SEGAbits Forums
Gaming => General Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Happy Cat on April 02, 2010, 01:47:11 am
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OK this is possibly the worst day to report any form of rumour (April 1st), so I'm sure a lot of you are going to take it with a pinch of salt... actually I will be too - though we did receive the information yesterday, so if it is an April Fools joke, the person who tipped us off (who has also asked to be kept anonymous) is not playing the game properly.
Anyway it seems that SEGA is going to close SEGA Studios San Francisco. If you don't know, SEGA Studios is the development team behind the upcoming Iron Man 2 and was formerly known as "Secret Level" - infamous for the release of the sub par Golden Axe: Beast Rider and the poor first Iron Man (movie) game.
It's almost no surprise to hear that SEGA might be looking to close the studio, due to their track record so far. The studio, as Secret Level, was originally purchased when Simon Jeffery was in charge of SEGA America but since he left, the studio (it seems) hasn't received much support from SEGA management.
We have been told that the San Francisco-based studio will close this Friday. We haven't heard if the employees will be relocated to other studios, but from the sounds of it there could be quite a few unemployed devs very soon - which is a massive shame.
But for people eager to get their hands on Iron Man 2, don't worry, the studio has finished development of the game - so the release date for that shouldn't be affected. It's going to be a kicker though if Iron Man 2 turns out to be a AAA title.
We haven't been able to get in contact with anyone official yet, so we haven't been able to confirm or deny the news - hence being kept as a rumour. I guess we will have to see if SEGA makes an official announcement, or if anyone living in San Francisco walks past the studio they can double check to see if any chains are fixed on the front doors.
If it is true, we wish all the employees of SEGA Studios the best of luck for the future. We will try to update as soon as we find out more information.
http://seganerds.thekartel.com/blog/201 ... _francisco (http://seganerds.thekartel.com/blog/2010/04/01/rumour:_sega_shutting_down_sega_studios_san_francisco)
Who needs SEGA Studios San Fransisco when you got High Voltage Software!
I actually wouldn't be surprised... they closed a bunch of gameworks locations without notice... including Minneapolis this Tuesday T_T never got to go to it.
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Shadi, you live in MN? I'm from MN!
(http://http://www.freewebs.com/swiv/common-loon.jpg)
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Shadi, you live in MN? I'm from MN!
(http://http://www.freewebs.com/swiv/common-loon.jpg)
I've seen that loon before.. xD, not in Minneapolis, but in other places in Minnesota
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Hey if SEGA America can restructure itself into a better publisher and developer, I'm all for it. Sad to see people lose their jobs, quite evident how much of a waste of money purchasing them by Simon they were.
I suppose this is the end of his legacy at SEGA now... =[
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Well, I say it's a good thing.
Who needs SEGA Studios San Fransisco when High Voltage Software can serve the same purpose and cost tons less.
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BBB
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Can I have the Racing Studio back?
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Hey if SEGA America can restructure itself into a better publisher and developer, I'm all for it. Sad to see people lose their jobs, quite evident how much of a waste of money purchasing them by Simon they were.
I suppose this is the end of his legacy at SEGA now... =[
pretty much agreed,
Although SJs legacy will end when Alpha Protocol and Aliens Colonial Marines release... Possibly the only 2 things he did well.
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Secret Level was a weird saga really, didn't they buy them because of their 'Middleware tech' (Whatever the hell that is) and then decide, 'nah fuck that' and just set them making movie tie-ins and ruining old franchises instead?
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So was this news ever confirmed?
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Secret Level was a weird saga really, didn't they buy them because of their 'Middleware tech' (Whatever the hell that is) and then decide, 'nah fuck that' and just set them making movie tie-ins and ruining old franchises instead?
No. Simon Jeffrey mentioned in an interview somewhere that they bought Secret Level because they were very close to the SEGA of America building.
I'm not making this up.
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My only fear is that SEGA reduces to the bone the internal development, especially in the west but not limited to, relying increasingly on external studios, becoming de facto a simply publisher. Even if SEGA could improve product quality and become a better producer worldwide, until yesterday i was convinced into a strenghtening of internal R&D, so after the statements in the press, i'm a little disappointed.
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So was this news ever confirmed?
Again, was it?
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My only fear is that SEGA reduces to the bone the internal development, especially in the west but not limited to, relying increasingly on external studios, becoming de facto a simply publisher. Even if SEGA could improve product quality and become a better producer worldwide, until yesterday i was convinced into a strenghtening of internal R&D, so after the statements in the press, i'm a little disappointed.
