The Future is Looking Bright for Sega Fans (by Aramonde)

[Original_Name]

This is not to ignore the ridiculousness of the company lately regarding Phantasy Star Online 2, Yakuza 5, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and PlatinumGames, but it does suggest that the company is making the right connections to highlight the Sega we love from within the nebulous bureaucracy of Sammy.

In an interview with Famitsu, Naoya Tsurumi, the chief operating officer of Sega-Sammy, has expressed an interest in granting Atlus access to Sega's enormous list of dormant IP's, specifically name-dropping Sakura Wars(!), Space Channel 5(!!), and Jet Set Radio(!!!). Had it simply been Atlus expressing an interest that would be one thing, but to have the chief operating officer of Sega-Sammy acknowledge the abundance of under-utilized IP's and sharing that the company is offering a high-caliber developer access to them in hopes of expansion is an extremely exciting prospect. Now, how about Panzer Dragoon, Streets of Rage, and Shining Force? Also, this is totally going too far, but I would certainly love it if a new Space Channel 5 were to bring Tetsuya Mizuguchi back into the industry.

http://gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=217898/

Sony are making public announcements that they are seriously considering aiding in the localization of recent Yakuza titles and the continuation of the Shenmue series in any way possible due to the enormous amounts of fan requests.

http://kotaku.com/sonys-giant-list-of-v ... 1463345943

Mark Cerny, former Sega employee and now lead architect of the PlayStation 4, is going to act as the live translator for Yu Suzuki at a Shenmue retrospective at the 2014 Game Developers Conference.

http://www.gdconf.com/news/yu_suzuki_re ... e_in_.html

[Aramonde]

YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!! j/k

I was just about to submit a thread about this but decided to check and see if any else made one in the time i was typing mine. Thanks alot -_-

Here's some games they could do

Phantasy Star
Skies of Arcadia
Shenmue
Shining Force
Valkyria Chronicles
Jet Set Radio
Panzer Dragoon Saga

Edit: Awwww that was nice of you to do, but you didn't need too.

[Original_Name]

Alright, alright. I fixed the title for you.

I'd agree with all of those(!) except for Phantasy Star. When a group of developers explicitly says "Okay, that's it. No more of this series", I think it should be respected. Obviously that's a somewhat questionable point considering that the spin-off has taken on a life of its own, but I respect the teams at Sega for not making direct changes to a storyline that declared itself finished back in 1993. Phantasy Star Nova might change that, though.

[brunoafh]

I heard about this, but I really don't expect much to come from it.

Could just be my pessimism, but I am absolutely not expecting new developments from Shenmue, Yakuza, or any Sega franchises. Sega simply does not care about its fans in that regard (especially us filthy gaijins and our disgusting money), and profit is #1 to them, this has been made abundantly clear and is not going to change. I also highly doubt Atlus is going to step up to the plate and suddenly start producing titles from ancient franchises or taking up monstrous projects like Yakuza 5.

In other words, the future looks no different for Sega fans imo.

[Original_Name]

Oh, but we have to get ourselves overly excited about the prospects of a dead company and set ourselves up for yet another entirely avoidable disappointment as though we developed a terrible neurosis following the dissolution of the Dreamcast. If we didn't do this, we wouldn't be Sega fans!

I'm not so sure that Atlus doesn't have an interest in older franchises -- they produced remakes of Double Dragon, River City Ransom, and Ys, while re-releasing and remaking several of their older properties throughout the years. Sega's distaste for western markets is troubling, though -- I can't help but think this has something to do with the under-performance of Binary Domain alongside Toshihiro Nagoshi's promotion to Chief Creative Officer. The influence of Sony could cause a big shake-up here, though -- in the event that a property such as Yakuza 5/Ishin is brought west and performs well because of Sony's solid marketing, it may open up some crusty eyes at the Sega offices.

I feel like localizing Yakuza 5 would be well within the abilities of Atlus, and if not, Sony's interest in the virtually exclusive series (sorry, WiiU) could be promising. Space Channel 5 seems very doable for any team with an imagination and a sense of rhythm, and both Sakura Wars and Shining Force are entirely within their realm of specialization. Jet Set Radio and Streets of Rage would be outside of their primary territory, but I could see them doing a good job regardless given their articulate and imaginative sense of style. But then I could just be thoughtlessly acting out a neurotic tendency out of fear of facing obvious facts. You never know with us tricky Sega fans! I'm gonna go play with my pet Chao now! [VMU battery has been dead since 2004]

[Jagosaurus]

Giving Atlas access to Sega IPs... can't help it... wishing for another Panzer Dragoon RPG. It'd make me go next gen. No lie.

[pierrot]

I just don't think I understand the average person's brand of fandom. I don't want a newly enlisted, second-party company to drudge up franchises from the coffers for needless sequels. What I want from Sega is a continuation of what they have always seemed to focus on: challenging the market with strong, fresh IPs that no other company can apparently provide. I want them to take advantage of a strong development company in Atlus to shore up budgets for the enlisting of talented, free-thinking young designers and programers who can offer gamers experiences that they have legitimately never had before with video games; the way they did for 20 years.

I'm not excited at all by Nintendo's same-ness, and shameless investments in nostalgia; and they're just the side-show for the big budget main attraction in the Microsoft and Sony world of gaming. This is where I long for the Sega of yore to be revitalized (or reinvented) with ideas, not superfluous fan appeasement that only assists in further stagnation in the current state of video games.

PS:

Fans are dumb. No offense.

Also, no one other than Mizuguchi can do Mizuguchi.

Actually I have one more small tirade: I don't understand why gamers expect that Rembrandt reproductions will be just as good as a Rembrandt. 'Oh yes, there it is. Something that nearly resembles the original intent.' Why do people desire sequels 'by any means necessary'? I simply don't understand the thought process.

[elmagicochrisg]

Why do people desire sequels 'by any means necessary'? I simply don't understand the thought process.

Unless it's a continuation of an existing / unfinished story Like Shenmue of course. Right?...

[bacardipr05]

The problem with honoring fans request is that they request but dont buy. In other words for every 10 people that will request XYZ game/reamake only about 40% will probably actually make a purchase. The other are just blowing steam out of their arses.

[brunoafh]

@pierrot

Honestly I have a harder time understanding fans that treat Sega as this godlike force that blessed gaming for a short period of time before reaching their inevitable crucifixion than the sequel beggars. I am a big Sega fan myself, but they have been the dicks of the industry and have consistently made really stupid decisions since day one, and still do to this day. I love a lot of their stuff and favor them over Nintendo, but as for the company itself, I have little to praise. It's a sinking ship for reasons greater than dumb fans.

But I do agree that sequels from these dead IPs will be pointless and very likely lacking things that made said IPs good in the first place. The Phantasy Star and Sonic sequels are pretty much solid evidence of that already.