[TimmiT]

Quote

Sega Learned About Making Quality Games From Atlus, Aim To Regain Trust From Players

Aside from acquiring Atlus, we haven't seen Sega make a splash in a while, but Sega CEO and president Hajime Satomi recently spoke with Famitsu on what they've learned from Atlus along with some of their plans for the future. [Thanks, Hachima]

During the interview, Famitsu asks Satomi about his thoughts on the current home console market.

“It may look rough if you look a it from a Japanese standpoint, but on a global scale the PlayStation 4 has a record-selling history, so I believe there's a good opportunity there,” says Satomi.

He goes on to say that he also feels good about the Asian market, where the Chinese version of Yakuza Zero had sold much better than expected.

“As far as the Western market goes, we learned a lot from Atlus,” continues Satomi. “If we can make a title with proper quality, I believe there's a good chance for it to do well even in the West for players that like to play Japanese games.”

Next, Famitsu asks what are they're looking to focus on more when it comes to home console games.

“I've been talking to the employees about how we should start putting serious consideration into quality from this point on,” responds Satomi. “Especially in North America and Europe, where it's always been more of a focus on schedules, I believe that if we can't maintain quality, it would be better to not release anything at all.”

Satomi continues, “We did our best to build a relationship of mutual trust with older fans of Sega, but looking back, there've been some titles that have partially betrayed that [trust] in the past 10 years.”

Famitsu asks if it's safe to expect a high quality title to be released sometime in the second half of this year.

“Since we're seriously considering quality, I can't make that promise for the time being, but I believe we will announce something for home console at Tokyo Game Show,” says Satomi.

Finally, Famitsu asks about what more can we look forward to in the future.

“Sega in the ‘90s was known for its ‘brand, but after that, we've lost trust, and we were left with nothing but ‘reputation. For this reason, we'd like to win back the customers’ trust, and become a ‘brand,’ once again.”

http://www.siliconer...t-from-players/

I'm surprised to see them say this. This could mean that they're going to focus more on quality from now on, and that they'll release more of their games in the west thanks to Atlus showing them that niche games can sell well enough here. Which would explain why they're releasing Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax here.

This post has been edited by TimmiT: 20 July 2015 - 12:43 AM

[Mr Lange]

Quote

Satomi continues, “We did our best to build a relationship of mutual trust with older fans of Sega, but looking back, there've been some titles that have partially betrayed that [trust] in the past 10 years.”

"PARTIALLY"

"WE DID OUR BEST"

This post has been edited by Mr Lange: 07 July 2015 - 09:37 AM

[Blue Blood]

Too little too late. I'll believe it when I see it.

The guys at Sonic Team specifically said something similar when Black Knight was first announced. And, well... yeah. It's just kind of been SEGA's mantra for years. "Fan aren't happy, and we're looking at why that is. Listen as we tell you exactly what you want to hear and proceed to improve on absolutely nothing."

This post has been edited by Blue Blood: 07 July 2015 - 10:14 AM

[Ezequiel.M]

Finally! />

Nah, while Sega definitely has been fucked up the past decade, they have made quite a few nice games subjectively speaking. (e.g. Sonic 4)

This post has been edited by Ezequiel.M: 07 July 2015 - 04:04 PM

[ICEknight]

Ezequiel.M, on 07 July 2015 - 09:38 AM, said:

Nah, while Sega defintely has been fucked up the past decade, they have made quite a few nice games subjectively speaking. (e.g. Sonic 4)

Sonic 4 was a disgrace that should be retconned with a good, truly retro game.

This post has been edited by ICEknight: 07 July 2015 - 10:13 AM

[DigitalDuck]

Really? This again?

[Caniad Bach]

Wow, I must admit that I'm genuinely surprised to see this said. It's nice to see some humility and I really hope that they make a genuine attempt to do quality from now on.

It now makes even more sense why they didn't show up at E3, It sounds like they may have thrown pretty much everything out to start again. Obviously the past few years of critical failures leading to commercial ones have showed SEGA that it's not the 2000s any more and they need to adapt.

But just saying sorry isn't enough, they need to prove they can do better.

[Black Squirrel]

So hey guys, Sonic Heroes was "quality" because it was released eleven years ago!


I've never cared much for what Atlus do though (partly because most of their games haven't made it to the UK). I would hate to think that "quality" means "let's slowly translate some of our Shining/Phantasy Star games into English for the niche crowd" - that's not what the Sega brand was famous for.

This post has been edited by Black Squirrel: 07 July 2015 - 10:51 AM

[SpeedStarTMQ]

Really taken aback at the statement made. I was ranting on about SEGA recently, so maybe someone up there heard me.

