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What can Sega do to succeed?

At this point I feel like Sammy might be better off selling Sega (and their associated IPs) while holding on to Atlus, Relic, SI, TCA and maybe Hardlight. The arcade division's crumbling while the consumer side seems to be in a endless Sonic/Yakuza loop, mobile seems to be the only real growth area for Sega R&D now and it's incredibly hit or miss.

I wonder if Microsoft might still be interested?
 
Sonic and Sega all star racing transform 2 on current gen.
Fun kart racer is missing on both console now, let's capitalize it. Make console exclusive character and ask MS/Sony help market it.
 
well for a start

put out games that people have been asking for years. I mean youre already in trouble. why not take a risk that might actually HELP you.

listen to fans. Not just the miku fans and sonic fans.
 
Past said:
Recent news? Didn't they already made that announcement years ago when Binary Domain flopped?
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Yes, and they're already succeeding. Which is why they're going further in this direction. People just confuse putting out games they personally want with succeeding.
 
Probably invest heavily in mobiles and f2p, and I want another OutRun, JSR, Virtual On, Panzer Dragoon, Shenmue etc, just as much as you do.

Another market could be ironically the dwindling arcade business. Imagine a comeback with VR machines?

Aeriscloud said:
One of those games is fun too. The other is Destiny.
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Sayter said:
But PSO was actually good.
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I agree with y'all. Sega could have made a money making machine like Destiny instead of Bungie... and it would've been better too (Sega is always first and innovating but someone else builds on the principles and make the hit products wtf).
 
Sega's management needs to change and they would need to be united as a company rather than competing between branches despite numerous examples of wasted resources and potential as a result of their moronic inner rivalry.

Honestly though, that's not going to happen and they're just going to continue their descent into irrelevance until there is nothing left. A company as deficiently managed as Sega should not exist in our market.
 
I think the restructuring makes perfect sense- they see the decline of the pachislot and arcade industry in Japan... and that boxed retail games are eventually going to be replaced with an all digital marketplace.

It's not like they're bleeding money and just firing people left and right... they're offering early retirements and putting their focus in the right places.

It's not like the Sega of old with Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Yukio Futatsugi and so on.... and they own fucking Atlus. So let their Atlus games account for the console market side- and put their own IPs on the gaming platforms showing the most growth. Sega stopped being Sega a long time ago... I guess some people are just now noticing it.
 
I really think paying Nintendo to make a Sega Smash Bros could go a long way toward reviving their old IPs. Didn't Fire Emblem basically get saved in North America based largely off the popularity of Marth in Smash Bros?

Reel the kids in with Sonic and his friends fighting and let them discover Giddeus Thunderhead, Joe Musashi, Altered Beast, Ryo Hazuki, Beat, BD Joe, Sketch Turner, Vectorman, Axel and Blaze, etc.
 
Maligna said:
I really think paying Nintendo to make a Sega Smash Bros could go a long way toward reviving their old IPs. Didn't Fire Emblem basically get saved in North America based largely off the popularity of Marth in Smash Bros?

Reel the kids in with Sonic and his friends fighting and let them discover Giddeus Thunderhead, Joe Musashi, Altered Beast, Ryo Hazuki, Beat, BD Joe, Sketch Turner, Vectorman, Axel and Blaze, etc.
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You'd have to make a genre-creating fighting game for that to happen, and fighters take a lot of time and effort to be good (and balanced). It's not about just throwing up a cast and being done with it.
 
TheSpoiler said:
You'd have to make a genre-creating fighting game for that to happen, and fighters take a lot of time and effort to be good (and balanced). It's not about just throwing up a cast and being done with it.
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Why can't they just do a Smash Bros spin off? Same mechanics, different theme. Sega instead of Nintendo. And yes, it would take a few years to develop. Obviously don't rush it and make it a quality product on par with Smash 4 Wii U.
 
They should make MOBA.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Or f2p tactical shooter based on VC. Valkyria Fortress then put $2.99 gacha with 0.000001% chance to get Golden Marina.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
First of all make all your legacy games availble digitally. If you are making me pirate or go to ebay then you have failed as a publisher. Its the easiest money you can make, look at the millions SE has made from FF7 post PS1 alone.
 
