The thing that I don't understand is that SEGA has always been about moving forward, this is the company that didn't make an official sequel to Outrun until 2003, 17 years after the original. Sure, they had some games they would re-do, but they mostly delivered and moved on. This is why I'm surprised people don't clamor for the return of more Japanese studios making unique IPs, they clamor for 'sequels'...
Maybe Nintendo should buy SEGA, that way they can make all the sequels everyone wants.
well don't tell that to fans of Golden Sun, F-Zero, Metroid, etc. etc. =P
Joke aside, on some level,why are we having a discussion about why people ask for sequels. Isn't it obvious? People get attached to the world, people like a game's battle system, they hope for the same sound or composer team to return (Bravely series is an exception here). It's not as if we all don't have some favorites too. Besides, I think that post assumes that there's no overlap between people who want new things and people who want to see the old franchises return. It also makes sense that not everyone is gung-ho about what's new, because as I think MadeManG was alluding to, basically people have preferences. Not everyone is a Sega fan or fan of everything Sega has their hand in. Not everyone is a fan of SRPGs, so when Valkyria Chronicles was announced, as much as some people appreciated it as something unique there are plenty who just might not have cared and wanted something else or would rather have had Skies 2 or something. Doesn't really bother me. An unlikely scenario considering that as we now understand it, VC is a franchise that people tend to appreciate, if at least from a distance, but I believe I made my point.
while I quoted your post George, this isn't designed as a slight to you but something I've been thinking about generally over the years.
Talk of progress aside, some franchises are clearly exempt from this- those are things like Sonic, Total War, etc. Some franchises are so big or make enough return that the risk to its continued existence is "insulated" or protected. That's what this is about more than anything. I mean it's not like Sega hasn't already been trying out new IPs either, like Rhythm Thief or Hero Bank. They didn't take in any profound way, for whatever circumstances. Hasn't everyone been going for new IPs (besides Koei Tecmo, maybe, I can't think of what they're doing)? I know that Bandai Namco, Square-Enix, and Capcom have been trying new IPs at least. We're really not dealing with a uniquely-Sega situation. Sega is not unique in its creation of franchises that people love but then are later shelved due to certain reasons. People still want Mega Man, Rival Schools, Darkstalkers, Legend of Mana, Klonoa, blah blahblahblahblahbahb
Like, if Valkyria were to basically cease to exist (for all we know, it's a dormant franchise), why would I accept this direction? I mean I'm not going to say Sega is dying (it'll take way more than Valkyria being dormant to do any sort of real damage to Sega) but I'm not going to accept it graciously either. I don't have any reason to believe there's little else that could be done with the franchise. Does it behoove me, as just as one individual who lacks any real leverage in Sega's decision making process on my own, to internalize the rationalizations of the market? I don't think so.
Well go to the comment sections and have a look yourself. Check the SEGAbits facebook page that has people telling us SEGA funding Shenmue 3 would make them millions.
People want a sequel and even if they don't directly say its because they like the game... It's because they want the game rather than understanding if it's feasible or not.
-Dubious- proposition aside (re: that specific shenmue 3 notion) I don't think it's important whether or not a person's desire for a game is influenced by its perceived commercial viability. That most gaming consumers aren't considering a game's feasibility ( at least, as far as they know) isn't necessary from their point of view. I'll understand the logic of why a company might not go through with it, but I'm not less inclined to want it, and may not be less inclined to make that company aware of it. If enough people signal Sega about their game/proposition it's at least a useful data point.
Not to say that this means all ideas under the sun have some unnoticed commercial feasibility...but why do we care about every idea under the sun anyway? The way I see it, if people stop screeching for Shenmue 3 altogether, then Sega will have zero reason to think about the game, instead of one reason.
Separate note, I think we're at the point where we're being tempted to reacting in turn to overreacting comments.
