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Microsoft and Sega Form Strategic Partnership (Azure)

No need to acquire SEGA when you put their games on Gamepass Day 1 anyway.

Season 6 Knowledge GIF by Friends
 

SEGA_2012

Member
If they are doing gaming deals , like exclusive games for Xbox or Day One games for Game Pass, then it is great.

But if MS, or any company, buy SEGA, i would be really really sad. I want SEGA to be free and independent, releasing games for all platforms.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
ops sorry already posted :(..
recent news should to highlight what kind of relationship there are between sega and ms at the moment
 
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So it's basically a multi-faceted deal. Game dev environment tools for enabling better location-agnostic software development, and at least some content perks on the side that benefit Xbox and GamePass specifically, like the new Total War announcement.

I'm still hoping this leads to co-funding of some new AAA/AA games from Sega based on classic IP like Fighter's Megamix, Panzer Dragoon etc. Whether they're Xbox/GamePass exclusive in full or just timed or just GamePass Day-1 doesn't necessarily matter, but I'd like this to also serve as an avenue for funding of new installments in some of Sega's classic IPs that they may not have bothered doing themselves.
 
Not sure why Sega continuing to put games into Game Pass as they have done all year is suddenly related to Sega's cloud strategy, but seems clear the validation bar has been set extremely low. Oh well.....
Results from deals don't transpire sequentially or in a purely linear fashion; the two parties could've already been hashing out details related to partnership intent months or even a full year prior, and certain content securement for GamePass might've been part of the terms they agreed to.

Since some of that content was either already out or would come available before other aspects of the deal would, that particular content would've just so happened to come into the service.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
Results from deals don't transpire sequentially or in a purely linear fashion; the two parties could've already been hashing out details related to partnership intent months or even a full year prior, and certain content securement for GamePass might've been part of the terms they agreed to.

Since some of that content was either already out or would come available before other aspects of the deal would, that particular content would've just so happened to come into the service.

Clearly MS has a good relationship with Sega, great news for GP subscribers.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Results from deals don't transpire sequentially or in a purely linear fashion; the two parties could've already been hashing out details related to partnership intent months or even a full year prior, and certain content securement for GamePass might've been part of the terms they agreed to.

Since some of that content was either already out or would come available before other aspects of the deal would, that particular content would've just so happened to come into the service.

To me, these look like events happening at two very different levels and thus, unrelated. I don't know that though. I'm speculating as much as everyone else obviously.
 
Results from deals don't transpire sequentially or in a purely linear fashion; the two parties could've already been hashing out details related to partnership intent months or even a full year prior, and certain content securement for GamePass might've been part of the terms they agreed to.

Since some of that content was either already out or would come available before other aspects of the deal would, that particular content would've just so happened to come into the service.

Yea, I don't get why existing evidence of a closer relationship can't still be evidence that there is more to the deal even as we get newer evidence that they're pretty damn close. I believe before it was older games or existing titles that had already released long ago that was being dropped into game pass. Like a Dragon may have been the more recent addition of their newest releases, but Yakuza: Like a Dragon did not launch day one on Game Pass for console as well as PC like this game is. This is a stepping up of the Sega and Xbox relationship.
 
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yurinka

Member
Yea, I don't get why existing evidence of a closer relationship can't still be evidence that there is more to the deal even as we get newer evidence that they're pretty damn close. I believe before it was older games or existing titles that had already released long ago that was being dropped into game pass. Like a Dragon may have been the more recent addition of their newest releases, but Yakuza: Like a Dragon did not launch day one on Game Pass for console as well as PC like this game is. This is a stepping up of the Sega and Xbox relationship.
The deal was only to use MS's server cloud management software. They could have other one for their servers, like Google Cloud or the market leader Amazon AWS. Many companies use Amazon AWS, and this doesn't mean they are going to be acquired by Amazon, or if they are gaming company that will put their game on Amazon Prime, etc.
 
To me, these look like events happening at two very different levels and thus, unrelated. I don't know that though. I'm speculating as much as everyone else obviously.

That's fair, and who knows the two things could in fact just be two different deals happening concurrently with no strong dependencies to one another. Even so, it's interestingly coincidental and at the very least, like DaGwaphics DaGwaphics said, it's clear MS and Sega have a very good and arguably close working relationship. Maybe a closer one than some would think, at that.

Yea, I don't get why existing evidence of a closer relationship can't still be evidence that there is more to the deal even as we get newer evidence that they're pretty damn close. I believe before it was older games or existing titles that had already released long ago that was being dropped into game pass. Like a Dragon may have been the more recent addition of their newest releases, but Yakuza: Like a Dragon did not launch day one on Game Pass for console as well as PC like this game is. This is a stepping up of the Sega and Xbox relationship.

Yeah, I think there's definitely a strengthening of the relationship between the two, but it's not particularly surprising to me. MS and Sega have always been pretty close WRT working terms since the late 1990s, when MS made Windows CE OS for the Dreamcast, and OG Xbox basically wholesale lifting the Dreamcast controller's design for its own, among other things.

I think some people might see this as surprising only because of how non-competitive Xbox seemed to become by the middle of last gen, especially with Japanese games, but that was always an outlier IMHO. When it comes to specific Japanese content from specific publishers, they have generally fared at least decently well, in some cases very well (i.e Sega and Tecmo during the 6th generation, even From Software in a sense).

Them bolstering and making strategic partnerships (in a range of different ways) with Japanese developers and publishers is more of a return to form for the division after what transpired the previous generation.

The deal was only to use MS's server cloud management software. They could have other one for their servers, like Google Cloud or the market leader Amazon AWS. Many companies use Amazon AWS, and this doesn't mean they are going to be acquired by Amazon, or if they are gaming company that will put their game on Amazon Prime, etc.

Lol it's not exactly smart to use absolutes in regards to a deal where many of the details are still outside of public view. Just a few days ago a lot of people were saying this would have absolutely no affect on Xbox or GamePass and yet the new Total War is coming Day 1 to GamePass PC, AFAIK this is the first Sega titles coming to GamePass on Day 1, the others have been late ports/inclusions.

BTW I have no idea why you're bringing up theoretical Amazon acquisitions here; I can only surmise you did this as an analogy to illustrate how this announced deal between Sega and Microsoft isn't a sign of an acquisition except...virtually no one's been saying it is? You're jumping way too many guns here. Also yes, they could have gone to Google or Amazon for servers, but it's easy to speculate why they didn't.

Neither Google nor Amazon can provide the expertise of gaming-centric end-to-end cloud technologies (hardware & software) and services, for both end-point clients (gamers) and client development pipelines (ad-hoc virtual content programming/creation/communication software and the hardware to run them on through the cloud) combined with years of experience in the mainstream, core console and PC gaming markets the way Microsoft can, and that's something Sega apparently saw & desired, hence them going with the solution which they have.

And again, there could be other aspects to this deal being kept between the two parties in question, that may be divulged at a later date. But it's not exactly hard to see some parallels between their working relationship here and what came of such during their OG Xbox era, which if it means new Sega games in IP that otherwise would not have been made through Sega themselves, I and I'm sure many others would gladly welcome.
 