Maligna said:
Why can't they just do a Smash Bros spin off? Same mechanics, different theme. Sega instead of Nintendo. And yes, it would take a few years to develop. Obviously don't rush it and make it a quality product on par with Smash 4 Wii U.
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Because the Sega characters you noted aren't as notable as the FE characters. FE was big in Japan, so that helped. Barely anyone can name the mains of the first Golden Axe.

Also, making a clone fighter and charging 60 bucks for it would leave such a bad taste in gamers' mouths.

And this still takes money they really don't have. You are essentially asking them to ask Nintendo to foot the bill and copy them.

Usobuko said:
Would be very hard against this current market climate of ever shifting taste and blockbuster AAA games competing at the same price.
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It's sad, but it's the way it is. Shifts like this happen every gen. The way to get out of it now is to do what Capcom is doing. Or just mainly focus on those willing to fund projects that wouldn't make them much money in the end run.
 
Maligna said:
I really think paying Nintendo to make a Sega Smash Bros could go a long way toward reviving their old IPs. Didn't Fire Emblem basically get saved in North America based largely off the popularity of Marth in Smash Bros?

Reel the kids in with Sonic and his friends fighting and let them discover Giddeus Thunderhead, Joe Musashi, Altered Beast, Ryo Hazuki, Beat, BD Joe, Sketch Turner, Vectorman, Axel and Blaze, etc.
Click to expand...

But would they want a Nintendo console exclusive....? With no Nintendo characters? Seems like it'd limit the selling power a good amount from the getgo.

Unless the next Nintendo console sold aboslutely crazy numbers or something.
 
SEGA is doing fine on their own. They might not be releasing all the games that we want, but even if they did, that doesn't mean they'd make money.

SEGA isn't restructuring cause they are dying, they are restructuring to get rid of their weak points and put more resources into their successful areas. They are basically killing off SEGA America(responsible for Golden Axe Beast Rider, Marvel Licensed games, Aliens Colonial Marines, and Sonic Boom.), and making cuts in their arcade division because arcades are apparently starting to not generate as much profit for them.

They are putting more resources into PC. SEGA West, basically. Ignoring the the single Mobile studio, Hardlight, and the odd console port like Alien Isolation, the majority of the output from SEGA West (SEGA Europe) is all PC games.

More resources into Mobile is SEGA Networks. They aren't going to kill off their traditional development studios in Japan. Yakuza, Miku, and big Sonic games all make a good profit for them. We will still probably see smaller console games from them too in digital form.

I'm personally happy with the direction SEGA is headed in. No more bad licensed games, and we are starting to get localizations in the west again, the latest announcement being Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax for PS3 and Vita.

I'm hopeful that with their increased focus on PC that they will get PSO2 released in the west. Wasn't there a rumor that Relic was working on an English PSO2 localization am I imagining things?
 
Do a full-on permanent partnership with Nintendo on Sonic ala Bayonetta 2. Where Nintendo and Sega collab together to make the best damn Sonic games possible, and Nintendo publishes and markets the games.

The Nintendo audience has always been most receptive post-Dreamcast to the series as the Wii and DS entries proved so on and so forth. And Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is without a doubt the most successful game with Sega's name on it in history, selling 10 million copies combined on Wii and DS. What other game Sega worked on ever came close?

The Nintendo-exclusive partnership was genius. Problem is, Nintendo left Sega to their own devices, which proved to be a huge mistake.
 
Maligna said:
Why can't they just do a Smash Bros spin off? Same mechanics, different theme. Sega instead of Nintendo. And yes, it would take a few years to develop. Obviously don't rush it and make it a quality product on par with Smash 4 Wii U.
Click to expand...

Why do they have to go to Nintendo to do this? AM2 still exists right? Just do Fighters MegaMix 2

.... and make no money off of it
 
It depends what you consider to be Sega at all. Where once there was a sort of common goal and cross-over between Sega Japan and Sega West, now only Sonic games are the shared DNA. Lord knows what bailout is at the core of Sony getting Yakuza 5 on the go.

Sega Japan makes a few of the sort of things you'd expect of the Sega of old such as the Yakuza series, the occasional arcade game, and some retro releases on the 3DS. The 'true' Sonic Team is over there and making... stuff. Phantasy Star Online stuff continues to be made.

