Sega Europe talks frankly about the Sega brand

[FlareHabanero]

Why do you come here if you don't want to discuss Sega-related matters?

No. Sega is not trash at handling its IPs. Sega handles them just fine, the games just need some higher quality and marketing.

Usually people that say comments like yours are the same that complain about some 20 year old series not having a comeback. Most Sega series stay in a single generation. Streets of Rage for example. Or Jet Set Radio. It's how it is

Sonic games suffer from horrible inconsistency.
One half of their IPs are dormant with no signs of returning.
The other half are stuck forever in Japan and refuse to localize.
They handle collaborations like the Platinum Games one poorly.
They actively LIE in order to trick people into thinking they've improved.
With this all going on for decades too.


And you have the nerve to say that SEGA handles their products "fine"?


Look, I love SEGA, but at the same time I'm not going to wear rose-tinted glasses and say they're the messiah of video game companies like a sheep.

[Aki-at]

Sonic games suffer from horrible inconsistency.
One half of their IPs are dormant with no signs of returning.
The other half are stuck forever in Japan and refuse to localize.
They handle collaborations like the Platinum Games one poorly.
They actively LIE in order to trick people into thinking they've improved.
With this all going on for decades too.


And you have the nerve to say that SEGA handles their products "fine"?

Er Platinum Games still got more support from SEGA than any other publisher, so that's a poor point. You'd be better off suggesting someone like Obsidian but overall, SEGA is an excellent partner, for the most part anyway.

[Sharky]

What reasons did they have to think otherwise? Shenmue and Shenmue II's cliffhanger ending have become legendary in the industry, and the amount of people begging Sega for a Shenmue III at nearly every possible opportunity was almost astronomical.  They were evidently aware of the demand to at least some extent, since they banned their developers from even discussing it in interviews.

What more did the fans have to do to get Sega to realize that they were out there?

I guess it was to (literally) give their money to someone else.

The reason is simple, and I'm not sure why you're acting like you don't know it. Shenmue wasn't profitable, in fact it lost the company crazy money...They deemed the risk not worth the potential reward after they got burned so badly before, a pretty wise business choice. Like it or not.

Despite a pretty vocal online presents, in the grand scheme of things even the 70k kick starter backers are not even close to the numbers they need to sell for an AAA game like Shenmue to be profitable and I assume every vocal Shenmue fan put money in, even if it was $5.

A bunch of whiney buttholes on the internet don't actually have better business sense than a 60 year old company.... Shocking, I know.

[Team Andromeda]

Shenmue wasn't profitable, in fact it lost the company crazy money...They deemed the risk not worth the potential reward after they got burned so badly before, a pretty wise business choice. Like it or not.

Spot on . I'm amazed SEGA even let Yu Suzuki make the sequel tbh . I get bored of the internet trolls asking for this and that. Shame they didn't put their money where their mouth was with Shenmue II on the DC or XBox then would have had a sequel from SEGA years back.

[EnternalHope]

Sonic games suffer from horrible inconsistency.One half of their IPs are dormant with no signs of returning.The other half are stuck forever in Japan and refuse to localize.They handle collaborations like the Platinum Games one poorly.They actively LIE in order to trick people into thinking they've improved.With this all going on for decades too.And you have the nerve to say that SEGA handles their products "fine"?Look, I love SEGA, but at the same time I'm not going to wear rose-tinted glasses and say they're the messiah of video game companies like a sheep.

The fanbase has gotten extreme and overzealous with its furries and manchild retards, that's why Sonic Boom was created and why SEGA of Japan is now in full charge of the main Sonic series. The inconsistencies are due to the fact that the Sonic fanbase is now an unoriganized,double minded,schizophrenic mess.

SEGA's older IPs are for an OLDER generation. Younger gamers don't remember or care about Streets of Rage,Ecco,Shining Force,Burning Rangers,Crazy Taxi,Jet Set Radio,Zaxxon e.t.c. So without a generation of gamers who would rather see them on a SEGA branded platform since that's what they were released on and ORIGINALLY developed for, it makes logical sense not to revive them if they can't profit from a large userbase.

The other half of Japanese IPs are extremely niche, and thus not profitable overseas. You know SEGA TRIED hard with VC and AGAIN with VC3. Why didn't these games sell? Answer me that. It wasn't SEGA's fault. It was gamers who ignored it for garbage like Gears of War.

No they don't. Binary Domain,Alpha Protocol,Vanquish,Bayonetta just to name a few. Come to think of it, SEGA has far more IPs from Platinum Games than any other publisher. So the relationship seems to be pretty good.