MScarpa

Member
Nobody is fearing anything. Oh please. MS has tried to best Sony at Japanese games since the 360. It always amounted to nothing. There’s nothing to fear when PlayStation has always gotten Japanese games by default. It’s MS who has to keep taking trips to Japan to try and get games.

There’s a whole lot of assumptions and speculation in your post. You want to know the difference with what you guys are posting compared to the people who are saying exactly what this is? Our information comes directly from the announcement. Leaving no need to speculate and overhype everything little thing leading to disappointment. Which is typical of the Xbox fanbase.
Japan is dead. Nobody cares about Japan.
 

MScarpa

Member
Exactly. There's something different about this one.

You have to realize that many of the same people telling us with absolute certainty that this has totally nothing to do with Xbox are also the same business analysts who told us for sure that Microsoft wasn't going to make Bethesda's newest games exclusive because they had to make their $7.5 billion back from the purchase, and Playstation was a market leader that simply couldn't be ignored.
Most of the people that said that are probably banned by now. Was funny though, looking back at all that. Thinking it WOULDN'T be exclusive is hilarious.
 

yurinka

Member
Lol it's not exactly smart to use absolutes in regards to a deal where many of the details are still outside of public view. Just a few days ago a lot of people were saying this would have absolutely no affect on Xbox or GamePass and yet the new Total War is coming Day 1 to GamePass PC, AFAIK this is the first Sega titles coming to GamePass on Day 1, the others have been late ports/inclusions.
They announced a partnerhip to use Azure. To think the deal goes beyond and that they are hiding other things like a potential future acquisition or a deal to include games in gamepass, ports or something like that is only conspiracy theories that don't make sense. Why they would need to hide something like that, which would be good PR for them? Like Phil saying hey, we made a deal to secure that some cool Sega games will finally come to PC, and some other games will be on Gamepass day one!

BTW I have no idea why you're bringing up theoretical Amazon acquisitions here;
It's an stupid example that is exactly the same case. Yes, it's stupid to think that because your company hired some server it implies you are going to sell your company to that server company or that you will do exclusive stuff fot them, that you're hiding something, etc. It doesn't make sense. You simply signed a deal to manage your game or service servers using their software, that's all.

Neither Google nor Amazon can provide the expertise of gaming-centric end-to-end cloud technologies (hardware & software) and services, for both end-point clients (gamers) and client development pipelines (ad-hoc virtual content programming/creation/communication software and the hardware to run them on through the cloud) combined with years of experience in the mainstream, core console and PC gaming markets the way Microsoft can, and that's something Sega apparently saw & desired, hence them going with the solution which they have.
Amazon AWS is the market leader, they have a bigger market share than Azure, which is what Sega hired here. In overall market and for gaming companies. In fact, AWS is several years older than Azure. And Google is the giant we all know, that in addition to many other services they have Google Cloud, which is the 3rd in market share of this market.

Azure, AWS, Google Cloud have nothing to do with gaming, programming and so on. They are a software to remotely manage a cloud of servers stored in data centers. Then the company who hired these servers will put there or program themselves by their own and without any help of the server management software whatever they want: the servers of an app, a website, a game, a video or game streaming platform, etc.

And again, there could be other aspects to this deal being kept between the two parties in question, that may be divulged at a later date. But it's not exactly hard to see some parallels between their working relationship here and what came of such during their OG Xbox era, which if it means new Sega games in IP that otherwise would not have been made through Sega themselves, I and I'm sure many others would gladly welcome.
Then if someone at MS buys some Sony tvs, cameras or PlayStations means MS will go third party or sell Xbox to Sony? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

If the Sony staff uses Windows on their PCs or Azure for their servers means they will make Xbox games or going to put their games on Gamepass? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

If Sega decided to use AWS for these servers instead of AWS would mean that they were going to include their games on Amazon Luna, Amazon Prime Gaming or that were going to sell Sega to Amazon? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

Fun fact: Many years ago Sony had Buzz! a casual party game that was somewhat popular in Europe. The game was like a TV show where from time to time appeared some stock images. The company that provided these images to Sony was owned by Bill Gates, and was while he was running MS and Xbox.

Companies that 'compete' in some area often sign deals, hire services or buy products of their 'competition' in other areas. And it doesn't imply at all that they could have some other deal in the area where they 'compete'.

Sega announced they will use MS's software to manage servers, Azure. That's all. If that deal would be part of something bigger that would include gaming deals they would have announced it. There's no reason to hide it. If they didn't announce anything else is because there's nothing else.

Sega is building a game streaming platform for Japan, where they plan to use arcade cabinets that when nobody is playing act as 'data centers' for that cloud service. Since in Japan they have a lot of arcades everywhere, the player using that game streaming service at home very likely will have some of these arcades closer to his home than a traditional data center, which means latency will be better streaming from that arcade cabinet than from a normal data center. Very likely this game streaming platform will feature many Sega games and IPs. I asume they hired Azure to use to manage the servers of that service. And also the reason of why in that announcement they talk about stuff like clod gaming, 5G, IP utilization, to build a game development environment, community, "super game", etc.
 
They announced a partnerhip to use Azure. To think the deal goes beyond and that they are hiding other things like a potential future acquisition or a deal to include games in gamepass, ports or something like that is only conspiracy theories that don't make sense.

Well that's kind of grand considering you've done similar with Kadokawa, From Software etc. when it comes to Sony financial investments, have you not? And like you have there, I'm actually using some evidence, in this case historical precedent between the two companies and various other business deals the two have made particularly of recent. This isn't stuff being pulled out of thin air, there are even a few others who tend to be insiders suggesting there's more to the deal than what's on the surface/been presented as of this time.

Granted I have not been paying too much attention to insiders these days because of how much they've been spoiling game announcements, but I acknowledge most of them have at least some connections that can provide valid details to them on these type of matters.

Why they would need to hide something like that, which would be good PR for them? Like Phil saying hey, we made a deal to secure that some cool Sega games will finally come to PC, and some other games will be on Gamepass day one!

No one says they're "hiding" it, I just surmised it's possible there could be timing-related reasons as to why certain announcements have not been made yet, if they indeed exist to be made. If in some example there's a hypothetical game that's the result of this agreement or satellite deals adjacent to it, but it's a year or so away, there's no sensible reason to reveal it nor make light of the factors to it's existence as of this time.

It's an stupid example that is exactly the same case. Yes, it's stupid to think that because your company hired some server it implies you are going to sell your company to that server company or that you will do exclusive stuff fot them, that you're hiding something, etc. It doesn't make sense. You simply signed a deal to manage your game or service servers using their software, that's all.

No, the "stupid" part is you're making that equivalence when no one has been using this announcement as a vector to push a scenario of MS "positioning" to acquire Sega. At least, not that I've seen in this thread.

You are being rather paranoid in reaching that far to make such a comparison; at most people are speculating this could lead to new games produced by Sega with cofunding and co-development/technical support from Microsoft and Xbox studios which...is a rather sensible scenario to entertain, given historical precedent.

Amazon AWS is the market leader, they have a bigger market share than Azure, which is what Sega hired here. In overall market and for gaming companies. In fact, AWS is several years older than Azure. And Google is the giant we all know, that in addition to many other services they have Google Cloud, which is the 3rd in market share of this market.