The thing is though, Secret Level/San Francisco was just dead wood. They hadn't made any good games, and really didn't seem to be much of an asset to Sega.
Now Sega just needs to drop Sonic Team, and they'll have really taken the trash out. :afroman:
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So was this news ever confirmed?
Again, was it?
I posted on the front page. Yes it was, SEGA of America responded and confirmed it.
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Though Iron Man 2 won't even arrive in stores for another month, the fate of its developer has already been sealed. Sega has confirmed to Gamasutra the closure of its Sega Studios San Francisco outfit, previously known as Secret Level.
Sega is pulling the plug on the developers of Iron Man 2.
Secret Level was founded in 1999, when it began work on the critically acclaimed Dreamcast port of Unreal Tournament. The studio was acquired by Sega in 2006 as part of an increased emphasis on Western development.
Since that time, the studio has launched two titles for the publisher. The first was the 2008 movie tie-in Iron Man, which left reviewers cold but sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. Secret Level's encore later that year didn't fare as well, as Golden Axe: Beast Rider was a flop, drawing negative reviews and selling fewer than 42,000 copies in its first three months on US retail shelves. It didn't help matters that the game was launched the same day as heavily hyped hits like Dead Space and Saints Row 2.
It's unclear how many employees were laid off as a result of the studio closure. Sega had already downsized its US operations in early 2009, with reports at the time suggesting as many as 30 employees had been laid off at Secret Level.
[youtube:3ppdw68n]nVK4gEr3c3E[/youtube:3ppdw68n]
From a business stand point I am completely confused as the studio was not down sized it was absorbed in Sega, largely retooled and controlled directly by the parent company. I am confused if you had to pull the plug on the studio it should've been done when they submitted the final build for Beast Rider.
The only safe inductive reasoning I can come up with is Iron Man 2 was still awful despite the restructuring and Mike Hayes wants Critically successful games in order to be commercially successful but this theory is unlikely and I am not understanding the logic.
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I'm pretty sure they were slacking behind Iron Man 2, product was not what they wanted. I'm sure they will pull the plug and have an external studio finish it up.
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Iron Man 2 was finished in April as planned and the YouTube clip that I showed you states that the game was in testing which is the quality assuarance part of development.
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Nothing strange about it, developer that has already been downsized and reconstructed over the course of Mike Hayes tenure and still lacking the target he/SoA has set for himself pretty much indicates outside of license quality game, which should be coming to an end soon since Marvel is now part of Disney and Disney have their own development studios, they would be practically useless.
That and the main reason they were purchased in the first place is probably a moot point now, Simon Jeffrey changed them from a tech team to a full on game development team.
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Eh, also Secret Level was dying anyway, SEGA mismanaged them and TBH they were just alive due to the sales of Iron Man. I'm sure SEGA decided it was cheaper to outsource the game instead of having a team to make the game.
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Anyway, merged topics into one, we can disclose the reasons and the pros and cons of the closure from here on now.
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That and the main reason they were purchased in the first place is probably a moot point now, Simon Jeffrey changed them from a tech team to a full on game development team.
This was the major mistake, in my opinion. They could be developing middleware tools for the company's projects, saving the company a ton a money. Instead Simon happened.
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That and the main reason they were purchased in the first place is probably a moot point now, Simon Jeffrey changed them from a tech team to a full on game development team.
This was the major mistake, in my opinion. They could be developing middleware tools for the company's projects, saving the company a ton a money. Instead Simon happened.
Now they can just outsource all their licensed crap to High Voltage Software, so its ALLLLLL good.
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Eh, also Secret Level was dying anyway, SEGA mismanaged them and TBH they were just alive due to the sales of Iron Man. I'm sure SEGA decided it was cheaper to outsource the game instead of having a team to make the game.
Secret Level was dead when Golden Axe failed to meet target sales.
Select few were moved into Sega SanFrancisco Studio (SS SF), it was largely a new studio.
In order to objectively evaluate the closure seperate them from Seret Level. The studios redemption was not in IM2 rather it would've been in GA2 which now is gone, again.
In SL's defence I would also like to add that our beloved Sumo Digital also started off as a studio only good for ports and slowly evolved over years almost a decade so just because your a studio who only does ports does not automoatically make you inferior, I think what destroyed the studio was a lack off a functional business model and lack of supervision from the parent company, which was allegedly rectified with SS SF.
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Secret Level did a brilliant Job on Unreal Tournament port for the Dreamcast . And I really didn't think Iron Man was half bad , Golden Axe was sheer pants though
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There was somethin' seriously wrong with Golden Axe's development when since announced in 2006 as a major RPG turned into a generic hack&slash title.
