Publisher

Metacritic ranks SEGA as their #1 publisher of 2015

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SEGAMetacriticPublisher2015While SEGA didn’t release a lot of games during their 2015 year, the critics seemed to like the games they did release. From their SEGA 3D Classics to niche Japanese titles like Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX.  Metacritic ranks SEGA as their #1 publisher of 2015, beating the likes of companies like Sony Computer Entertainment, TellTale Games and yeah, even Nintendo. It seems that people already are calling this unfair due to most of the titles being re-releases, but their really good and add new content. I suggest people having issues with this to ask Metacritic to change the rules. When was the last time you could say ‘Metacritic ranks SEGA #1’?

Here are the list of publishers and how they ranked:

  1. SEGA – 77.1%
  2. Telltale Games – 74.6%
  3. Sony – 74.4%
  4. Activision Blizzard – 72%
  5. Devolver Digital – 73.5%
  6. Nintendo – 71.7%
  7. EA – 71.9%
  8. Bandai Namco – 69.5%
  9. Ubisoft – 69.9%

Seems that SEGA’s new stradegy of releasing fewer titles but making sure the titles that are released are of ‘good to great’ quality might be the solution to rebuilding their brand. This year we have (in the west) games like Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, Yakuza 0 (maybe), 7th Dragon III: Code VFC, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, Total War: Warhammer, SEGA 3D Classics Collection, and even that rumored Sonic 25th Anniversary game. If all goes as planned, SEGA might top the list again. Metacritic ranks SEGA #1, how do you feel about this?

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Updated: SEGA employee takes to Reddit, says SEGA’s money funded the Borderlands franchise

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Randy_Pitchford_Gearbox_Software

EDIT: Aki-at has corrected us, the employee on reddit worked at SEGA, not Gearbox. Though what he says sounds about the same as the Gearbox employee that took to Reddit a few days ago. 

We had a post a few days ago about a Gearbox Worker spilling his guts on the development of Aliens: Colonial Marines. Now we have another one and this time, he is verified. Meaning he sent proper verification that he works at Gearbox Software to the moderators. So what did he say that was interesting?

“Gearbox didnt care about the game, they spent the money from acm on the borderlands games. Look at the release of borderlands and when aliens was anounced, they had the other companies like timegate do the work. When they got the game back timegate had done a terrible job. When it came into sega it was shit basicaly. Gearbox only cared about fixing ‘progression blockers’ (things that stop a player from getting through a level) or crashes” – soetester

The first and easiest is that all that money SEGA pumped through them was actually used to develop Borderlands. Do I see a lawsuit coming? Well, I think something happen since if you go to the Reddit page, his account was deleted. No worries, screenshot of his answers after the break.

Continue Reading ➜

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SEGA joins the DOTA clone train, picks up Chaos Heroes Online

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Ever since the free-to-play DOTA clone, Leagues of Legends ranked up millions and millions of players many publishers have tried to replicate its success. Seems that SEGA is now one of the publishers picking up the Japanese DOTA clone Chaos Heroes Online.

SEGA is picking up the title to localize in Japan, this was developed by Korean developer Neoact. The game is set to start service this spring and will be free-to-play.

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SEGA comes in at sixth place in UK for 2012 video game publishers

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So how does this list work? How does a publisher move up and down in ranking? Well, it’s simple. Basically they have to sell a butt-load of games. SEGA came in sixth, barely being bested by Microsoft and beating publishers like Warner Bros. and Take Two. EA got number one publisher of the year due to releases like Fifa 13, Mass Effect 3 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. SEGA had a weird 2012, with the company shifting its focus from retail titles to a more digital array with the release of ports like NiGHTS, Jet Set Radio and even original titles like Hell Yeah! . Not to mention, their titles that did get released in retail didn’t do so hot like Binary Domain and Yakuza: Dead Souls. But hey, there’s always the Football Manager titles.

Hit the jump to see the top 10 list of publishers in the UK.

Continue Reading ➜

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Bizarre Creation’s Farewell Video

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Bizarre Creations is the studio that teamed up with SEGA to bring us titles such as Metropolis Street Racer and The Club. The studio was bought by Activision after they released The Club with SEGA and now they are being let go.

We posted about this happening a few months ago, now it’s official and this is their farewell video. Hopefully all employees find work.

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SEGA comes 9th in Metacritic 2010 Game Publisher Rankings

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SEGA came in 9th place for the 2010 publisher rankings over at Metacritic. They take the publishers’ MetaScore for their 2011 line up and place them in order. SEGA averaged 67.4%, with their best rated title being Bayonetta (90%) and their worst being Iron Man 2 (41%).

SEGA delivered some really great software. Some of our favorite titles included After Burner Climax, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Sonic Colors and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. So for SEGA fans, it was a pretty good year. Next time SEGA should trim the crap, leave the good stuff.

Check out the full list here.

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Bizarre Creations studio might be sold or shut down

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Bizarre Creations, a studio founded in 1994 , found their first big title with SEGA as a publisher. If you didn’t know, Bizarre Creations developed the Dreamcast racing title Metropolis Street Racer. After this the developer expanded its wings with Fur Fighter, a 3rd person shooting adventure with talking animals. Bizarre indeed. Metropolis Street Racer led into Microsoft  partnership for a new racing franchise, Project Gotham Racing.

SEGA and Bizarre Creations  relationship didn’t end there, almost 8 years after Metropolis Street Racer hit the Dreamcast, SEGA wanted to do another IP with the developer, this time The Club. The Club was a unique take on 3rd person shooters, using score based kills. Shortly before the game came out, Activision announced they aquired Bizarre Creations. SEGA had plans to make The Club a series, but turned it into a one title affair after the buy out.

With Activision they did their own IP, this time called Blur, a pretty good arcade racing title. The issue is that the game didn’t sell. Their last game was James Bond 007: Blood Stone that came out at the start of the month. Seems that this title, which was critically panned will be the last title from the studio. SEGA Europe, give these workers a home.

“Over the past three years since our purchase of Bizarre Creations, the fundamentals of the racing genre have changed significantly. Although we made a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur, it did not find a commercial audience. Bizarre is a very talented team of developers, however, because of the broader economic factors impacting the market, we are exploring our options regarding the future of the studio, including a potential sale of the business.”

Activision is taking 90 days to decide whether they want to sell, restructure, or close down the studio.

[Source: PCGamer]
[Via: NeoGAF]

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SEGA to support the 3DS

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See the list on top? Those are the publishers supporting Nintendo’s new 3DS. Nintendo’s conference was just over and I have to say, was pretty impressive. Here I was embracing the worse.

Even though most companies already announced some sort of game for the new device, SEGA has not. Most likely will be a Sonic game, but I hope its a new entry to the Rub Rabbits series.

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