It's almost as if market share alone isn't the only factor why a company would want a given solution...could argue the same about market share in certain other markets as well ;)...

Azure, AWS, Google Cloud have nothing to do with gaming, programming and so on. They are a software to remotely manage a cloud of servers stored in data centers. Then the company who hired these servers will put there or program themselves by their own and without any help of the server management software whatever they want: the servers of an app, a website, a game, a video or game streaming platform, etc.

Jeez you are being oddly reductive and dismissive. You nor I know the specifics to how deep Microsoft's involvement with Sega will be in Sega's utilization of Azure, but is a pretty ignorant opinion on your end. There's no "game code" or "game hardware" out there; all various applications use similar code and it's up to the programmer to determine how that code is utilized.

You can use C++ to program a game or program a spreadsheet application or a timer for an embedded system; there are no variables, functions or program calls/modules you use SPECIFICALLY for gaming or better to say, are defined with the singular purpose of game design or "programming" (which can literally encompass anything, including programming applications for, you guessed it, server workloads, or multiplayer network framework backends).

Your view on server software & hardware technology, is extremely limited to say the least.

Then if someone at MS buys some Sony tvs, cameras or PlayStations means MS will go third party or sell Xbox to Sony? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

Why do you keep trying to force this about acquisitions in some roundabout way or make false equivalences? Any scenario you want to conjure between Sony & Microsoft involves a myriad of different factors to it than virtually any involving Microsoft & Sega.

If the Sony staff uses Windows on their PCs or Azure for their servers means they will make Xbox games or going to put their games on Gamepass? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

This is starting to look like a whataboutism.

If Sega decided to use AWS for these servers instead of AWS would mean that they were going to include their games on Amazon Luna, Amazon Prime Gaming or that were going to sell Sega to Amazon? No, because it's something different and unrelated.

Again, false equivalencies and trying to force this into an acquisitions discussion. No thanks, chief.

Fun fact: Many years ago Sony had Buzz! a casual party game that was somewhat popular in Europe. The game was like a TV show where from time to time appeared some stock images. The company that provided these images to Sony was owned by Bill Gates, and was while he was running MS and Xbox.

Okay, and? How does this tie into the main topic of the thread?

Companies that 'compete' in some area often sign deals, hire services or buy products of their 'competition' in other areas. And it doesn't imply at all that they could have some other deal in the area where they 'compete'.

So Microsoft and Sega are competing now? How? In what way? I think you forgot this was a thread about Sega, not Sony 😁

Sega announced they will use MS's software to manage servers, Azure. That's all.

Again, you're speaking in absolutes, almost aggressively or sternly against an idea opposite to this. That's a problem, it's damaging your argument and I think it's partly because of one of those 'fears' I spoke about earlier. This is proof of that.

If that deal would be part of something bigger that would include gaming deals they would have announced it. There's no reason to hide it. If they didn't announce anything else is because there's nothing else.

How do you know what they would've announced and how? Do you run Microsoft? The Xbox division? Do you run Sega? Were you a part of whatever talks the two have had? If you were none of those things, then you have no grounds to try stating anything here as an absolute, otherwise it looks like a preemptive defense against something you irrationally fear happening.

Sega is building a game streaming platform for Japan, where they plan to use arcade cabinets that when nobody is playing act as 'data centers' for that cloud service.

That is their fog gaming service, and it's already being implemented on some scale. It's possible this Azure deal could be partly in service to that as well, FWIW.

Since in Japan they have a lot of arcades everywhere

Uh...they kinda sold off the majority of their arcade centers earlier this year, so you're gonna have to be more specific if you mean arcade centers or arcade games/machines.

the player using that game streaming service at home very likely will have some of these arcades closer to his home than a traditional data center, which means latency will be better streaming from that arcade cabinet than from a normal data center. Very likely this game streaming platform will feature many Sega games and IPs. I asume they hired Azure to use to manage the servers of that service. And also the reason of why in that announcement they talk about stuff like clod gaming, 5G, IP utilization, to build a game development environment, community, "super game", etc.

Fair enough; see, THIS is how you can apply a constructive point of speculation to the discussion. No fear-mongering, no stubborn speaking-in-absolutes out of unfounded fears, just say what YOU think the deal is in pertains to. Because I would agree that at least some part of this is definitely in relation to Sega's fog gaming initiative.

However, your problem is that you are very aggressively wanting to shut down any other points of speculation that open up this deal as something having additional benefits to the Xbox and GamePass ecosystem WRT games from Sega, whether they be more Day-1 GamePass entries, co-funded games between Sega/MS or even some Sega exclusives for Xbox & GamePass ecosystem. All of which have historical precedent/evidence to point to for substantiation.

Maybe try and be a bit more open-minded, eh 😉?
 

PhaseJump

Banned
If Microsoft were to acquire Sega, they would unite a scattered fan base that rivals Nintendo's. Shit will fly, console wars will be reignited, paranoid Europeans will whine like the world is ending.

Do it, Phil.

bobs-burgers-louise-belcher.gif
 

yurinka

Member
Well that's kind of grand considering you've done similar with Kadokawa, From Software etc. when it comes to Sony financial investments, have you not?
Kadokawa gave 2% of its shares to Sony in exchange for Sony helping Kadokawa to bring Kadokawa games and anime to a global market. So it means Sony will help to bring Kadokawa games and anime to a global (so mostly outside Japan, since most Kadokawa IPs are very Japan focused) market.

Sega said they will use Azure server management software for their servers. The message isn't very clear but seems they will use it for the servers of an upcoming game, or for (I think it's the case) the game streaming service they are building for Japan.

Notice the difference between the announcements of both deals.

And like you have there, I'm actually using some evidence, in this case historical precedent between the two companies and various other business deals the two have made particularly of recent. This isn't stuff being pulled out of thin air, there are even a few others who tend to be insiders suggesting there's more to the deal than what's on the surface/been presented as of this time.
Do I believe MS could make a deal with Sega to make some (timed, console or total) exclusive game for them? Yes.
Do I believe MS could make a deal with Sega to put some games on Gamepass? Yes.
Do I believe MS could make a deal with Sega to stop making some games PS console exclusive to release them in Xbox (and if not available in PC too)? Yes.
Do I believe MS coul make a deal with Sega to buy it? Yes.
Do I believe Sega using Azure for their servers only means that and if they had another deals like the ones listed above they would also announced it and think that if they didn't announce anything else is because they don't have anything else? Yes.
Do I think using Azure means it's going to be a game for Xbox or Windows? No, it's totally unrelated. See PSN and PS Now servers migrated to Azure.
Do I think that even if the announced deal is only for Azure, but they may have separate deals for other stuff in the futre? Yes, obviously. Platform holders and publishers/devs do them all the time. But I as a separate and unrelated topic/deal, I think Azure is very separated thing from the other stuff.
It's almost as if market share alone isn't the only factor why a company would want a given solution...could argue the same about market share in certain other markets as well ;)...
There are many reasons of why a company would want one or another solution: its price, ease of use/compatibility with whatever else they have, scalability related stuff, etc. Market share tells you that most customers prefer more this or that product. But your specific needs or tastes may be different than the ones from the majority of the users.

