SEGA Japan

SEGA Japan CEO talks about earning gamer’s trust, learning from Atlus and focusing on quality titles

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HarkuiSatomi

[Update: It seems that their might have been some mistranslation when it came to Siliconera’s reporting on the story. While it said it was Hajime Satomi who was interviewed, according to Gematsu it was actually his son and newly crowned president of Sega Games co that was interviewed. It makes sense since he barely got the job in April during the restructure.]

Its easy to see that there have been issues at SEGA that they have been trying to get patched up. One thing is for sure is that SEGA Japan’s in-house gaming studios haven’t delivered titles that have been up to par and it always seems that they are trying to go triple A development and falling short with unpolished titles being released. It seems that long time SEGA CEO and President Hajime Satomi understands fan’s frustrations, he talked to Famitsu about how SEGA Japan has actually been learning from Atlus’ model of game creation:

“As far as the Western market goes, we learned a lot from Atlus. If we can make a title with proper quality, I believe there’s a good chance for it to do well even in the West for players that like to play Japanese games.”

It also seems that Satomi is really eyeing the Playstation 4 as a future console they want to release titles on, while the company has been only focusing on the Nintendo Wii U in the West in the last few years (it seems that might change):

“It may look rough if you look a it from a Japanese standpoint, but on a global scale the PlayStation 4 has a record-selling history, so I believe there’s a good opportunity there,”

While we know SEGA will have a big focus on mobile games, considering that a huge percentage of Japanese gamers are using the platform as its main gaming machine, Famitsu asked him what they are looking to focus more on when it comes to console games. Answer? Quality.

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New Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax adds characters from Heavy Object

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So Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax will be getting a sequel in arcades that is set to add quite a bit of new content including new playable characters. If you never heard of the game, its a 2D anime based fighting game that happens to feature some SEGA characters (from franchises like Virtua Fighter and Valkyria Chronicles). So what can you expect to see in the new game? Let’s check it out:

This new version of Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax is being titled ‘Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax New Work’ (working title) and will hit Japanese game centers this summer. The console version of the first arcade release is set to hit Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita this fall in the West.

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What we missed: New Mario & Sonic, Total War: Warhammer first screens and SEGA’s mission statement video

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If you haven’t noticed, the site was offline for a few days and there was some SEGA News that we missed. At first I wanted to make a news post for every single item, but that would be sort of a waste. So now that we are back lets have a look at some of the news that we missed which includes the announcement of Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the first ever screenshots for Total War: Warhammer and a look at SEGA Japan’s mission statement, painting a positive note for the future of the company.

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SEGA shutting down service for Initial D Perfect Shift Online on 3DS

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SEGA Japan has announced that they will be shutting down online services for their free-to-play 3DS game Initial D Perfect Shift Online come this June 30th. Last time we heard from SEGA they where bragging that the game was a success with over 500,000 downloads, but this is was most likely shut down due to SEGA working on a sequel (announced last year).

So what will happen if the service ends and you still have the game on your Japanese 3DS? You can continue to play the game as long as you want, but the game will be offline only.

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SEGA launching Nail Sticker Print arcade machine in Japan

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Being a woman in Japan isn’t easy, especially when you have a full schedule. If there was only some sort of arcade machine that could print trendy and cute designs on our nails so we could be the talk of the office. Thankfully for you, SEGA has made ‘Nail Sticker Print‘, their latest arcade aimed at women (like you and me). This isn’t the first or last time SEGA has launched products like these and obviously aimed at a different market than something like Virtua Fighter 6 would be aimed at.

The machine seems to have an app that allows you to use pictures stored on your smartphone to make whatever print you would want on your nails. See a super scary spider? No fears, take a picture and print it on your nails. Now even your nails are scary. Boo!

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SEGA announces its publishing Stella Glow on the Nintendo 3DS

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SEGA has agreed to publish Imageepoch’s newest game called Stella Glow. This isn’t the first time SEGA and Imageepoch worked together, they teamed up previously to create Sands of Destruction (2008) and 7th Dragon series (2009).

Stella Glow was suppose to be an important title for Imageepoch due to marking the studio’s 10th year anniversary, but also because it was suppose to be their first self published title. Rumor has it that Imageepoch hasn’t been doing great financially and that this move might be SEGA helping them release the game while the company prepares for the worst.

Stella Glow is an SRPG for the Nintendo 3DS platform and so far has only been announced for Japanese release. The game is set to hit Japanese stores on June 4th. You can read more about it on Famitsu. You can also check out the newly launched SEGA product site here.

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SEGA is not leaving the console market

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I just want to take this time to tell you guys the truth, not the half truths and not some clickbait articles that mainstream media have been passing around. I usually ignore this talk of ‘SEGA is dead’ or ‘SEGA is going out of business’ because this has been talked about in the mainstream media since the late-90’s and I just assumed  we were over these types of things. We are on the internet, I assumed someone would have pointed out fabrications if there where any and it seems not many have.

