sf2fanatic
Member
I wish they re did and enhanced Daytona. Or did they?
Sega
Sega
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Sega to cut 300 jobs (heavily arcade/pub staff), refocusing on digital/mobile/PC [Up]
- Thread starter Nibel
- Start date
Shame Sony couldn't have just bought the non PC parts.
Nothing is AM2-cool.
cripterion
Member
Refocusing on pc? Damn, just release the Ryu ga gotoku games on pc.
It is sad, Sega seems so heavily mismanaged.
It is sad, Sega seems so heavily mismanaged.
Gambit 1138
Banned
Is Sega unwilling to sell? I refuse no company is interested in buying them. Their IP catalogue alone is worth potential billions. All it will take is the right management team and getting passionate studios to work on Sonic, Phantasy Star, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Panzer Dragoon Saga, etc. and they could really turn the Sega Brand around
SuperAngelo64
Banned
PSO2 is still going very strong in Japan and is one of their most lucrative projects outside of pachinko machines.
The game would flop in the western market. It is the polar opposite of games like WoW which western and Korean devs are still trying to emulate. The type of niche audience that wants to play a game like PSO2 already is and is buying from their cash shop via WBZ. They've already snatched what little western audience they would've had.
According to this new interview with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, they don't plan to stop making console Sonic games: http://www.4gamer.net/games/286/G028690/20150219001/
Roberto Larcos
Member
I wonder if handheld would be a tough point though. 3DS and mobile are in competition.
Pennywise83
Banned
I keep reading this argument. In my opinion, there is something important to realize: mobile games are not developed similarly to traditional games (i.e. on dedicated devices); therefore, most of the times (like, 99,9% of the times) new mobile games are different games in terms of controls, gameplay, and the general structure.
If you like traditional games, it is perfectly reasonable to not be confortable in playing mobile games. This has nothing to do with their quality. I make an example: I like jRPGs, in particular classical ones (e.g. Chrono Trigger and Bravely Default, to mention one game from the past and a more recent project); mobile jRPGs (not porting of console games, mind you) are always different from the genre I use to play on dedicated devices: they do not have any story (or it is very basic); they do not have a worldmap and even dungeons and locations are bland, generic, and made of static screens; they are developed such that you spend money, so they are unbalanced in a lot of ways; they rely too much on menu, which is something I do not really like.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense if I am not confident (or even glad!) if a company that once used to develop and produce Xenogears, Vagrant Story and Secret of Mana now shifts a lot of resource towards mobile gaming because I know that mobile jRPGs will not provide me a similar experience to the one I always liked. And this has nothing to do with quality: a mobile game can be great, in its context and shape.
Sega developed some memorable games during Dreamcast era, and even after that. Sega's mobile games might be good, or not: I do not really care as long as the experience they offer is distant miles away from the way I have always enjoyed gaming. I tried a lot of times to dig mobile games: I just cannot. And that is different from last generation, when many Japanese companies shift to handheld; on DS and PSP you could still find a lot of great experiences similar to those on previous consoles, with the only difference being the tiny screen; games, though, were developed as before, with some irrelevant gimmick.
In sum, your question is misleading. "What if those mobile games are good?" is like asking "What if macarons are actually good?" when I say that it is a shame that a patisserie shifted its production from brioches to macarons (and I do not like the latter).
By "traditional" I assume you mean "console/handheld games." Then yes, in that case too bad for you. If you not only want games to be made, and also don't just want good games to be made, but you specifically insist they be made in a specific way for a specific type of system, then you may be out of luck in the future.
It's completely fine if you're open to good games generally, but if you specifically insist they be on console, then yes, too bad for you.
Sega - like many legendary Japanese publishers today - has been sitting on a ton of franchises gamers would love to see again - and given proper treatment of course - but, for the most part, they've been contended with just running one or two of their most beloved franchises further and further into the ground, giving gamers practically all the stuff they don't want, and very little of what they do. I'm not surprised they are at this point, but surprised they weren't here sooner, and quite disappointed at what they believe is their only solution moving forward.
Pennywise83
Banned
As I wrote, for "traditional games" I meant "games on dedicated devices" which are, indeed, home and handheld consoles.
Of course, the market is changing. Even not mentioning mobile games, there were a lot of changes in the traditional market as well (online, motion controls, touch screen, DLC, etc.); the point is, you have to understand that people that have been playing video games in a certain way for 20-30 years might be reluctant to completely change gaming habits, in particular when they are forced to do so (because, for example, some genre do not exist anymore on dedicated devices).