Jeez you are being oddly reductive and dismissive. You nor I know the specifics to how deep Microsoft's involvement with Sega will be in Sega's utilization of Azure, but is a pretty ignorant opinion on your end. There's no "game code" or "game hardware" out there; all various applications use similar code and it's up to the programmer to determine how that code is utilized.

You can use C++ to program a game or program a spreadsheet application or a timer for an embedded system; there are no variables, functions or program calls/modules you use SPECIFICALLY for gaming or better to say, are defined with the singular purpose of game design or "programming" (which can literally encompass anything, including programming applications for, you guessed it, server workloads, or multiplayer network framework backends).

Your view on server software & hardware technology, is extremely limited to say the least.
I'm a game programmer who worked in big F2P games with dozens of millions of users. We had 3 different coder teams: client, server and netops.

After a few issues migrating from a server management sofware to another brand and same with database, we made the next games server and database brand agnostic. Due to different reasons (scalability issues when growing, moving to a cheaper and less powerful thing when sunseting etc) we kept moving from a database to another or from a server to another. We were able to do it with no downtime.

To use AWS, Azure or something else didn't matter for the game itself, it was transparent specially for the game specific (gameplay, game design etc) related stuff. They basically offered the same for us. We added or removed servers depending on our needs if running out of space or if they were pretty etc., monitored if we were running out of RAM, HDD or CPU on some of them or of one was down, increasing or decreasing the amount of players in each server and things like that. We even made a custom mobile app to check out this, errors and the game metrics while not at the office.

Okay, and? How does this tie into the main topic of the thread?
That two gaming companies who have other divisions can make deal and business with other divisions of these companies. And it doesn't imply anything for the rest of their business side. In this thread example they are getting a server related service for a game or service, in the other case they were licensing stock photos for a game.

So Microsoft and Sega are competing now? How? In what way? I think you forgot this was a thread about Sega, not Sony 😁
They both are game publishers. But yes, I was thinking in Sony insttea of Sega because of hte previous example, my mistake ^_ ^j

Again, you're speaking in absolutes, almost aggressively or sternly against an idea opposite to this. That's a problem, it's damaging your argument and I think it's partly because of one of those 'fears' I spoke about earlier. This is proof of that.
I'm simply saying that the press release simply announces that Sega made a deal with MS to use Azure in their project. Which is ok and that I don't see why it's a big deal or why it should mean something else.

How do you know what they would've announced and how? Do you run Microsoft? The Xbox division? Do you run Sega? Were you a part of whatever talks the two have had? If you were none of those things, then you have no grounds to try stating anything here as an absolute, otherwise it looks like a preemptive defense against something you irrationally fear happening.
Game companies make press releases announcing their products, their deals and so on. Devolver announced an IPO, so it means you now can buy stocks. The other they announced that Sega will put some game at Gamepass, so it means they put that game in gamepass. When there's an acquisition they make a press release of that acquisition. The Kadokawa deal was announced saying what kind of deal was, and this deal has been announced saying they get Azure. All the companies have no issues to announce these things.

If this deal would include also a deal for Gamepass or whatever else they could have mentioned it there. Not the specific games, or dates etc. In the same way Kadokawa announced the deal mentioning Sony was going to help them with games and anime. I mean, if Kadokawa would also signed a deal with Sony to I don't know, publish OSTs or other music albums they would have mentioned it there too. There would be no reason to hide it, companies announce the deals they make explaning what kind of deal they are.

That is their fog gaming service, and it's already being implemented on some scale. It's possible this Azure deal could be partly in service to that as well, FWIW.
Yes, it's my theory.

Uh...they kinda sold off the majority of their arcade centers earlier this year, so you're gonna have to be more specific if you mean arcade centers or arcade games/machines.
No, what they sold to Genda was the division who managed them or something like that. I don't remember exactly what they did I'm sure it didn't mean they were selling their game division or game centers.

Sega arcade centers are still there, with the Sega logo and Sega continues making arcade stuff. Every year companies like Sega or Capcom open and close centers due to obvious reasons, or rework them internally. Other than that, some Sega (and everyone else) centers closed temporally due to covid and are back again. Other than that, a couple of them shut down because their renting period was done and the owner of the building had to make some mandatory reforms in the building, so they closed them and moved to other places (in one of them did open a new Sega center in front of the old one). Many western gaming press reported these news in a too apocalyptic way.

I suggest to research it well, being careful with the press. My source is a Spanish retrogaming youtuber who lives in Japan and was explaining all that it in Spanish and showing that some supposedly closed arcade centers were still open (even some other ones did close, he explained the reasons for each case). He also explained that some machinse from the closed ones were moved to other nearby Sega centers so basically anything was lost.

And well, Sega also sells arcade cabinets to other arcade centers not owned by Sega and more places. I meant there are many arcade centers in Japan, not only the Sega ones. Japanese arcade center market numbers by Capcom:

image.png


From Sega
image.png


Fair enough; see, THIS is how you can apply a constructive point of speculation to the discussion. No fear-mongering, no stubborn speaking-in-absolutes out of unfounded fears, just say what YOU think the deal is in pertains to. Because I would agree that at least some part of this is definitely in relation to Sega's fog gaming initiative.

However, your problem is that you are very aggressively wanting to shut down any other points of speculation that open up this deal as something having additional benefits to the Xbox and GamePass ecosystem WRT games from Sega, whether they be more Day-1 GamePass entries, co-funded games between Sega/MS or even some Sega exclusives for Xbox & GamePass ecosystem. All of which have historical precedent/evidence to point to for substantiation.

Maybe try and be a bit more open-minded, eh 😉?
I just share the stuff I know and like to debate, but providing proper facts and data if we aren't talking about personal opinions. When I see some fact pointing clearly that something is in a certain way I don't see the point to speculate that it really is in another way, that they are hiding something or stuff like that. It's a bit like conspiracy theories. English is my 3rd language, so I may sound rude or not polite enough, or don't explain myself properly.

I think Sega could make exclusives for MS, bring games to gamepass, sell the company and so on, to make any kind of deal with MS. It wouldn't be rare, and I wouldn't care. It would be fine for me. I don't say it's impossible or that it would be bad, or something like that. I only say that what they announce in this announcement is something else limited to a single topic and doesn't imply they have more stuff in this deal. I think that if this deal would have covered more stuff they would have mentioned it even if not going into much detail (like mentioning specific games or daes). And that if they will have other deals then they will announce them (as they announced that recent game on GP).

Edit: I found stuff in Sega's IR doc that explains a bit more the "Super game" and "IP utilization", "community" stuff:
image.png

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https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/printing_annual/2021/ir_2021_web_2_e.pdf

"The core strategies of the new medium-term plan center around digging deeper into key existing IPs like Sonic, PHANTASY STAR, YAKUZA (Ryu ga Gotoku), Persona, and Total War and offering these to global markets. We are also taking up the challenge of “Super Games” within five years. Also, given our large pool of IPs that enjoy strong global recognition, we will actively leverage past IPs and further develop them, that is, by means of remasters, remakes, reboots, etc.

Meanwhile, in Japan, we will cultivate the F2P games (smartphone games) in domestic market and amusement machines into businesses that can secure stable earnings. We will select titles that have done well domestically and use these to target overseas markets as well.

