[AngelComa]

DigitalDuck, on 31 January 2015 - 05:23 PM, said:

Dark Sonic, on 31 January 2015 - 04:48 PM, said:

It's true, I don't know how to run a business. However you cannot say that Sega does. Not even talking about Sammy or anything, just pure Sega home entertainment. When was the last time they made a really good move? Had to have been sometime pre Saturn.

Why does "running a business" need to involve "making a really good move"? Last time I checked, running a business involved turning profits, and SEGA have been managing that (albeit somewhat tentatively at times).

According to the dude on our site that does all the financial reports. For Q1 2015:
http://segabits.com/...-and-explained/

Basically Persona Ultimax has sold well, Isolation had good pre-order numbers and PSO2 has been doing great digitally for SEGA Japan. Notice not much talk about SEGA America's success... making this move actually make more sense in context (considering this report was before the Sonic Boom launch).

[Yeow]

AngelComa, on 31 January 2015 - 04:00 PM, said:

I don't get why people think 'reinforce' means 'make more bad sonic games'. This the meaning of the word.

"Strengthen or support, especially with additional personnel or material."

Probably because the last time they claimed the wanted to "increase the value of the [Sonic] brand" back in 2010, it only amounted to Colors (released that year) and Generations (released the following year) before Sega decided to send the series down the tubes. Again.

I would also be more inclined to believe Sega wanted to reinforce the brand in a positive context if they actually had a direction for the series in the first place. We got the Nintendo-exclusive Sonic partnership, the Boom sub-series (which they had to stress was not a reboot of the franchise in order to not split the base even further than it did), and the live-action movie all announced within the span of two years. The Nintendo-exclusive partnership bombed horribly. Sonic Boom did even worse, only the television series has seen some success. The live-action movie, given the history of videogame film adaptations in general, the track record of the production company making it, and the general incompetence of how the film's distributor handles its films franchises/adaptations/remakes, inarguably looks to aiming the same direction.

Look at the mountaintop of concepts and ideas the series has pitched and then trashed over the years after Sega realizes they screwed it up. Attempts to steer the series into mature storytelling in the mid-2000s, the Storybook series, a revival of the Classic Sonic series, all of the shit Lost World changed and introduced to the series (the majority of which likely won't be reused in the forthcoming game, given Endri's comment of Sonic Team working with a prototype that doesn't follow on Lost World's or Unleashed's playstyles). And given how Boom is essentially the apex of the children-oriented/humor-focuses angle of the recent slew of game starting with Colors, I wouldn't be shocked if that too was dropped with the next game. It's anyone's guess on whether these decisions for Sonic are by Sonic Team's hand or Sega's hand by this point.

Unless Sega reinforcing the series means they go back to the drawing board and actually fucking think on how they want to handle the series on a pure strategic standpoint, I see no reason to expect anything different. It's all just recycled buzzword spewing to me by this point until we actually see what happens.

EDIT: By the by, I only predicted that reinforcing the brand would lead to more bad games being made, never outright claimed Sega "reinforcing the brand" meant they were making more bad games. Definition or otherwise.

This post has been edited by Yeow: 01 February 2015 - 02:40 PM

[AngelComa]

Yeow, on 01 February 2015 - 01:52 PM, said:

AngelComa, on 31 January 2015 - 04:00 PM, said:

I don't get why people think 'reinforce' means 'make more bad sonic games'. This the meaning of the word.

"Strengthen or support, especially with additional personnel or material."

Probably because the last time they claimed the wanted to "increase the value of the [Sonic] brand" back in 2010, it only amounted to Colors (released that year) and Generations (released the following year) before Sega decided to send the series down the tubes. Again.

I would also be more inclined to believe Sega wanted to reinforce the brand in a positive context if they actually had a direction for the series in the first place. We got the Nintendo-exclusive Sonic partnership, the Boom sub-series (which they had to stress was not a reboot of the franchise in order to not split the base even further than it did), and the live-action movie all announced within the span of two years. The Nintendo-exclusive partnership bombed horribly. Sonic Boom did even worse, only the television series has seen some success. The live-action movie, given the history of videogame film adaptations in general, the track record of the production company making it, and the general incompetence of how the film's distributor handles its films franchises/adaptations/remakes, inarguably looks to aiming the same direction.

