SEGA’s big (and free) update to Company of Heroes 2, known as ‘Turning Point’ went live today on Steam. The update will include the anticipated World Builder that allows fans to create their own maps and they also released ‘Victory of Stalingrad’ DLC, they will be charging you $9.99 (which is a dollar off today on Steam). So what do you get?
It seems that SEGA’s new RTS, Company of Heroes 2, will no longer occupy store shelves in Russia as its publisher over there 1C-Softclub has bowed to pressure from press to remove the game from store shelves.
It seems people in Russia are taking great offense to how the game portrayed the Allied Forces in Company of Heroes (first one) as brave and honest, but the sequel, which focuses on the Russian forces, decided to use ‘offensive’ stereotypes. Relic on the other hand stand by the game, stating that it’s historically accurate, and that they used eye-witness testimony when they made the game’s story mode.
Seems that they even have a 17,000 signature petition wanting to remove the game from Steam. My opinion? As much as I hate developers showing how ‘great’ American soldiers are and how ‘every axis power is evil’ or ‘brutal’ compared to us, I have to say they are taking way too much offense to this. If you don’t like what the game offers, don’t buy it. But don’t go and force everyone not to experience it because it offends you.
Your thoughts?
Its crazy knowing that filtering your content can do so much good for your company, especially SEGA’s recent financial results for the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year. SEGA-Sammy’s operating income for the quarter ended on June 30th and totaled 16.1 billion yen ($163.85 million), 197.7 percent higher than the same time last year. Net income came in at a (for SEGA-Sammy) staggering 12.9 billion yen ($131.6 million), which is a 408.8 percent increase year-over-year.
SEGA-Sammy totally improved their consumer business segment, which includes those video games you loved published by SEGA and its Japanese pachislot/pachinko machine division. Panchislot/pachinko branch of the company saw a increase of revenue of 138.5%, totaling 18.7 billion yen ($190.2 million).
According to SEGA-Sammy’s press release, their latest RTS game (which they got by buying the team/their franchises from THQ for 26 million) Company of Heroes 2 sold a staggering 380,000 copies. I know most of you will see this and say it isn’t over a million units so it is a failure, but you have to know that this report is from June 30th, the game launched on June 25th. The only other major SEGA retail title outside of Company of Heroes 2, was the Playstation Portable Japan only title 7th Dragon 2020-2. SEGA’s publishing side saw a year-over-year decrease of 9.7 percent, selling 1.21 million units.
SEGA also reported favorable performance of their digital games on Windows PC, Playstation Vita and mobile devices. SEGA-Sammy state that Phantasy Star Online 2 (Japan only for now) helped bring the operating income of the consumer division up to 39 million yen (approximately $396,000).
It should be a good year for SEGA with Total War: Rome II, Football Manager 2014 and Sonic Lost Worlds around the corner.
SEGA has recently filed a claim with Delaware US Bankruptcy court, saying that THQ owes them 941,710.93 for Steam pre-orders on Company of Heroes 2.
The claim says there were 20,755 pre-orders registered on Steam between September 2012 to January 24, 2013 that made the company $1.3 million in revenue, leaving $941k figure after Valve’s 30% cut. Also seems that Valve paid THQ $508,877.85 on December 19, 2012.
If you guys didn’t know, SEGA bought Relic and all its software catalog for a reported $26 million dollars. According to Eurogamer, this will be piled up on over $200 million dollars worth of debt that the company owes.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed seems to be the big news topic today, with producer SOL teasing a new update on the Steam community forums. He posted the following:
“Скоро зима”
Which would translate to “Winter is Coming”, what could it be? You guessed it, free Company of Heroes 2 DLC. Check out the screenshot on top, the DLC comes free with a 1.3GB update. If you missed it, the game is also having a free-to-play weekend and discounting the game by 75%. This would be a good time to pick it up if you haven’t. Want to see General Winter in action? We got you covered.
This week on the Swingin’ Report Show we have a sort of crossover, Nuckles87 and Shigs from our other podcast; Sonic Talk join in to talk about their experience at E3. We talk about all the SEGA games, new consoles and our favorite games at E3 2013. Listen in and tell us what you think.
Sorry about not doing a transcript, but my time has been very limited as of late. So I either put this up as a YouTube video, or delay it a few more days. I felt it was getting too close to release date and needed to go up right away. Here I talk with Company of Heroes 2 lead animator Brett Pascal, talking everything about the game, the move to Sega and what has happened to some of their other IP’s. Enjoy!
Company of Heroes 2 will be out this Tuesday, June 25.
Relic Entertainment and SEGA showed off its E3 single player campaign, but what about us at home? Well if you download the open beta, not only will you get to try out the multiplayer game. You will also not get to play that E3 single player campign demo! For free.
Not a bad way to promote the game, if I say so myself. Go ahead and install the open beta here. Enjoy.
If you are considering picking up Company of Heroes 2, due to all the rave the first game got about its multiplayer modes. You are now in luck, the game has entered open beta. You can get on and play through steam.
“We’ve added new match-making servers, implemented a significant amount of Closed Beta feedback and fixed more bugs, compatibility and performance issues than I can count. The team will continue to read comments and feedback in our official forums and participate in regular playtests with the community. We’ll be patching the beta frequently and getting into a good rhythm for our post launch support cycle. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming – we do care and are listening!” – Greg Wilson, Company of Heroes 2 producer
Check out the steam post about the news here. Good luck!
SEGA and Relic are teaming up with ‘participating retailers’ worldwide and offering up some pre-order bonus DLC. The DLC is titled ‘Theatre of War‘ episode, which will be a mini campaign of sorts. It will also come with multiplayer vehicle skins and two additional commanders for each multiplayer army.
Besides that, if you pre-order now you get access the the beta (which started on April 2nd). Hit the jump to read the full press release.
SEGA has stated today that they will be launching the Company of Hereoes 2 closed beta next week. Players that get in will get to test the game’s competitive multiplayer and skirmish gameplay. You will be able to play six maps including ones that are for 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4. You will be able to progress to the first 40 levels of the game, customize your loadout using the new Army Customizer.
“We are excited to be able to launch the closed beta for Company of Heroes 2. We invite our fans to help us test and balance the game prior to launch, as well as see the changes we’ve already made since the Alpha test in December.” –Greg Wilson, Producer of Company of Heroes 2
So how do you get into the closed beta? According to SEGA its open only to pre-order customers only. It will be hosted on Steam and will utilize Steamworks (awesome).
You may have read yesterday’s rumor that SEGA will be purchasing Relic from THQ. Well, that purchase has just been confirmed. At the moment these are the only details available, but we will be sure to update you with all the latest as it’s revealed!
UPDATE: Thanks to Kotaku, we can now confirm that SEGA spent $26.6 million to buy Relic, outbidding Zenimax’s final bid of $26.3 million.
Relic is a developer known for their games in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, as well as the Company of Heroes series. It seems likely that SEGA now owns the right to Company of Heroes 2 which will be released on PC later this year, though at the moment that cannot be confirmed. According to THQ’s letter:
Some assets, including our publishing businesses and Vigil, along with some other
intellectual properties are not included in the sale agreements. They will remain part of
the Chapter 11 case. We will make every effort to find appropriate buyers, if possible.
Hopefully we will find out soon exactly what, if any, THQ IPs SEGA got in the deal, though it’s worth noting that Warhammer 40,000 is not a THQ IP, but a license owned by tabletop game company Games Workshop.