Image of Brand Expansion
1 Expanding touch points with users, Strengthening global roll-out, Multiplatform support, Multilingual support
2 Prolonging product life cycles, Utilizing IP assets, Strengthening digital sales, Multichannel monetization
3 Strengthening user engagement, Community management, Strengthening the mix of media

Super Games: 5 years core strategies
-Developing new first person shooter game title at Europe-based studios
-Utilizing IP assets
-Creating titles with a view to three to five years down the road
-Global, online, Translation into other media, IP utilization"
 
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kuncol02

Banned
what they sold to Genda was the division who managed them or something like that. I don't remember exactly what they did I'm sure it didn't mean they were selling their game division or game centers.
"However, it's worth noting that while Sega Entertainment creates and operates the company's arcade locations, Sega itself still manufactures and sells arcade machines."

They sold game centers.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
.....In other news Microsoft and Sega have decided to colloborate in the making of the Dreamcast 3 ....Sega is looking to comeback into the hardware business with one of the first titles announced an exclusive NEW Shinobi!

(Yeah I know just imagining a "What if" scenario..)
 

yurinka

Member
"However, it's worth noting that while Sega Entertainment creates and operates the company's arcade locations, Sega itself still manufactures and sells arcade machines."

They sold game centers.
As explained every year in their yearly or quarterly IR reports companies like Sega, Capcom and the other ones close or sell game centers (this/last year more due to covid), and also open new ones. When they close they move these machines to other ones they have nearby. There are still many Sega ceners open in Japan, with the Sega logos in the entrance and full of Sega machines. What happened there is that now they are operated by Genda instead of an internal Sega division/company.

In this video from late last year you can see Sega GIGO (Akihabara center they closed mentioned in that news) in 1:29 to 2:10. Then from 2:34 to 7:08 it shows the Sega Akihabara building 1, from 7:09 to 11:09 it shows Sega Akihabara building 3 anf from 11:10 to 12:30 the Sega Akihabara building 4. Then from 12:30 to the end the building 5. In all cases skipping the UFO catcher and furikura sections, that take like at least a couple of floors in each building. He says he found all the traditional arcade cabinets of building 2 distributed in the other ones, with the exception of Monaco GP and Super Monaco GP (he says maybe they are temporally under maintenance, something frequent for old arcades).


Some of these changes were temporal. At the end of April of this year, he went verify if that wave of apocalyptical uninformed gaming news mentioning stuff like Sega was closing all the arcade centers at the end of FY? 2020 was true. So he went to see what really was happening. He starts showing Sega Akihabara building 5 and notices the retro section (floor 4) they had there isn't there. But later shows they moved it to building 3 (floor 6, which previously was all VR stuff now renamed to Hi-Tech Land, the name of Sega's arcade centers in the past), being a bigger retro area wirh more space, QRs to explain the story of each arcade, etc:


Then in August of 2021 he talks about the closure of Sega GIGO Ikebukuro, because after 28 years open the owner of the building has to make some mandatory reforms. In that same video mentions that it's the same reason that the previous closure of a center in Kawasaki. He mentions that the building in front of GIGO Ikebukuro (they don't have Sega stuff there) also closes for the same reason. Most of the stuff there are UFO catchers, rythm games, horse racing bets, card games, furikura and Japanese things like that, there's a small part of traditional games (which again, as always pretty likely will be redistributed to other Sega centers):


He has more videos about japanese arcades and Sega in particular, but I think it's enough proof.
 
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yurinka yurinka Seriously until you can get all your acquisition talking points out of your mouth when I've NEVER suggested that as a potential result of this deal, nor has ANYONE else ITT to my knowledge, then there's no point in furthering our discussion.

Besides, it's a Saturday, I'm not spending half an hour picking apart everything wrong in that post of yours because I'm gonna go, you know like...play games instead so :LOL: .
 

yurinka

Member
yurinka yurinka Seriously until you can get all your acquisition talking points out of your mouth when I've NEVER suggested that as a potential result of this deal, nor has ANYONE else ITT to my knowledge, then there's no point in furthering our discussion.

Besides, it's a Saturday, I'm not spending half an hour picking apart everything wrong in that post of yours because I'm gonna go, you know like...play games instead so :LOL: .
I kindly suggest you to read again the first couple of pages or so of the thread, you'll see many people talking about gamepass, Sega's acquisition, game exclusivities or Sega and MS working together in games or even MS cofunding sega games and many more game related things. Example of one of the posts (one yours, doesn't mean that this post includes all these assumptions that this deal to use Azure means something else beyond Sega using Azure for the servers of some upcoming multiplayer game or service, most of them were made by other people. In fact your post is one of the most reasonable ones):

This is great news; I feel like Sega still has a pretty messy development pipeline in areas and these plans are probably part of longer-term restructuring they were already doing earlier. In a way it's kind of like Sega and Microsoft coming full-circle again in terms of Microsoft providing technologies for Sega (they did this long ago with the Dreamcast).

I hope this extends to Microsoft co-funding some new Sega AAA titles like back in the OG Xbox days; if it's the only way we can get a new Panzer Dragoon, Phantasy Star (Online or solo), ThunderForce (Sega owns the IP now), Dragon Force, Ristar, Crazy Taxi, Rez, Fighter's Megamix etc. then I'm all for it.

Nice news to stealth drop on Halloween xD, now I'm gonna go back to playing some games.

@Abriael_GN Yes this announcement's primarily about Sega and Azure, but it's also not out of the realm of possibility that co-funding of some games (possibly exclusive) between Microsoft and Sega could also be a part of this and, in fact, would not be unprecedented between the two of them.

There's no point trying to downplay this as something that isn't gaming-related given that's basically Sega's main business, but I also agree that anyone trying to read too much into this i.e an acquisition should probably stop where they are and not jump the gun, because this is no evidence of that. It's not even particularly evidence of MS co-funding any games for Sega that would be potentially be exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem, but that's a far more realistic possibility than an acquisition and probably a smarter one financially-speaking, at least for the next few years.

I'm particularly interested if Sega integrates Azure with their fog gaming initiative they've already kind of got going for arcades in Japan...well the ones they still happen to own, anyway. Or maybe this could be something they use to re-enter that market (in terms of ownership/running of arcade/FEC game centers in Japan and other parts of Asia) with a different strategy utilizing Azure in some capacity.
But again, we're in circles repeating the same again and again. I think it's time to stop.

P.S.: It's a different topic, but if you're a fan of the Sega arcade games or the arcades in general I suggest you to watch the videos i posted above.
 
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I kindly suggest you to read again the first couple of pages or so of the thread, you'll see many people talking about gamepass, Sega's acquisition, game exclusivities or Sega and MS working together in games or even MS cofunding sega games and many more game related things.

Which is...no different than what you've done on multiple occasions when it comes to various Sony investments or business initiatives like Kadokawa, From Software, speculating on Square-Enix/Capcom etc. acquisitions by Sony and using various means to try explaining why those could happen, etc. You can't really balk at people ITT who did essentially the same thing you regularly do in various Sony-related threads.