Lie? No, Console gamers NEVER put their money where their mouths are. Period. They want EVERY game to be perfect. They are so picky,so fault finding that ANYTHING they don't see as perfection, they'll bitch and moan about. Then they'll turn around and buy the latest rehash of Call of Duty and then claim that it's a perfect,must have Triple A game.

Wrong. SEGA used to be a hardware company 20 years ago. And I can honestly say, their consoles have aged far better than Playstation. Saturn is a far better product with FAR better niche titles and a strong Japanese library. Genesis was out 2 years before SNES, thus its library is far bigger, Master System is still a pleasant 8-bit 80s console with its own charm. And Dreamcast, in its short life has far more memorable titles than PS2. Even SEGA CD, when you look past its FMV shovelware has must have collectible titles like Snatcher,Shining Force CD,Popful Mail. SEGA branded systems had both quality,durability, affordability and noteworthy games worth collecting. And because they were built from Arcade hardware and thus had a uniqueness and ingenuity to it.


There's a large generation of older "hipster" gamers like me who miss that, and would like to see someone attempt that. And who also feel that Sega can't duplicate that on its rival platforms. Because they  (Nintendo,MS,Sony) DON'T know SEGA or understand them. That's why anytime I hear there's a chance that SEGA will consider eventually building hardware again, I get super excited and that's why I started that OP. Because the WIPO is to be taken VERY seriously.

Er Platinum Games still got more support from SEGA than any other publisher, so that's a poor point. You'd be better off suggesting someone like Obsidian but overall, SEGA is an excellent partner, for the most part anyway.

Exactly. SEGA has far more PG IPs than anyone else.

[Radrappy]

Sonic games suffer from horrible inconsistency.
One half of their IPs are dormant with no signs of returning.
The other half are stuck forever in Japan and refuse to localize.
They handle collaborations like the Platinum Games one poorly.
They actively LIE in order to trick people into thinking they've improved.
With this all going on for decades too.


And you have the nerve to say that SEGA handles their products "fine"?


Look, I love SEGA, but at the same time I'm not going to wear rose-tinted glasses and say they're the messiah of video game companies like a sheep.

I 100% agree with you.  I don't know who would be mad enough to say they handle their IPs just fine when they can only really afford to make Sonic, Yakuza, and Hatsune Miku these days. 

I don't care if they're fine financially due to acquired studios or mobile games, I still feel like they're creatively bankrupt.   

[Radrappy]

Er Platinum Games still got more support from SEGA than any other publisher, so that's a poor point. You'd be better off suggesting someone like Obsidian but overall, SEGA is an excellent partner, for the most part anyway.

Debatable.

They still made a terrible port of Bayonetta for ps3, bungled the release of anarchy reigns completely, and cancelled B2.  They didn't really help market the games well either.

That's not the only time they've been a bad partner either.  How about the 3 game sonic/nintendo partnership that resulted in 2 terrible games and one very mixed game?  How about the whole Colonial Marines fiasco?  How about poor Tembo the Elephant getting zero marketing what so ever?

Yeah, I'd say they're a mediocre partner at best. 

[Aki-at]

Debatable.

They still made a terrible port of Bayonetta for ps3, bungled the release of anarchy reigns completely, and cancelled B2.  They didn't really help market the games well either.

That's not the only time they've been a bad partner either.  How about the 3 game sonic/nintendo partnership that resulted in 2 terrible games and one very mixed game?  How about the whole Colonial Marines fiasco?  How about poor Tembo the Elephant getting zero marketing what so ever?

Yeah, I'd say they're a mediocre partner at best. 

There's a lot of bad reasoning here.

Firstly Bayonetta on PS3 was only possible because SEGA was willing to make a port. Platinum had neither the manpower nor interest in making a PS3 version. And let's not act like trying to port a game that was built for the 360 in mind was an easy job either.

Second which other publisher has done a good job marketing Platinum stuff? Certainly not Nintendo or Activision and Konami only lasted for one deal. So far out of everyone they've worked with, SEGA been the best, no debate on that.

The rest you seem to have overlooked what I said. Compare it with other publishers in the industry and SEGA is actually a decent partner.

[Radrappy]

There's a lot of bad reasoning here.

Firstly Bayonetta on PS3 was only possible because SEGA was willing to make a port. Platinum had neither the manpower nor interest in making a PS3 version. And let's not act like trying to port a game that was built for the 360 in mind was an easy job either.

