and form a company whose aim is games for casual users. Hitmaker and Sega Rosso will come together to create "new forms of gaming", Wow Entertainment and Overworks will merge into a single company making games that are "the standard of the next generation", and Amusement Vision and Smilebit will form an outfit concentrating on movie-like productions. Sega-AM2 will stay as is, concentrating on fighters and other hardcore-gamer favorites. In addition to this, Virtua Fighter designer Yu Suzuki will form a new development team, and team members from Smilebit and Amusement Vision will create a brand new sports-game studio.

urgh.... that kinda hurt..... they could have just said:

we need to sell more games, so we're gonna work some PR and transform ourselves into yet another standard development house like Codemasters, Acclaim or [put name here]

 

[Deepak]

urgh.... that kinda hurt..... they could have just said:

we need to sell more games, so we're gonna work some PR and transform ourselves into yet another standard development house like Codemasters, Acclaim or [put name here]

I guess if you want to continue playing sega games then this is the best bet.

 

[London Geezer]

I guess if you want to continue playing sega games then this is the best bet.

now that i think about it, i havent really enjoyed a Sega game since......... when i had a Megadrive/Genesis...... so, whatever they say, they better start making good games again or people just wont' care....
the days of Big Sega (and also Big Nintendo) ended when more people came into the market. the genesisVSsnes days were great, but today no one really cares about them anymore.... apart the core fans. if they make a good game, good, people will buy it, but they will because it's a good game, not because it's a Sega game. Same for Nintendo.... at least Nintendo pulls out amazing games every once in a while.... what was the last GREAT game Sega did? i mean really GREAT.... VF4 didnt make it for me, faaaaaaaaaar too unaccessible for me or the majority of people to care about....

 

[Deepak]

It is not as if Sega is making crap games....there games are still high quality titles....their games still get excellent reviews across the board. but something called planning/advertising is lacking. Then titles are not released for correct platform.

 

[London Geezer]

It is not as if Sega is making crap games....there games are still high quality titles....their games still get excellent reviews across the board. but something called planning/advertising is lacking. Then titles are not released for correct platform.

if u say so....... 8)

let's just say that Sega never knew what marketing is.

both Sega and Nintendo are stuck in their old ways, while people have moved on since the days when they were the 2 big competitors...

 

[Evil_Cloud]

AM2 won't be harmed ^^

Shenmue 3 here I come