Sega Lays off 73 People

Ah yes, Tom Kalinske was a marketing genius! I think the fact that he was gone around the time of the Saturns launch speaks volumes.

Regardless of who's on the team, an American perspective is vitally important. It was an American perspective that contributed in a big way to their success in the early days. Looking at most of the stuff they've been putting out for the past 10 years, it's like they don't give a shit that there's a whole other world out there that doesn't like all their freaky anime/Japanesey type stuff.

 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6259992.html <-- Mike Hayes interview; I'll just cut straight to the crap:

Unfortunately for Mike, he has failed to keep his company's bullshit straight (big suprise) because an official response at the time of SRS' closure claimed "The decision is part of a review of Sega's Western Development Studios to ensure that each studio is a profitable entity in its own right, and unfortunately the Sega Racing Studio's 5 year plan would not result in a successful return for the Sega business moving forward." It was a money thing, like it usually is, not the "same" as whatever it is that's done in Secret Level (which Mike makes sound vaugely like "hurr we ran out of ideas").

And this concludes my every-few-months reminder to you all that anything Sega of America says about anything anymore is utterly irrelevant to whatever is going on.

SoA intially hit the roof when Mark Cerny showed them Oshima's character designs for Sonic 1, and threatened all sorts of bullshit ranging from dramatic changes that they insisted be made and instituting rules on what was "appropriate" and oversight to stop anything like it from happening again. SoJ (or at least someone important) presumably overruled them and that was that. We got lucky, thank you very much.

 

This. You can thank Sega of America for this:



I'll keep my Japanese-styled Sonic, thank you very much.

 

That is NOT what I meant at all. (also I messed up, it was Mark Cerny I was thinking of)

http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id...%20Mark%20Cerny

 

Oh, okay, sorry. I see what you mean now.

But still, you have SoA to blame for ol' Ass-Face.

 

I no longer want to work for Sega. It is official now. Several great video game ideas I had the could have potentially saved the company are now useless. Fuck Sega of Japan. Fuck them to hell. If you are reading this now Sega of Japan all I have to say is: *middle finger*

 

There goes Sega!

In this economy, EVERY company is restructuring. It shouldn't be a big surprise that one of the "lower-end" game companies like Sega is one of them.

 

I know how you feel, man. Everything's gone to hell with this company.

 

What really hurts the most is that it's one of my favorite childhood companies doing this. The company needs to be put to rest. Any former semblance the company once stood for is now a memory. Any respect for the company I once had is gone now. The company needs to give it up. Dying a slow death is wrong.

 

Quit being such a fucking drama queen. I sure as hell wouldn't shut down a company just because a few screwballs who think they can do better think poorly of them.

 

@cornelab Fuck you. I'll be a drama queen whenever I choose. :v: You aren't an admin or a moderator so what gives you the authority and audacity to tell me what to do anyways?

Seriously, this fucking pisses me off. It makes me feel that Sega of Japan has no respect for the American public because they are racist against Americans. I had a dream and it will never come to light. Of course I'm going to be a drama queen about this. Of course I'm going to bitch about it. There is no point for me to be working for SOA if once I get in I'm only able to make downloadable titles for poor quality shitty platforms or some stupid little games for the 360, Wii, or PS3. Those games never really get noticed aside from Sonic 4 but that doesn't count in this current conversation.

Yeah, I'm fucking giving up on a pointless dream. It was just a dream, a fantasy, an illusion. It was nothing more. It will never be nothing more than that. So go ahead and say I'm causing drama. Go ahead and say "save the drama for your mama." Unfortunately, you fail to realize that this is really tough for me. This probably hurts me more than anyone else. I don't want to be a video game designer anymore. I don't want to enjoy seeing other people play the games I would have worked so hard to develop. I never had very good skills in that department anyways.

You may think that there is drama involved but how would you feel if your dreams and future goals were constantly taken away from you at the last minute's notice? I'm sure you'd feel pretty bad. How do you think I feel? It happens to me constantly.

 

No, you won't. Shut the fuck up and stop being such a drama queen.

 

Yes, because a company based in Japan that shifts focus away from its American branch is RACIST because of it.

There's a simple solution, Glisp. If you still want to work for SEGA, go to Japan. I'll see you there someday.

EDIT: Post += Quote

 

Okay. You are an admin. I was only saying that because he had no administrative powers

Edit:

@ Digital Duck Also yeah, I don't want to move all the way to Japan and I sure as hell won't enjoy moving to Britain. (Not because I hate brits. I love you guys. I just don't like the idea of moving out my country permanently. )

Although, it doesn't sound like a bad idea on second thought. We'll see. I may not be interested in game development anymore though by then.

 

The decision to refocus the US branch on downloadables is being blown way out of proportion.

Look at Sega's current assets. It owns a large in-house development team in Japan, and Europe has control of two important development teams in The Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive (scoff all you want at the latter, Football Manager still makes a fuckton of money). Additionally, Europe liases with contractors such as Sumo Digital (ASR, Sega Superstars Tennis, AM2 ports) and Rebellion (Alien vs. Predator).

Now consider what is actually in the US. The answer is fuck and all. Secret Level is gone, Sonic Team USA absorbed back into Japan. The branch still liases with contractors like Backbone, but that's largely for downloadable games. At this point, it makes a great deal of sense to specialise each regional branch. Don't bother to cry about the lack of an American focus - Sega hasn't made any games for exclusively American tastes since Visual Concepts was sold anyway. Games for Western tastes will still be made by Sega, they'll just be made in Europe.

 

Well I'm no corporate mastermind, but if that's what Sega reckons is best, then what can we say if we have no corporate experience, in the end, sega is a company, not a magical gaming factory as some people like to think it is.

EDIT: Post Below FTW :D

 

US branch hasn't done anything remarkable for years and the only team they have is Secret Level, which kind of sucks balls and has underperformed for years. All they did was Iron Man and Golden Axe. The first might've been a commercial hit of some sorts, but the second was badly received and didn't sell. The problem isn't the team itself, it's people wanting from them more than they can give. Restructuring the US branch and making them work on simpler things seems like a good option to save time, effort and money to me. When the market picks up again, then SOA can move to adquire new studios or hire talented people and reinforce the unit there. Contrarily to what people think here, SOA doesn't have any muscle to keep on this race. Not anymore. History won't make them sell develop and sell games.

UK branch has Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive, which are stable and lucrative studios. Maybe americans can't care less, but Football Manager and Total War are massive commercial hits in Europe, which are always well received. They've also developed some games outside of that, I liked Viking for example. It was time to give them a bit more freedom and let them explore new territories, they deserve it.

I'm surprised this wasn't done sooner. I was counting on US geting a smack the day Hayes stepped in as the west president. Guys, don't diss on Hayes either. SOE was nothing before he came to power and now they have two long time blockbusters in Europe under their belt, and they work with several good independent studios as well, like Sumo. SOA will eventually get on it's feet again. He's probably the best president they had for many, many years.

Sumo is independent. Still Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive have done a lot. More than Secret Level anyway.

Pretty much this, yes.

 

To be fair to Secret Level, they were also probably not treated too well, if the question at the bottom of this page is any indication.

 

I'm curious, though, what's left of SoA? Admittedly I know fuck all about what is going on and seeing 73 people getting laid off is never good, but I can't really tell what's going on here.