I'm not insisting on anything, and I'm not anyone to say that "good mobile games" shouldn't be made. So far, I haven't found yet a mobile game that I could enjoy as I've always experiencing video games. I had fun with Monument Valley, Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and so on, but they are (obviously, and rightly so) their own thing. The problem is, for me, when those games replace traditional game, since they are fundamentally different, and not an alternative by any mean.
You didn't get my point. I'd be more than glad if mobile gaming resembled more console gaming; I'd be also willing to give up on buttons (jRPGs don't really need them); it's not a matter of platforms, but of gaming design. What I was saying is that you're question was out of context; it's not a matter of good / bad mobile games; it's a matter of fundamentally different game desing. A more apt question would have been: "What if those mobile games offer a similar experience to traditional games?".
Babymario26
Member
This is what i like to hear.
By "this" I meant the restructure news, not the author's claim that Sega is quitting consoles. I think the misunderstanding comes from the information implying that Sega is ceasing retail releases of console games.
Yup.
Also, that means no games like Alien Isolation from Sega in future. Maximum we can expect are Football Manager and Total War games from now (besides mobile games).
Doctor_Mosh
Member
what does that mean about atlus?
they're owned by sega as far as i know.
they're owned by sega as far as i know.
StarCreator
Member
I think people need to realize that refocusing on PC/Mobile does not mean they are outright abandoning everything else.
Nothing as long as they are making money. Atlus rarely makes console games anyways.
Seriously this. I saw people earlier today say outright that we won't see anymore console games ever from them. No way are we not getting more console Sonic games.
Nooooo! I loved visiting Japanese arcades. They're perhaps the one place on earth where decent arcades actually still exist.
Snapshot King
Member
If refocusing on PC and Mobile means browser games and mobile shovelware as opposed to PC ports and a new Virtua Fighter than I'm baffled as to why anyone would even care. The possibility that VF may be dead overshadows literally everything else in this discussion, and I say that as a gigantic fan of the Yakuza series.
Tizoc
Member
Just...make them fun. Lost World was not fun. Make it a short fun romp like Generations for example.
Doctor_Mosh
Member
i'm fearing maybe some persona spin-offs on consoles may not release in the west especially here in europe.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Someone, please buy the rights to Skies of Arcadia and make an HD remake and a sequel.
again probably won't happen. If Persona 5 does really well, expect everything to come.
Doctor_Mosh
Member
i hope you're right
Sega has been very successful on PC for quite a long time. Keep in mind that they own western studios like Creative Assembly and that games like Total War and Football Manager are quite successful.
What would be the point of an Arcade division when arcades are dead in some places or dying in others. Online gaming is basically replacing Arcades.
I can see there being another VF. MK is probably the most popular fighting game right now it doesn't have an arcade release.
If I had to guess, Sega's PC output over the next few years will be Warhammer Total War, Dawn of War 3, Football Manager and ports of older Japanese console games.
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
I hope Atlus and Creative Assembly are not affected by their refocus.
It would pain me not to get a sequel to Alien Isolation.
It would pain me not to get a sequel to Alien Isolation.
I don't think Sega has the rights to Alien anymore.
StarCreator
Member
Yes, a free to play game structured around offering licensed anime tie-in digital items in cash lotteries would go over real well here.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Sega is a shell of it's shell of its former self.
Fuck that noise! I'd rather sacrifice you to make sure Atlus is around forever!
Pretty much all I expect out of SOJ at this point on console/handheld is what they've been delivering for awhile now: Sonic, Yakuza, Miku, Puyo Puyo, Shining and M2 retro stuff. The arcade ports dried up awhile back already as did anything not from the aforementioned franchises. They also missed a big opportunity not bringing PSO2 to home consoles/the west.
Atlus seems to be doing fine with Persona on PS and EO/SMT on Nintendo. I don't expect Sega to mess with that the rest of this gen, except maybe pushing for more west targeting PC ports.
Atlus seems to be doing fine with Persona on PS and EO/SMT on Nintendo. I don't expect Sega to mess with that the rest of this gen, except maybe pushing for more west targeting PC ports.
I would rather have a WiiU port of the original tbh, Nintendo let slip the one game that really showed off touch pad.
Index's fate IS a problem
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
Wat. When did that happen? Do you have a link or something please?
Index is separate from Atlus, though, so eh. I care much more about the latter.
Pinko Marx
Banned
Otakus are an excellent market to mine for whales.
I don't know a thing about PSO2 and I'm already off that horse lol
StarCreator
Member
The first problem would be that the amount of work needed to work out agreements with not only the Japanese rights holders but also the American licensees would probably not pay for themselves here unless they were to shift the game to not be free - which wouldn't work out since there's not much stopping people from just playing on the Japanese servers. (For sure, it's harder now than it was a year ago, but proxy solutions are now well documented and well used.)
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