Second which other publisher has done a good job marketing Platinum stuff? Certainly not Nintendo or Activision and Konami only lasted for one deal. So far out of everyone they've worked with, SEGA been the best, no debate on that.

The rest you seem to have overlooked what I said. Compare it with other publishers in the industry and SEGA is actually a decent partner.

I like how it's bad reasoning because you don't agree with it.  I listed how Sega let Platinum down and you retort with
"well nobody else was doing it."  Also, just because Platinum wasn't willing to make a PS3 version doesn't excuse the quality of Sega's port at all.  You make it sound like the ps3 ver was icing on the cake when in fact platinum went on record to call the port their biggest failure yet.  And for good reason!  That version of the game was the one MOST GAMERS PLAYED.  Yes, what a great partnership!  I can see why companies are just chomping at the bit to get the Sega treatment!  I'm sure Tembo can give a great endorsement. 

But I can see you've at least scaled back your description to "decent" at this point.  Thanks for moving the goalpost. 

[Trippled]

Actually the Bayo port was by Nex Entertainment.

[Radrappy]

Actually the Bayo port was by Nex Entertainment.

Yes but Nex was commissioned by Sega.  The blame still lies with them. 

[Barry the Nomad]

Yes but Nex was commissioned by Sega.  The blame still lies with them. 

YOU'RE MOVING THE GOALPOST!!!


So that Shenmue quote has since been clarified with the actual quote: http://segabits.com/blog/2015/10/27/sega-europe-marketing-director-says-they-are-exploring-ways-to-re-release-shenmue-1-and-2/


Basically, after being asked about Shenmue he said “There are lots of opportunities for legacy titles. We are exploring. We know what fans want as they have a petition.”

[Radrappy]

YOU'RE MOVING THE GOALPOST!!!

How so?  Sega still "handled" the port.  Honestly, them outsourcing it like that kind of makes it worse.   

Aki changed his description from excellent to decent. 

[FlareHabanero]

YOU'RE MOVING THE GOALPOST!!!


So that Shenmue quote has since been clarified with the actual quote: http://segabits.com/blog/2015/10/27/sega-europe-marketing-director-says-they-are-exploring-ways-to-re-release-shenmue-1-and-2/


Basically, after being asked about Shenmue he said “There are lots of opportunities for legacy titles. We are exploring. We know what fans want as they have a petition.”

What do they mean with "legacy titles" exactly?


Like are they talking about cult games in a vein to Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia, and so on? Something specific would help clarify.

[Aki-at]

I like how it's bad reasoning because you don't agree with it.  I listed how Sega let Platinum down and you retort with
"well nobody else was doing it."  Also, just because Platinum wasn't willing to make a PS3 version doesn't excuse the quality of Sega's port at all.  You make it sound like the ps3 ver was icing on the cake when in fact platinum went on record to call the port their biggest failure yet.  And for good reason!  That version of the game was the one MOST GAMERS PLAYED.  Yes, what a great partnership!  I can see why companies are just chomping at the bit to get the Sega treatment!  I'm sure Tembo can give a great endorsement. 

But I can see you've at least scaled back your description to "decent" at this point.  Thanks for moving the goalpost.

It is bad reasoning, I mean I can't comprehension it since it seems over the top without looking at the positives. Wither you like it or not, MadWorld, Bayonetta, Vanquish, Infinite Space AND Anarchy Reigns would not be possible under any other mid-tier publisher sans THQ. And the fact is, the first three games in that list were strongly supported.

The port of Bayonetta wasn't some game crashing glitchfest, let's not try and act like it was a similar disaster to Skyrim, it wasn't a good port either. But you seem to be failing to understand why it wasn't a good port, Platinum built the original Bayonetta ground up with the Xbox 360 in mind, the Playstation 3 was a coding trainwreck that even Sony realises was a massive mistake. Without laying the foundations with the engine, you were going to get a bad job later on.

And let's not act like SEGA didn't and still don't have any pull with third parties. Smaller third parties are looking for work, they don't care who the work comes from, as long as they get it. SEGA won't be able to pull someone like Bungie anymore, but if they wanted to, they'd get the majority of third party developers on their side.

Not even changing goal posts just typing on the phone, but if you want to project me as some sort of rabid SEGA fanboy, by all means go ahead. You seem to overlook the fact I said "You'd be better off suggesting someone like Obsidian..." but honed straight onto the excellent bit because I'm one of those crazies who liked that one video game more than you.