So is SEGA going to stop supporting consoles with games? The answer is: No. Here is what the statement from SEGA-Sammy said:

Local organizations managing packaged game software in Western markets will be streamlined. In the U.S. Sega of America Inc. based in San Francisco will be relocated to Southern California by this summer and its existing office in San Francisco will be closed, thereafter, which results in reducing fixed expenses, mainly in corporate functions. 

SEGA has stated that they want to focus more on digital games and PC due to the area having a bigger profit margin and considering there are over a 125 million active users on Steam and a billion plus market on phones, do you really blame them? Focusing on digital titles doesn’t mean that they aren’t making console ‘packaged software’. Nowhere in their press release did it say they were going to stop making console titles. If anything, they literally announced that they were bringing Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax to the West two days prior to this restructure announcement and a bit before that they announced Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX for 3DS.

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SEGA of America going through another huge restructure, main office is relocating

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Here we go again.

First it was Europe, now SEGA of America is getting hit with some major restructuring. In a statement released earlier today, SegaSammy Holdings announced an “Implementation of structure reform” for SEGA of America. Included in this are some potential layoffs in the forms of “voluntary Retirement” and the San Francisco office moving to a new location in Southern California. Also, there will be a more narrow focus on the “amusement business” division.

However, it’s not all bad news. There will be a reinforcement in the “Sonic and merchandising businesses” and the PC and Mobile divisions will be getting a stronger push possibly due to strong current sales in those markets. The full statement can be found here.

I hope that not too many people are affected by the downsizing and those that do find themselves out of a job, that they find a new one quickly. I guess we shall see how this goes for SEGA.

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SEGA makes sandcastle arcade game using real sand

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Making arcade games means you have to think of new ideas to attract consumers walking by. This time, SEGA is making a real sandcastle building arcade game that uses sand that resembles dirt mixed with some Play-Dough, along with dynamic image projector technology. The idea is to replicate playing with sand at the beach, so if you dig a hole inside the sand it will be filled with water. There are quite a bit of animated displays that occur while playing to keep the kids interested. Very unique technology, and great for younger arcade visitors. The game is similar to 2009’s Brick People, in which you stack real blocks and little men on a screen climb your creations to reach items.

Above you can see the trailer, what do you guys think? Would this get your attention and money?

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Altered Beast: Stage 1 Boss Aggar now in statue form

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Do you love Altered Beast? Nothing like punching strange ghouls and collecting power ups that make your shirt rip due to your outstanding muscle tone. Remember the first stage’s boss named Aggar? Now you can get an toy replica so he can sit on your desk.

“Welcome to your doom!”

The figure is available to pre-order through the Japanese website called: Geek Life. A bit pricey for 11,88o yen (aka $116.74 USD), but you can’t put a price on nostalgia sometimes. They even have a full print Altered Beast shirt to go with it. 

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Shining Resonance: A new Shining RPG by the developers of the Wild Arms series

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It seems that SEGA isn’t done with the Shining IP, at least not for now. SEGA is still working on and promoting their Shining fighting arcade game and now they revealed that they are working on a Shining RPG for the Playstation 3. The game is called ‘Shining Resonance‘ and is being developed by Media Vision (Wild Arms series, Shining Ark and Valkyria Chronicles III). Tony Taka is also being confirmed as returning for the game’s character designs.

After the break we take a look at the first character announced, Kirika Towa Alma.

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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed to release in Japan on May 15th

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Famitsu reports that SEGA has announced a Japanese release date for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Tranformed. The game, which released in the West on November 2012, is due for release on the Wii U and Playstation 3 on May 15th, 2014. While Famitsu’s article does not mention any exclusive characters for the Japanese version, it would be interesting if SEGA included Ryo Hazuki or Hatsune Miku in an attempt to appeal more to Japanese audiences. One interesting bit of information is the mention of Takenobu Mitsuyoshi being “the voice of SEGA”, could the Japanese version be adding an announcer or theme song to the game? We’ll reach out to Sumo for more info on this and the Japanese release of the game. Stay Tuned!

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Haruka cleans your home in Yakuza Restoration

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Haruka has been in the Yakuza franchise since the first title came out on the Playstation 2 back in 2005 and is a main character of the franchise. In this title, the character Ryoma Sakamoto (played by Kiryu Kazuma) meets Haruka (yes, they are keeping her name) after saving her from a incident (that isn’t revealed). After that, she decides to let him live with her. Yeah, even she’s confused in the picture above.

Check the gallery after the jump for more photos of her sweeping dirt, caressing Ryoma’s head and other creepy shots.

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SEGA teaser site tells users ‘The new story will begin’

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SEGA has posted up a new teaser site, with the phrase ‘The new story will begin’. So what do we know? That this could be an ‘action card battling game’ due to the site’s tag and that it will most likely be a Playstation Vita game (its in the HTML tag).

Regardless, it seems will will know more on October 28th or sooner (depending if Famitsu leaks it first). What are your thoughts?

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