Sega West is going to soon just be a publishing house for Sonic games, Total War and Football Manager if that isnt it already (will there be another Alien game funded?). For fans of those latter PC titles, thats nice and all, but that is about as far away from 'SEGA' as the company gets. It could have any name, Atari, Acclaim, god knows. When even PSO2 didn't make it over, its hard to consider Sega West very 'Sega' at all.

For Sega to 'succeed' for what I state clearly as my interests, and selfishly ruthlessly so, is for Sega West to die/be spun off and removed entirely from Sega Japan, Sammy. I would like this to happen now while Atlus USA remains "uncontaminated". Then, once the current Sega West is dead, Atlus USA becomes Sega USA. No crossover. They get to continue being a great cultivater of a hardcore fanbase through intelligent choices, passion, and efficiency. That sounds horrible when job losses are obviously a huge factor of that, but a dying whale is a dying whale when its got what Sega West has. If you own a healthier, better shark/porpoise, slap the Sega label on that.

Of course, the fly in the ointment is you can point to FootyMan as the only success Sega can often point to. Spinning that off would be deemed crazy, but... there we go. Theres always the chance you can just tack FootyMan publishing duties onto the Atlus USA-become-Sega-USA and cut the rest of the rot off.
 
The very best thing Sega could do right now, is get Shang Tsung'ed by Nintendo.

Imagine the next gen machine that would result. They'd have to call it the OP.OG.
 
Do the Double Fine model of splitting their larger teams into smaller teams with low-risk downloadable titles. Keep making them until they find something that gains traction. Use their established IP in tandem with whatever established technology they have, but focus on clever design work.

Ofcourse this is easier said than done, but they have a huge portfolio of IP, and they squander it.

Sonic can be 2D again.
Valkyria Chronicles could be a grid based SRPG
Shenmue could be a god damn point and click adventure.

The point is none of these games require a huge investment. They just need to be WELL DESIGNED and RESPECT the IP. People appreciate that. I'd pay £15 for a downloable Valkyria Chronicles title.
 
outunderthestars said:
Yep. No easier path to success than porting unsuccessful 15 year old games to new consoles.


I guess my advice would be to stop listening to your fans. They don't want new games, they want a time machine.
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Yes, because my comment about settling lawsuits with "sweet Dreamcast port money" clearly indicates that I was giving serious advice to Sega.
 
Sega is in a weird situation because they could just keep making all of their games from resurrected IPs and do really well for the next 10 years.
 
Maligna said:
I really think paying Nintendo to make a Sega Smash Bros could go a long way toward reviving their old IPs. Didn't Fire Emblem basically get saved in North America based largely off the popularity of Marth in Smash Bros?
Click to expand...
Fire Emblem in North America didn't EXIST until Roy and Marth were in Smash Bros.

ShadiWulf said:
SEGA is doing fine on their own. They might not be releasing all the games that we want, but even if they did, that doesn't mean they'd make money.
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More like not releasing ANY of the games I want. Pretty sure I haven't bought a Sega game since 2008. Their current direction has been losing my business, going further in that direction means they'll never get it back.

They may as well be Konami at this point. That's how low they've sunk in my eyes.
 
Xav said:
Sonic The Hedgehog Returns by Retro Studios.
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or

"Sonic 3D and Knuckles" by EAD Tokyo.

...


These two things are probably much more beneficial to both the Sonic franchise and Nintendo than they are to SEGA as a whole, but I really don't care because I want 'em.
I want 'em so bad.

:P
 
let them stick to the plan they have now. it's basically what they've been doing for the last few years and resulted in some key rereleases and a few quality games.
 
Sega has some of the best PC developers out there, and their mobile game offerings seem pretty strong, so aren't they already succeeding? Sure, they might not be making what some of their nostalgic fans want out of them, but these fans don't buy enough of those kinds of games anyways. Businesswise, they seem to have a good grasp of their strengths, and they've decided to concentrate on those. Creative Assembly and Relic are filling out niches that have been unexplored in a while. I would assume that Atlus has found its niche and that they're finding ways to satisfy their fans. It seems like Sega is headed in the right direction.
 
DrROBschiz said:
Ummm actually bring games that we want to play

Localize PSO2

Remaster Skies of Arcadia

And for fucks sake give the Shenmue fans whT they want

Stop making Sonic games for a few years
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None of that sounds like it will make money.

F2P and mobile honestly does seem like a better route financially. Sonic IP is probably still their biggest alongside Miku.
 