And again FWIW, I personally didn't bring up anything about acquisitions, and if there were people mentioning that then I likely glanced over those posts since I didn't take them seriously. But the other stuff you're touching on? Again I speak only for myself, but I didn't speculate on game exclusives/Sega & MS co-developed/co-funded games as if it was factually going to happen or that the specifics of the deal which have been publicly presented so far actually explicitly state those things are going to happen.

However, I can very confidently go back to historical precedents where those things DID happen between the two, as means of healthily speculating they could be things that come forth thanks to deals like the one the two have announced last week, and my line of questioning has been with yourself and a few others ITT who are adamantly, profusely against the possibility (or probability) of any of that happening that you are speaking in absolutes as if Xbox and GamePass will so no benefits now or into the future due to this deal, while ignoring the reality that such a deal can open the door for other deals that could produce some of the things I have reasonably pointed out as being possible.

That has been my line of questioning here and will continue to be for future reference, I do think some unfounded fear is an underlying factor in such strong viewpoints of opposition to the idea of those potential scenarios coming about and that's just something people with those viewpoints will have to address with themselves IMO.

But for now, yes, let's just agree to disagree on this particular topic and see where things actually lead over the next few weeks or months. All I really want of this is new AA/AAA Sega games of dormant IP with potential (Panzer Dragoon, Dragon Force, Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia, Outrun, Crazy Taxi etc.) that Sega likely wouldn't do on their own, and things like a clearly visible strengthening on their relationship with Microsoft are one of the few realistic paths towards that becoming a reality.
 

yurinka

Member
Which is...no different than what you've done on multiple occasions when it comes to various Sony investments or business initiatives like Kadokawa, From Software, speculating on Square-Enix/Capcom etc. acquisitions by Sony and using various means to try explaining why those could happen, etc. You can't really balk at people ITT who did essentially the same thing you regularly do in various Sony-related threads.
The difference is how the speculation is in what case: if Kadokawa asks Sony to help them to bring their games to a global market, I speculate which games will be and in which way they are going to collaborate.

If Sony acquires companies and say they will acquire more I speculate which ones they will buy next or which I think would fit them better.

If Sega announces they got a deal to use a software for a company, let's say they announce will use Unreal Engine, I don't speculate if they will sign PC store exclusivity wih Epic Store of if Epic will buy them. Because I see it as them only buying a software license, like when getting Photoshop or an email service.

And again FWIW, I personally didn't bring up anything about acquisitions, and if there were people mentioning that then I likely glanced over those posts since I didn't take them seriously. But the other stuff you're touching on? Again I speak only for myself, but I didn't speculate on game exclusives/Sega & MS co-developed/co-funded games as if it was factually going to happen or that the specifics of the deal which have been publicly presented so far actually explicitly state those things are going to happen.
Again, I wasn't talking only about you when I mentioned that I think many people in this thread was trying to see too much things in this deal where they basically only announced than they will use Azure for their servers.

Do I think them getting Azure may mean it's only a part of a bigger deal beyond what they announced? No, I think this deal announcement is only to announce they got that service and that there isn't anything else in this deal and if they make other deals will be separate deals.

Do I think Sega and MS could make other kind of deals? For sure, as you said they made more in the past and one is a publisher and the other one a platform holder, so it would make sense to see them making deals, in the same way they also make deals with Nintendo or Sony.

However, I can very confidently go back to historical precedents where those things DID happen between the two, as means of healthily speculating they could be things that come forth thanks to deals like the one the two have announced last week, and my line of questioning has been with yourself and a few others ITT who are adamantly, profusely against the possibility (or probability) of any of that happening that you are speaking in absolutes as if Xbox and GamePass will so no benefits now or into the future due to this deal, while ignoring the reality that such a deal can open the door for other deals that could produce some of the things I have reasonably pointed out as being possible.
That has been my line of questioning here and will continue to be for future reference, I do think some unfounded fear is an underlying factor in such strong viewpoints of opposition to the idea of those potential scenarios coming about and that's just something people with those viewpoints will have to address with themselves IMO.
You're free to speculate whatever you want. You have your opinion, I have mine and that's ok. We don't need to agree in everything. I think I repeated too much times my points and tried to explain them in detail. Fear? I don't give a fuck if two corporations make any kind of deals or not. If Sega releases some game I want to play I'll buy them, or if they put them at launch on PS Plus or Game Pass I'll play them instead. Totally fine for me.

But for now, yes, let's just agree to disagree on this particular topic and see where things actually lead over the next few weeks or months. All I really want of this is new AA/AAA Sega games of dormant IP with potential (Panzer Dragoon, Dragon Force, Phantasy Star, Skies of Arcadia, Outrun, Crazy Taxi etc.) that Sega likely wouldn't do on their own, and things like a clearly visible strengthening on their relationship with Microsoft are one of the few realistic paths towards that becoming a reality.
Yep, same here. Seems they will revive some IPs in different ways (remasters/remakes/reboots/old versions emulated or rereleased in collections/etc) and will focus on worlwide multiplatform releases and will invest more in localization too. I'd like to see back Out Run, Afterburner, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Panzer Dragoon, Crazy Taxi etc. with new brand games and also will investing more in subscription models (as we saw with Virtua Fighter eSports in PS Plus). I think they did a great job with Sonic Mania a Streets of Rage 4, let's hope they combine this with proper AAA Out Run or Afterburner games etc.
 
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The difference is how the speculation is in what case: if Kadokawa asks Sony to help them to bring their games to a global market, I speculate which games will be and in which way they are going to collaborate.

But all of your speculation on that front has assumed platform exclusivity and heavily staggered PC release windows even in the face of Sony becoming more aggressive with supporting the PC platform. So, you can't say you don't selectively choose to ignore certain mounting realities when it comes to your own speculation, that makes some of the vehement questioning of other folks' speculation by you kind of funny tbh.

If Sony acquires companies and say they will acquire more I speculate which ones they will buy next or which I think would fit them better.

Again, I can point out the irony in all of this. You've in the past speculated on several companies, like Square-Enix, being acquired by Sony on the mere mention of Sony saying they're looking to acquire more companies, and used the fact that Sony and Square-Enix seem to have a strong working relationship with multiple timed exclusivity deals (mainly Final Fantasy-related) as points to bolster this.

Which is fine and well, but you've also done this without Square-Enix ever really coming out making statements WRT acquisitions, or backing up/supporting Sony's statements on it, or any formally announced deals between the two that could possibly hint at such being the case. At the same time, you want to simply use solely the absolute/objective terms of this deal between Microsoft and Sega as means to stressing there's nothing in it that can suggest acquisitions...which is fair enough in its own right to do.

However, why not have that logic consistently when it comes to your Sony-related stuff? Again, go back to Square-Enix and you've suggested them multiple times as a likely acquisition by Sony to "counter-balance" Microsoft acquiring Zenimax/Bethesda, using the working relationship between Sony and Square-Enix as means of backing this, but deny any such thing for Microsoft/Sega acquisition talk (which hasn't really been happening ITT, to my knowledge), as if those two also don't have strong working relationships, or prior histories involving funding for ecosystem exclusives, software/hardware tech & API developments etc.

