SEGA Exits Console Video Game Market

Myke · Feb 27, 2015

From Japan Today article Fans mourn Sega's exit from console video game market, news that "Sega Sammy Holdings, the parent company that now controls one-time video gaming pioneer Sega, is looking to seriously overhaul its structure and business operations, [...] but one of the first steps seems to be Sega ditching the console video game business to focus on what it considers the areas of biggest growth, mobile and online PC games." What this means for the arcade business and for the home VFer, remains to be seen.

El_Twelve · Mar 6, 2015

The article referenced kind of overexaggerates things a bit.

Sega has NOT announced that they are pulling out of the console market. They have announced that they are shifting their focus from the arcade amusement industry to phone and online gaming. They also mention possible expansion into the resort industry.

300 jobs are going from Sega Sammy holdings, and 120 of those will be from Sega itself.

Bad news for us is that due to the shrinking arcade business, Sega is reducing their arcade game lineup and discontinuing or scaling down certain services. (no specifics given) They are looking for voluntary retirements from this division, and some development staff will be moved to the mobile/online gaming division.

Sega of America's head office is moving to Los Angeles, and the San Fransisco office will be closed. In addition, Sega of America is looking to strengthen their merchandising arm and Sonic franchise arm.

Here's a link to Sega Sammy's press release in Japanese for those interested. Sales are forecast to only be down by a small percentage, but operating income forecast is down dramatically, probably due to scaling back of the arcade division. Console market is NOT MENTIONED other than restructuring of US offices.

http://www.segasammy.co.jp/japanese/pdf/release/20150130_segareform_j_final.pdf

El_Twelve · Mar 6, 2015

Reading Sega Sammy press releases and stuff.

Here's the press release from above in English.
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/20150130_segareform_e_final.pdf

And here's the 3rd Quarter financial report.
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/2015_3q_presentation_e_final.pdf

Those of you who see Sega's releasing a new arcade game in the last quarter of the financial year, don't get excited. it's this - http://chunithm.sega.jp/

RawrCookie · Mar 29, 2015

BLACKSTAR said: ↑

I also forgot to mention that SEGA has and always had (since the Saturn days) suffered from nationalistic mentality. The stereotypical problem of Japanese companies that's been known and seen time and again by various jp companies is this: "Japan comes first, everywhere else is bonus". SEGA is the epitome of that type of company, and things haven't changed much since the mid 90's.

SEGA only really cares and caters toward Japan. Which is quite ironic, since SEGA (an acronym for "Service Games") was first founded as post-WW2 American company in Japan by Americans; as well as the facts that the reason that SEGA became big in the first place was because of the US, Europe and the rest of the world (Brazil is a great example) buying their titles and systems (they always had a hard time selling non-arcade products to Japanese). If you think about it, SEGA was always at its best when it catered to, or at least worked hard to include, western audiences. Sonic always was big in the west, not so much in Japan. I mean c'mon, look at him. He's red, white, and blue (that was no accident).

But ever since the 32x days, SEGA has always had a long and storied history of ignoring the very customer base that made them a real player to begin with (the West) and focused on Japan, to relatively mediocre results. They even ignored and stripped SEGA of America of their power and influence several times in the past: whether its blowing off the 32-bit gen hardware proposals (on TWO occasions) of the mid 90's SoA President Tom Kalinske, in which that very same technology would end up creating the PS1 and N64 (the systems that ended up killing SEGA as a hardware manufacturer, before PS2 put the final nail in the coffin), or more recently, Sega of Japan turning SoA basically into a warehouse and digital-only distributor.

As a result, they successfully alienated their own source of funding (western audiences) in favor of reaching an audience they were never really built for reaching (japanese audiences). The console video game industry is currently the BIGGEST its EVER been in history -- why can't SEGA make money in it? Why are they distancing themselves from consoles now? Because in Japan, consoles are on the decline; Japan now is all about cell phone games. See the reason for the restructure now? Which makes no sense, since Japan represents around 10% of the gaming market now (rather than 50% during the early and mid 2000's)

Their only big successes in Japan really were 80's and early 90's arcade games, the Virtua Fighter series, the Yakuza series, Initial D, and mech games like Border Break and probably Virtua On. Other than that, of all of their titles released throughout the years, that's really it for their huge breakout jp games. And had they actually invested in themselves by marketing toward western audiences for those very same games, SEGA would have made even more money.

But yeah, being a SEGA fan, especially in the west, is like watching a loved one suffering through a terminal illness.
Click to expand...

before i was not caring about the company who own any game i like but now it's the first thing i see to know what will be the game fate.

def · Mar 29, 2015

Is there still a chance of a new VF game or even a ported version of an older one?

oneida · Mar 29, 2015

def said: ↑

Is there still a chance of a new VF game or even a ported version of an older one?
Click to expand...

Yes.

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SEGA Exits Console Video Game Market

Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

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SEGA Exits Console Video Game Market

Myke Administrator Staff Member Content Manager Kage

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