Look at the mountaintop of concepts and ideas the series has pitched and then trashed over the years after Sega realizes they screwed it up. Attempts to steer the series into mature storytelling in the mid-2000s, the Storybook series, a revival of the Classic Sonic series, all of the shit Lost World changed and introduced to the series (the majority of which likely won't be reused in the forthcoming game, given Endri's comment of Sonic Team working with a prototype that doesn't follow on Lost World's or Unleashed's playstyles). And given how Boom is essentially the apex of the children-oriented/humor-focuses angle of the recent slew of game starting with Colors, I wouldn't be shocked if that too was dropped with the next game. It's anyone's guess on whether these decisions for Sonic are by Sonic Team's hand or Sega's hand by this point.

Unless Sega reinforcing the series means they go back to the drawing board and actually fucking think on how they want to handle the series on a pure strategic standpoint, I see no reason to expect anything different. It's all just recycled buzzword spewing to me by this point until we actually see what happens.

EDIT: By the by, I only predicted that reinforcing the brand would lead to more bad games being made, never outright claimed Sega "reinforcing the brand" meant they were making more bad games. Definition or otherwise.

So you agree that Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, SEGA of Japan handled games where good and you dislike Sonic Boom which was handled by SEGA of America; which according to this press release will not be handling in-house projects for retail anymore. So you are fine with the new changes enforced by SEGA?

They aren't going to go back to the drawing board, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations outsold both Lost World and Boom by a huge margin. You can't reinforce something your going to break down and start over again and I disagree that after they said it last time they 'started over', what they did with Generations was literally reinforce the franchise by taking fan feedback from Sonic Unleashed, tweaking it to make all fans happy. Two sonic idea is back, but instead of a beat 'em up stage, they changed it to classic Sonic and the 2D/3D camera makes its return.

Personally I'm more interested in how SEGA will revive other IPs and if they will make sequels to franchises I like more than 'another Sonic game'. I like Sonic, its great, its just like you said, we have had enough. I think they should focus on expanding their old IPs through games like Transformed. Still appeals to Sonic fans, but a nice change from a 'Sonic game' but still getting those 'Sanic bux'.

[Yeow]

AngelComa, on 02 February 2015 - 03:46 AM, said:

So you agree that Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, SEGA of Japan handled games where good and you dislike Sonic Boom which was handled by SEGA of America; which according to this press release will not be handling in-house projects for retail anymore. So you are fine with the new changes enforced by SEGA?

They aren't going to go back to the drawing board, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations outsold both Lost World and Boom by a huge margin. You can't reinforce something your going to break down and start over again and I disagree that after they said it last time they 'started over', what they did with Generations was literally reinforce the franchise by taking fan feedback from Sonic Unleashed, tweaking it to make all fans happy. Two sonic idea is back, but instead of a beat 'em up stage, they changed it to classic Sonic and the 2D/3D camera makes its return.

My previous post wasn't specifically referring to either the Japanese or American branch of Sega though, I was talking about Sega as a whole. I've never actually stated my personal preferences on the aforementioned games you listed but I'll have a go at it anyway-Colors and Generations I found to be good on the gameplay/soundtrack/graphical standpoints but lacking in other areas, Boom (the initiative as a whole) I don't really care for outside of the television series.

I didn't simply say "going back to the drawing board", I followed it up with the context of Sega re-establishing on how they want to strategically handle the series. That's where they have to go back to the drawing board with-they need to establish what makes the series popular, deliver without going overboard with their finances, and stick to that plan. The aforementioned prototype Sonic Team was working on doesn't follow from either Lost World's or Unleashed's playstyles. It's because of that, Lost World's existence as a whole following the Unleashed playstyle's reception, Sonic Boom's existence in general given how splintered the series already is on many aspects of the franchise, the whole Nintendo-exclusive partnership (to the chagrin of non-Nintendo owning Sonic fans), and the live-action movie in the works does not instill confidence in me that such a strategy is being used with the series. Again, all of these changes/additions to series were announced within the span of the past two years.

It seems more like the so called "direction"/"strategy" being used with Sonic is to have blindfolded executives take turns throwing darts at a fragile window to see if they will stick.

This post has been edited by Yeow: 02 February 2015 - 09:14 AM

[RubyEclipse]

Heard the news last week, and was up all night over it. SOA was the start of so many adventures, and countless memories.

More than that, though, it was the people working there who really made it special.

May they all find the respect and the loyalty they deserve at their next stops, wherever that may be.

[Jason]

Shame I never got to see the inside of the San Francisco office. I stood outside of it in December 2012 as a stop on my way to Laguna Hills to visit my brother.

Aaaand the RubyGhosts are here.

[Falk]

Pretty much :|

[JaxTH]

RubyEclipse, on 05 February 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

Heard the news last week, and was up all night over it. SOA was the start of so many adventures, and countless memories.

