Panzer Dragoon Saga and the SEGA Board, did they really hate the vision?

[Nameless 24]

I have a couple of Retro Magazines that look deep into the team that created Panzer Dragoon and how SEGA's Board didn't want to promote Panzer Dragoon Saga and went even as far as to insult them for making such an ambitious yet risky game, which was why the team were disbanded.

Is any of this true, and if so or not, how come the team was split that each main head but one left SEGA?

When I read the article it was pretty sad how their love of the universe came into fruition after 2 games that expanded on that vision of a post-apocalyptic world, only for the board to not like what they've done with Saga.

I hope that UDON or whoever makes Franchise Books that talk about Behind the Scenes tidbits touch on this epic franchise and the somewhat bitter-sweet story behind it.

Any knowledge would be deeply appreciated and I hope perhaps you contribute to if or whenever such a book is published!

[TJKitsune]

I can't say I know much about Team Andromeda that created the Panzer Dragoon series.  I believe Saga was just an experiment to expand on the universe a little more than just making it a shooter-on-rails game.  The team was likely dissolved shortly after Saga was released to move some of their key developers to work on some big titles for Dreamcast and were moved to Smilebit, where they went on to make Jet Set Radio.  When the Dreamcast was let go, the team was likely in the process of finishing Panzer Dragoon Orta and Gunvalkyrie, which later appeared on the original XBOX.  Smilebit was then restructured in 2004 before the Sega/Sammy merger, just as several other studios were, and I think those members joined another group...I think they're the team working on the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games series?  I really don't think we've seen the last of Panzer Dragoon, as there was a track in Transformed inspired by Panzer Dragoon.  But if you look at any of Sega's studios, none are the original teams in anything.

I don't recall much being said about why the original Team Andromeda was dissolved though..  Companies go through restructuring all the time, be it to divide up and coming developers to help them expand on their skills, or for financial reasons..  Not wanting to promote Panzer Dragoon Saga was likely because it was released in 1998, right near the end of the Saturn's life.  SEGA's made a lot of risky moves with games throughout alot of their history.  I can't see them shaming a team for trying something different..

[Trippled]

Team Andromeda was split up within Sega...one part went to Overworks, some to UGA for REZ, while one team made Jet Set Radio. A fourth went somewhere else maybe...to other companies, and when UGA disbanded, the REZ developers followed. The people that made Jet Set Radio merged with AV, and have been pretty active on the Yakuza front. Its tough to say how GunValkyrie and Orta came to be...since there arent (m)any JSR members that have been involved in those games or Team Andromeda members. Some staff got mixed into the Yakuza team, but for most like directors an lead artists were nowhere to be seen.

The Mario and Sonic games have nothing to do with aforementioned games...these games  made by the people that made all those Japan-only sport games since the Saturn.

[Nameless 24]

I don't recall much being said about why the original Team Andromeda was dissolved though..  Companies go through restructuring all the time, be it to divide up and coming developers to help them expand on their skills, or for financial reasons..  Not wanting to promote Panzer Dragoon Saga was likely because it was released in 1998, right near the end of the Saturn's life.  SEGA's made a lot of risky moves with games throughout alot of their history.  I can't see them shaming a team for trying something different..

I asked to see whether there were more to the team's personal experiences then what I read...but I wouldn't be surprised SEGA made them split into other groups...but from what I read on RetroGamer, since they reviewed the members who came up with PD, they mentioned how SEGA by the time they were working on Saga that they wanted them to do other things as they didn't like Panzer Dragoon personally and probably business wise. The team wanted to really push saga apparently, but the board didn't want to give the game anymore shelf space then their other projects at the time, which is a strange move considering that Final fantasy VII exploded a year beforehand.

Overall though, yeah SEGA did a bunch of mistakes during the Saturn era which sadly shows off their worst state of not knowing how to make common sense business decisions (they still can't from what I see, especially when Sammy keeps down sizing them for this very reason).

I find it ironic that EuroGamer's talked to the dudes as soon as I made that thread though. XD

Overall though, I will take in your knowledge and Trippled to see the bigger picture of what happened with the team....and it kind of sucks that they were never kept together (I am sure Yakuza, Jet Set and other games would exist anyway).