Pound_lb003 said:
Do the Double Fine model of splitting their larger teams into smaller teams with low-risk downloadable titles. Keep making them until they find something that gains traction. Use their established IP in tandem with whatever established technology they have, but focus on clever design work.

Ofcourse this is easier said than done, but they have a huge portfolio of IP, and they squander it.

Sonic can be 2D again.
Valkyria Chronicles could be a grid based SRPG
Shenmue could be a god damn point and click adventure.

The point is none of these games require a huge investment. They just need to be WELL DESIGNED and RESPECT the IP. People appreciate that. I'd pay £15 for a downloable Valkyria Chronicles title.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad you aren't making the decisions.
 
I really don't know what I'd do as president of Sega. What I'd want to do probably wouldn't be what would work commercially. I think bringing back old franchises to instant success is a pipedream unfortunately. Not enough people care about most of them, it sucks that they don't but its true. I'm too used to seeing the Sega games I loved not selling in high enough numbers.

I'd certainly be tempted to fire the entire marketing department though. Also I don't want to see them owned by Nintendo, why would they even care about most of those franchises? Nintendo owned Sega would just mean the back catalog would be trapped on one companies platform and right now PC is the best bet for their re-release after the success of Valkyria Chronicles.
 
The Artisan said:
would making yakuza multiplatform help them?
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They already tried porting Yakuza 1 and 2 to Wii, was a massive fail on sales, so better they stay with the only place where they have a Yakuza fanbase (Playstation).

SEGA can only suceed in failing, they need a reboot from inside.
 
Release a lot more Sonic games. The gaming public can not get enough of the titles. Ensure that the games are 3D, with level design that allows for skipping large swathes of game content via the climbing of doors. Make the character edgier, perhaps with a scarf and give at least one of the characters a gun. Also, a dancing game, like Hatsune Miku.

Don't dare waste money on producing and releasing any Yakuza titles in the west. Also, ensure no Phantasy Star titles come out in the west at all and actively make sure no western audience can inject any money in any sort of Phantasy Star online economy. By keeping these titles located only in Asian areas, Asian gamer's will feel the emotional attachment to purchasing titles from these franchises, far offsetting whatever could be made by bringing the titles to the West.
 
sturgboski said:
Release a lot more Sonic games. The gaming public can not get enough of the titles. Ensure that the games are 3D, with level design that allows for skipping large swathes of game content via the climbing of doors. Make the character edgier, perhaps with a scarf and give at least one of the characters a gun. Also, a dancing game, like Hatsune Miku.

Don't dare waste money on producing and releasing any Yakuza titles in the west. Also, ensure no Phantasy Star titles come out in the west at all and actively make sure no western audience can inject any money in any sort of Phantasy Star online economy. By keeping these titles located only in Asian areas, Asian gamer's will feel the emotional attachment to purchasing titles from these franchises, far offsetting whatever could be made by bringing the titles to the West.
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How did Hideki Okamura get on here?
 
Arcade/Consoles
Create a virtual arcade plaza on the new consoles a la Nintendo Land and host all their 3D arcade classics there in a cross-platform online competition.

Toys
They can partner up with Nintendo and unleash Sega Amiibo. I will be the first one to get Temjin, Jacky and Nights.

Steam
On PC, I think they're making great progress here. They should release all their Saturn and Dreamcast games on it.

iOS and Android
Phantasy Star Online, Dragon Force MMO, Grandia
 
Aenima said:
They already tried porting Yakuza 1 and 2 to Wii, was a massive fail on sales, so better they stay with the only place where they have a Yakuza fanbase (Playstation).

SEGA can only suceed in failing, they need a reboot from inside.
Click to expand...

I thought even there, sales have been dismal for them.
 
I'm still salty we never got that skies of arcadia port they teased.

I don't think I'll ever get to play that game...
 
Theognosis said:
Arcade/Consoles
Create a virtual arcade plaza on the new consoles a la Nintendo Land and host all their 3D arcade classics there in a cross-platform online competition.

Toys
They can partner up with Nintendo and unleash Sega Amiibo. I will be the first one to get Temjin, Jacky and Nights.

Steam
On PC, I think they're making great progress here. They should release all their Saturn and Dreamcast games on it.

iOS and Android
Phantasy Star Online, Dragon Force MMO, Grandia
Click to expand...

Huh, what's Grandia doing here?
 
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