More than that, though, it was the people working there who really made it special.

May they all find the respect and the loyalty they deserve at their next stops, wherever that may be.

>Administrator

I see the higher ups are letting you into the secret porn stash.

[TimmiT]

JaxTH, on 05 February 2015 - 11:22 PM, said:

RubyEclipse, on 05 February 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

Heard the news last week, and was up all night over it. SOA was the start of so many adventures, and countless memories.

More than that, though, it was the people working there who really made it special.

May they all find the respect and the loyalty they deserve at their next stops, wherever that may be.

>Administrator

I see the higher ups are letting you into the secret porn stash.

You don't need to be an admin to see that.

[Nova]

TimmiT, on 06 February 2015 - 03:32 AM, said:

JaxTH, on 05 February 2015 - 11:22 PM, said:

RubyEclipse, on 05 February 2015 - 10:52 PM, said:

Heard the news last week, and was up all night over it. SOA was the start of so many adventures, and countless memories.

More than that, though, it was the people working there who really made it special.

May they all find the respect and the loyalty they deserve at their next stops, wherever that may be.

>Administrator

I see the higher ups are letting you into the secret porn stash.

You don't need to be an admin to see that.

Please, sir, may I have directions?

Sad news, in all seriousness - as others have said, I can't see this being the end for Sonic games on consoles. I can't say I'm sad about any other games in general, but it's the people who didn't deserve it who are going to suffer the hardest and why I'm most upset. I guess it's also partly just seeing Sega do so badly after they were kings of the market (at least over here) during my childhood.

[Ayu Tsukimiya]

Xeal, on 30 January 2015 - 10:28 PM, said:

TheKazeblade, on 30 January 2015 - 10:11 PM, said:

I don't act like I know the logistics behind these changes, but what is clear is Sega's leaders are incompetent and have run what's left of the company to the ground. That tumor has to be cut off for Sega to have a chance at being healthy again.

Pretty much this.

SEGA has had poor management for the longest time and due to this have kept digging themselves into a deeper hole. I'm practically reiterating that TheKazeblade said but I feel that this point needs to be emphasized. The higher ups at SEGA need to go. The company needs new management. I've been tired of how this company has been working since the day I started to pay attention to stuff like this (2007). SEGA is broken to an extent, and it needs to be fixed. Is this re-localization a bad thing? Yes and no. Good people lost jobs and it shows that the company (at least SoA) is having problems and they need to figure themselves out, and they have addressed that. I just hope that now they will actually look in the mirror and figure out what the devil it is they need to really do.

This is pretty much the only way I can see Sega recovering from their downward spiral. It feels like a constant "one step forward, two steps back" situation with them at this point.

[DigitalDuck]

Nova, on 06 February 2015 - 03:51 AM, said:

Please, sir, may I have directions? />

Traitor! Traitor!

Now I'll have to be the only normal member at the barcade.

(Hehehe, "normal".)

[Nova]

DigitalDuck, on 06 February 2015 - 10:46 AM, said:

Nova, on 06 February 2015 - 03:51 AM, said:

Please, sir, may I have directions? />

Traitor! Traitor!

Now I'll have to be the only normal member at the barcade. />

(Hehehe, "normal".)

There's Neowl too! :P (Besides which I'll only be writing front page posts, I'll still be trying to earn my 'oldbie' title at the barcades I reckon, if only for tradition)

This post has been edited by Nova: 06 February 2015 - 03:48 PM

[rata]

Nova, on 06 February 2015 - 03:51 AM, said:

Please, sir, may I have directions?

Sad news, in all seriousness - as others have said, I can't see this being the end for Sonic games on consoles. I can't say I'm sad about any other games in general, but it's the people who didn't deserve it who are going to suffer the hardest and why I'm most upset. I guess it's also partly just seeing Sega do so badly after they were kings of the market (at least over here) during my childhood.

(last sentence) Actually, I think that's the only reason why we keep holding on Sega after all the disasters it made. Because when you go from top to bottom in what, 20 years? then you're definetly not a good company. It looks like they have a good equipment but driven by monkeys, I know that and Im not even following an enterprise managment carrer.

[Jason]

Crossposting from the Sonic 3 campaign:

Jason, on 13 February 2015 - 11:47 AM, said:

Sega's restructuring includes merging Sega Networks and the rest of the consumer division into "Sega Games". Sega really no longer stands for Service Games anymore, because this would otherwise be as redundant as "ATM Machine".