If they can really focus on quality and not "schedules" then I think they might start to regain our trust. Now they've said this though, it really is make or break for them. They've been forgiven too many times for utter shit, and they need to really start building back up their quality brand.

[Icewarrior]

Meh, to me it's all talk!
Isn't the "oh we're gonna focus on quality and earn our fans trust back" a common thing to say when things aren't getting too hot, one they already pulled off in the past?

Honestly, I don't like being negative at a time when it's easy to be so but I'd recommend people not to take this seriously and actually wait for proof of any quality commitment.

[Mykonos]

Icewarrior, on 07 July 2015 - 03:01 PM, said:

Meh, to me it's all talk!
Isn't the "oh we're gonna focus on quality and earn our fans trust back" a common thing to say when things aren't getting too hot, one they already pulled off in the past?

Honestly, I don't like being negative at a time when it's easy to be so but I'd recommend people not to take this seriously and actually wait for proof of any quality commitment.

Though I'm also squarely in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp, people online have pointed out that this is coming straight from the man up top himself, usually we hear this thing from the American and European branches who don't have as much sway on things up top. That said...still skeptical.

[TimmiT]

Really the main thing to take away from this is that SEGA might try to localize games more like how Atlus is doing it. And if you're not familiar with them: Atlus does English localizations of every Japanese game they make, but only puts out a limited supply. So people in the US who would want to buy these games are still be able to get them.

And you can tell that SEGA's kinda been going in this direction. While the Yakuza 5 localization seems to be something Sony pushed them to do, they've also been releasing Miku games here and are localizing Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax of all games.

Also, let's be fair here. Aside from Sonic stuff, SEGA hasn't been doing too bad when it comes to the quality of the games they put out. Alien Isolation, the Hatsune Miku games, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Yakuza Zero, the Total War games etc.. The problem seems to be more with lack of interest or the games not being localized.

Speaking of which, you all better play those Yakuza games. I mean, you get to punch a tiger in the face in the second one

This post has been edited by TimmiT: 07 July 2015 - 03:59 PM

[Ezequiel.M]

ICEknight, on 07 July 2015 - 10:13 AM, said:

Sonic 4 was a disgrace that should be retconned with a good, truly retro game.

I don't think it's THAT bad. It was nice they made a retro-themed Sonic game mixing up modern elements. There were way worse Sonic games since then (e.g. Sonic Boom, which is a real disgrace to the franchise and the company as a whole subjectively speaking)

[Yeow]

"Sega is doubling down on quality!

Sega is releasing a Sonic game that has the quality of the originals!

Sega is removing low-scoring games from retail shelves and digital stores in an initiative to boost quality!"

We've all seen and heard this same song and dance before.

TimmiT, on 07 July 2015 - 03:57 PM, said:

Also, let's be fair here. Aside from Sonic stuff, SEGA hasn't been doing too bad when it comes to the quality of the games they put out. Alien Isolation, the Hatsune Miku games, Puyo Puyo Tetris, Yakuza Zero, the Total War games etc.. The problem seems to be more with lack of interest or the games not being localized.

Which makes it a bit hard to remember those games even exist due to said lack of promotion or localization. Its akin to mentioning all of the good games Sega greenlit through Platinum Games, while at the same time remembering how awful Sega were at giving a fair amount of them any credible marketing. To say nothing of Bayonetta 2 put on the chopping block, while Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric going gold months before release!...

Ezequiel.M, on 07 July 2015 - 04:09 PM, said:

ICEknight, on 07 July 2015 - 10:13 AM, said:

Sonic 4 was a disgrace that should be retconned with a good, truly retro game.

I don't think it's THAT bad. It was nice they made a retro-themed Sonic game mixing up modern elements. There were way worse Sonic games since then (e.g. Sonic Boom, which is a real disgrace to the franchise and the company as a whole subjectively speaking)

"This game is a slap in the face, but hey, at least its better than a game that kicks you in the bollox!"

That and nah, I'd argue Sonic 4 IS that bad. If it was so good, please tell me how much you're enjoying Sonic 4 Episode III. Let alone any new classic Sonic game whatsoever.

This post has been edited by Yeow: 07 July 2015 - 05:12 PM

[DigitalDuck]

Yeow, on 07 July 2015 - 05:10 PM, said:

That and nah, I'd argue Sonic 4 IS that bad. If it was so good, please tell me how much you're enjoying Sonic 4 Episode III. Let alone any new classic Sonic game whatsoever.

1995-2009:

"Sonic 3 IS that bad. If it was so good, tell me how much you're enjoying Sonic 4. Let alone any new classic Sonic game whatsoever."