Which in its own way feeds back into the false narrative that Microsoft is just sloppily/forcibly buying up companies with no regards of how they'd fit into their structure, the same talks people did when they acquired Zenimax/Bethesda while being ignorant of Microsoft not only helping them with funding and technical support on Morrowind, but also funding so Bethesda could start up Zenimax in the first place. It just reeks of a double-standard and I'm not very fond of it.

If Sega announces they got a deal to use a software for a company, let's say they announce will use Unreal Engine, I don't speculate if they will sign PC store exclusivity wih Epic Store of if Epic will buy them. Because I see it as them only buying a software license, like when getting Photoshop or an email service.

But again this is your hypocrisy showing through because you've used things like Sony buying a (very minority) stake in companies like Kodakawa as means of speculating things like them buying Kodakawa, or buying From Software, or getting several exclusive From Software titles.

Which, hey, you are free to do and some of those might even make sense in terms of a likely probability, but you can't go saying other people are "reaching" in their speculation if they talk about the possibility of Sega (in this hypothetical example) making other adjacent deals or partnerships with, say, Epic that could lead to the things you mention, especially if historical precedents exist to suggest it's likely such things could occur.

Again, I wasn't talking only about you when I mentioned that I think many people in this thread was trying to see too much things in this deal where they basically only announced than they will use Azure for their servers.

Well, I am definitely talking about you specifically when I bring up some of the hypocrisy in your thinking that some people are seeing too much in the possibility of more coming from this announcement which could benefit either platforms in general (more Sega games), or Xbox/GamePass specifically, when you are kind of guilty of reading more than a little too much (one could surmise) in certain speculations you've made in relation to Sony-centric gaming business deals/announcements (or even non-gaming ones such as WRT CrunchyRoll and Funimation acquisitions).

Do I think them getting Azure may mean it's only a part of a bigger deal beyond what they announced? No, I think this deal announcement is only to announce they got that service and that there isn't anything else in this deal and if they make other deals will be separate deals.

And you're free to think that. But, you have no dominion over people to say they're in the wrong for thinking otherwise, when you yourself have speculated that "otherwise" , multiple times, in other similar topics when it felt convenient for you to do so.

Do I think Sega and MS could make other kind of deals? For sure, as you said they made more in the past and one is a publisher and the other one a platform holder, so it would make sense to see them making deals, in the same way they also make deals with Nintendo or Sony.

So I don't really understand why you feel what you mentioned in the previous part considering you are open to that as a possibility, which again at least for myself has been at the root of my own speculation here: the possibility (of some notable probability, I should add) of those things coming to pass, or perhaps maybe even already having done so but announcements of which are being withheld until the parties feel the timing is right to divulge them publicly.

If you're open to that possibility, why are you also so much against people who have otherwise been entertaining it as a possibility themselves?

You're free to speculate whatever you want. You have your opinion, I have mine and that's ok. We don't need to agree in everything. I think I repeated too much times my points and tried to explain them in detail. Fear? I don't give a fuck if two corporations make any kind of deals or not. If Sega releases some game I want to play I'll buy them, or if they put them at launch on PS Plus or Game Pass I'll play them instead. Totally fine for me.

I didn't mean fear in a literal sense, it's moreso figurative, but I do mean it in terms of people who may have a certain platform/brand preference, and a certain other platform/brand bias against, not wanting the latter to benefit from some of those possibilities I've been on about because they perceive it to hurt what they have a preference for.

Those people do exist and some of them have been posting ITT, but of course they would not openly admit to having those concerns, because it's a subconscious thing.

Yep, same here. Seems they will revive some IPs in different ways (remasters/remakes/reboots/old versions emulated or rereleased in collections/etc) and will focus on worlwide multiplatform releases and will invest more in localization too. I'd like to see back Out Run, Afterburner, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Panzer Dragoon, Crazy Taxi etc. with new brand games and also will investing more in subscription models (as we saw with Virtua Fighter eSports in PS Plus). I think they did a great job with Sonic Mania a Streets of Rage 4, let's hope they combine this with proper AAA Out Run or Afterburner games etc.

That's ultimately what I feel we both want: new in-house (or 3P studio collabs at bigger funding levels) Sega sequels/revivals of classic IP that could do very well at a AA/AAA level and maybe some adjustments of certain things here and there. Whether that's through Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo or all of them (similar to what they did in the 6th gen post-Dreamcast), if it means more of those types of games then I think everyone wins in the end.

The reason I may be leading with Microsoft and Sega doing this (at least kicking such off) is because there's a lot of various releases and deals the two have already done the past few years that could be seen as building up to such a partnership for Microsoft to fund & provide technical support to Sega to get some of that going. And, naturally, one would expect such titles to come at the benefit of Xbox and GamePass, perhaps exclusively.

However, I've never been against the idea of Sega doing similar things with Sony, in fact I think I suggested in the past that those two could have a path towards Sony co-funding a Virtua Fighter 6, most likely as a PS5/PC exclusive. And they have already been doing something like this with Nintendo, lending them the Bayonetta IP for example (which is why we even got Bayonetta 2 and 3).

Additionally, in the case of MS/Sega I wouldn't expect any of those exclusives (if they are to come) to be with specific IP of Persona, Yakuza, or SMT. At most you might get release parity of new installments there between Xbox, PlayStation and/or Switch...I would be surprised if it meant games like Persona or SMT getting Day 1 GamePass treatment, though. At the same time, I doubt it means Sony gets to lock down Persona as a console exclusive going forward, and perhaps even Nintendo losing exclusivity on the SMT games (tho in their case, likely still staying console exclusive. Just that say SMT 6 could be a Nintendo/PC Day-and-Date type of thing with Sega/Atlus handling publishing themselves on the PC side).
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Sega is reportedly could spend up to 1 billion dollars on their "super game". I wonder if they are receiving financial backing from Microsoft. It is borderline irresponsible for a corporation the size of Sega to spend that much on a game.

Super Game is a policy for several titles.

1 billion for 5 years.

It also includes Studio acquisitions.

Big investors injected hundreds million into Sega after the Metacritic crowns (2015, 2020) : They stated Sega was underestimated.


Conclusion, Sega won't spend crazy amount of money of their own.

They'll buy Studios, create big AAA games after receiving a lot of money from investors.
 
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yurinka

Member
But all of your speculation on that front has assumed platform exclusivity and heavily staggered PC release windows even in the face of Sony becoming more aggressive with supporting the PC platform. So, you can't say you don't selectively choose to ignore certain mounting realities when it comes to your own speculation, that makes some of the vehement questioning of other folks' speculation by you kind of funny tbh.
For sure, I don't expect Sony to publish games on Xbox or Switch. I expect them to publish them on PS and a few years later in PC, because it's what they do. If Sony doesn't publish the games of that deal and Kadokawa does it and Sony instead markets its and helps with something else (funding, codeveloping), I'm pretty sure they'll ask for at least console exclusivity and or at least timed console exclusivity.

It's what they typically do, so I think it's fair to assume they will do it again. I assume if they give 2% of the company and make a deal like that it won't be only for the typical marketing deal where they put their trailers in the PS youtube channel, make a couple of PS Blog posts, get a small featuring in the PS store and appear in a State of Play. Because they already do this with almost everyone.