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And now, what's next? Would Sega build a new studio?
Sega West should create a new "Sega Technical Institute", the best studio I have ever seen in my life in Sega's history! They were really game creators!
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And now, what's next? Would Sega build a new studio?
Sega West should create a new "Sega Technical Institute", the best studio I have ever seen in my life in Sega's history! They were really game creators!
Yeah. SEGA needs to stop buying random studios or just publishing games over here and just make a new studio by hiring new staff and moving some great ones around. Especially in America, SEGA desperately needs some.
So what is the bigger mistake? Selling Sega Racing Studios or buying Secret Level?
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And now, what's next? Would Sega build a new studio?
Sega West should create a new "Sega Technical Institute", the best studio I have ever seen in my life in Sega's history! They were really game creators!
Yeah. SEGA needs to stop buying random studios or just publishing games over here and just make a new studio by hiring new staff and moving some great ones around. Especially in America, SEGA desperately needs some.
So what is the bigger mistake? Selling Sega Racing Studios or buying Secret Level?
Setting up SEGA Racing Studio was utterly pointless , given its market is limited and SOJ have like 3 studios that are more than able of handling Racers .
I would agree that STI were great , but its very easy to set up your own Top Studio on your own hardware , different story when you're 3rd party .
Anyone can say, lets set up our own Top R&D studio , in practice, its very hard to get the staff and set up
I feel SEGA missed the ball on the like of DICE (mind you so did MS) , or Monolith. The trouble is SEGA been all over the place since the start
No leading R&D tech to share with the teams , and no real Multi Platform Strategy. While the likes of Ubisoft, Capcom , Codemasters push on with their tech , share it with the Teams, and produce stunning results
For that SOJ really needs to hang its head in shame , Its called another generation of hardware badly wrong
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Well new that restructural reasons have been revealed we know why Iron Man studio got the axe.
here is a very poor cover up by Mike Hayes:
1UP: Was the closing of Secret Level because of the shift to digital?
MH: It was a broader thing. We're pleased with Iron Man 2 that they worked on, but the truth of the matter is that we couldn't find another appropriate project to give them. It was something you may recall we did with our racing studio here in London, about three years ago. It was a good team, but we were unable to find them their next project.
What about Beast Rider: Redemption?
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Eh, also Secret Level was dying anyway, SEGA mismanaged them and TBH they were just alive due to the sales of Iron Man. I'm sure SEGA decided it was cheaper to outsource the game instead of having a team to make the game.
Secret Level was dead when Golden Axe failed to meet target sales.
Select few were moved into Sega SanFrancisco Studio (SS SF), it was largely a new studio.
In order to objectively evaluate the closure seperate them from Seret Level. The studios redemption was not in IM2 rather it would've been in GA2 which now is gone, again.
In SL's defence I would also like to add that our beloved Sumo Digital also started off as a studio only good for ports and slowly evolved over years almost a decade so just because your a studio who only does ports does not automoatically make you inferior, I think what destroyed the studio was a lack off a functional business model and lack of supervision from the parent company, which was allegedly rectified with SS SF.
The company wasn't closed down just because of GAXE, it wasn't really considered to be a big game at sega, which is why it didn't get pushed heavily. Part of this IMHO is personal, all of SJ's buisness contracts at sega has been systematically shut down or cancelled by Hayes since he took over. Luckly for him though half of these projects happened to be in dev hell.
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Yeah Golden Axe was not a big game for SEGA. They basically 'hid it under a rug' till the last few months it was coming out, then they starting posting screens online and other tids of info.
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Yeah Golden Axe was not a big game for SEGA. They basically 'hid it under a rug' till the last few months it was coming out, then they starting posting screens online and other tids of info.
probably, or the fact it wasn't a big franchise for them. Apparently when they were shopping these Ips to western studios GAXE was a low priority as far as SOA were concerned,but they were taken aback on how fondly the game was remembered and the reaction it got when they showed a teaser trailer at E3. But even by that time they knew the game was a stinker. its not like HOTD Overkill,Bayonetta and Alpha Protocol,AVP wehich got running commentary on a near daily basis from Sega from the day those games were announced to the time they were released. Anyway at least they still have Sl middleware tech so it wasn't a complete loss.
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What does their tech do? Cuz the games they have made have looked like complete shit.
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It was supposed to be one of the best middle ware around at the time, enough to get Sony's favour in commending it which is probably why jeffery brought them in the first place so he could position Sega as the go to go with MS and Sony. it kinda worked but not with SL.