I'm not making some weird speculation, I just expect them to do what they do in these cases. And the speculation is related to the announced deal,, not to a separate topic.

Again, I can point out the irony in all of this. You've in the past speculated on several companies, like Square-Enix, being acquired by Sony on the mere mention of Sony saying they're looking to acquire more companies, and used the fact that Sony and Square-Enix seem to have a strong working relationship with multiple timed exclusivity deals (mainly Final Fantasy-related) as points to bolster this.
Which is fine and well, but you've also done this without Square-Enix ever really coming out making statements WRT acquisitions, or backing up/supporting Sony's statements on it, or any formally announced deals between the two that could possibly hint at such being the case. At the same time, you want to simply use solely the absolute/objective terms of this deal between Microsoft and Sega as means to stressing there's nothing in it that can suggest acquisitions...which is fair enough in its own right to do.
Yes, when we speculated about who could they buy or who could fit them better when it's a thread about it and knowing they are buying and will continue buying. Square has, had and announced to have several exclusives and has several IPs and teams that may be appealing for Sony, with also potential to use them in cinema or anime. They made exclusive stuff for Sony since the PS1 and Sony likes to buy people who made many exclusives for them. They have a lot of back catalog that would fit well PS Now. Sony also is strengthening bonds with Asian teams. And many reasons more to think it would be appealing for Sony. Yes, I think Sony could buy them or at least to be interested on them but I see other targets more appealing or a better and easier fit.

Pretty different than to speculate that if they use Unreal Engine maybe it means they will go exclusive in PC with the Epic Store or that if they bought Photoshop then they may sell themselves to Adobe or weird stuff like that.

However, why not have that logic consistently when it comes to your Sony-related stuff? Again, go back to Square-Enix and you've suggested them multiple times as a likely acquisition by Sony to "counter-balance" Microsoft acquiring Zenimax/Bethesda, using the working relationship between Sony and Square-Enix as means of backing this, but deny any such thing for Microsoft/Sega acquisition talk (which hasn't really been happening ITT, to my knowledge), as if those two also don't have strong working relationships, or prior histories involving funding for ecosystem exclusives, software/hardware tech & API developments etc.
I never said they would buy SE to counter balance the Zenimax acquisition.

Sony is still way ahead of MS in all fronts: selling consoles, selling games, getting 3rd party exclusives, selling exclusives, earning GOTY awards, making revenue and profit in their gaming division and even in the amount of subscribers and revenue from game subscriptions. Even with VR. Zenimax game units sold in PS4 weren't even a 3% of the total PS4 games sold.

Sony makes acquisitions as a result of being very successful and profitable so with all this huge revenue they earn, they reinvest it in growing. And they acquire external partners who previously did work for them and help them grow and improve in an area where they internally want to expand. In this case it would help them to expand in Asia, to become strong in the RPG genre, to improve in mobile, etc.

But again this is your hypocrisy showing through because you've used things like Sony buying a (very minority) stake in companies like Kodakawa
Well, I am definitely talking about you specifically when I bring up some of the hypocrisy
Sony didn't buy anything, Kadokawa gave 2% of its company to Sony and 2% to Cyber Agent as part of their 3 way deal where Sony would help bring Kadokawa games and anime to a worldwide market.

And it's common sense, not hypocrisy.
If you're open to that possibility, why are you also so much against people who have otherwise been entertaining it as a possibility themselves?
I'm not against anything. I just say that I think that to speculate that there may be something else hidden behind the deal to get Azure doesn't make sense. They made a deal for Azure and that's all.

Pretty likely later they'll do more deals together as always did and as all the platform holders do with big publishers like Sega all the time. This part makes sense and I think it's normal to speculate with that.

The part I think it's crazy and that doesn't make sense is to think that these other deals would be a hidden part of the deal they made to use Azure, because to get this service is something random and minor that all big companies do to store their servers somewhere and to manage them. In the same way they license orther services and software for another tasks.

I didn't mean fear in a literal sense, it's moreso figurative, but I do mean it in terms of people who may have a certain platform/brand preference, and a certain other platform/brand bias against, not wanting the latter to benefit from some of those possibilities I've been on about because they perceive it to hurt what they have a preference for.
I don't care if these companies make a deal or not and if the make it with one or another. They are too big to fail and are in a good shape. I'll get their games if they are appealing to me independently where they publish them of with who they partner. Yes, looking at all metrics I think PS is doing a better job than Xbox, so I like it more. There's nothing bad on that.

That's ultimately what I feel we both want: new in-house (or 3P studio collabs at bigger funding levels) Sega sequels/revivals of classic IP that could do very well at a AA/AAA level and maybe some adjustments of certain things here and there. Whether that's through Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo or all of them (similar to what they did in the 6th gen post-Dreamcast), if it means more of those types of games then I think everyone wins in the end.

The reason I may be leading with Microsoft and Sega doing this (at least kicking such off) is because there's a lot of various releases and deals the two have already done the past few years that could be seen as building up to such a partnership for Microsoft to fund & provide technical support to Sega to get some of that going. And, naturally, one would expect such titles to come at the benefit of Xbox and GamePass, perhaps exclusively.

However, I've never been against the idea of Sega doing similar things with Sony, in fact I think I suggested in the past that those two could have a path towards Sony co-funding a Virtua Fighter 6, most likely as a PS5/PC exclusive. And they have already been doing something like this with Nintendo, lending them the Bayonetta IP for example (which is why we even got Bayonetta 2 and 3).

Additionally, in the case of MS/Sega I wouldn't expect any of those exclusives (if they are to come) to be with specific IP of Persona, Yakuza, or SMT. At most you might get release parity of new installments there between Xbox, PlayStation and/or Switch...I would be surprised if it meant games like Persona or SMT getting Day 1 GamePass treatment, though. At the same time, I doubt it means Sony gets to lock down Persona as a console exclusive going forward, and perhaps even Nintendo losing exclusivity on the SMT games (tho in their case, likely still staying console exclusive. Just that say SMT 6 could be a Nintendo/PC Day-and-Date type of thing with Sega/Atlus handling publishing themselves on the PC side).
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Here they mention 'multiplatform support'. So maybe they mean to make multiplatform some series that recently (Yakuza, Persona, SMT, Bayo, VF etc) had some kind of exclusivity, or maybe they plan to continue making deals with all platform holders. Regarding Sony and VF, Sony already paid to have VF eSports and even in PS Plus at launch and having EVO is likely. I think Sony would pay for VF6 but both sides would prefer to keep it as a timed console exclusive to ensure a bigger userbase, less cost for Sony (at the end, it's going to be a niche game) and more revenue and profit for Sega. Nintendo seems was very invested with Bayo 3 so I don't see them allowing to put Bayo 2 & 3 in other consoles, and Platinum seems to be very busy with many projects to think anywhere soon in Bayo 4. But other than Bayo and the Mario & Sonic stuff I can see everything else, both these active series plus the revived ones going multiplatform and to split them between Plus/Now + GP.
 

Edgelord79

Gold Member
Who would've thought there was no deeper meaning behind the alliance?
I have to admit I was a bit suspicious as well as Sarah Bond was involved until a poster guided me to her full job description which was much more broad than I had initially thought.

That clarified things quite a bit and made more sense.
 
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