Sega Exiting the Home Console Market?

[AceWarhead]

Sega has been floundering around lately, but it seems during a conglomerate meeting of Sega Sammy Holdings, serious business overhauls were discussed, and it seems one of the overhauls included the exit from the home console market, and to focus on mobile and online PC gaming.​

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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.

Sources: JapanToday, VFDC​

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Although SEGA has been suffering for a while, in no small thanks to their own decisions, this is pretty big. I'm mostly worried about ATLUS, who were recently acquired by Sega Sammy Holdings. What affects would this have on them, and on the gaming industry as a whole?​

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[RevPokemon]

Really?
Sega has been making great games like yakuza and persona and own atlus!!!

Sucks if they do but the gaming industry would be fine with out sega

 

[Taleweaver]

Inb4 the obligatory "nintendo should buy sega".

 

[Social_Outlaw]

Yeah I'm going to have to research just to get legit facts
Really smart move if they're going to Mobile... I don't know about PC wise?

 

[RevPokemon]

Inb4 the obligatory "nintendo should buy sega".

That would be like the Hindenburg trying to save the Titanic

 

[Nathan Drake]

I'd imagine this was done for a couple reasons:

1) No more physical distribution. Who knows how much money they'll save by moving onto essentially exclusively digital platforms. Even if a game doesn't sell well, you end up needing to sell a whole lot less than you do when you have to count manufacturing and distribution.

2) It's easier. Rather than developing a game for multiple consoles and needing to hit a certain quota for each console to balance out development and manufacturing costs, you develop it for one platform that many, many people already have access to regardless of generation of video game hardware. This means a more optimized experience, one that is easier to patch in case of bugs on release since you don't have to engineer a patch for each platform, and lower costs across the board for Sega.

The only problem I really see with this is that their games aren't really known for their PC popularity. They've been engineered for the console experience for decades, and that's what people have come to expect. They'll have to do a bit of work to convince those who are generally console gamers to say, buy the next big Sonic release on PC.

 

[RevPokemon]

I'd imagine this was done for a couple reasons:

1) No more physical distribution. Who knows how much money they'll save by moving onto essentially exclusively digital platforms. Even if a game doesn't sell well, you end up needing to sell a whole lot less than you do when you have to count manufacturing and distribution.

2) It's easier. Rather than developing a game for multiple consoles and needing to hit a certain quota for each console to balance out development and manufacturing costs, you develop it for one platform that many, many people already have access to regardless of generation of video game hardware. This means a more optimized experience, one that is easier to patch in case of bugs on release since you don't have to engineer a patch for each platform, and lower costs across the board for Sega.

The only problem I really see with this is that their games aren't really known for their PC popularity. They've been engineered for the console experience for decades, and that's what people have come to expect. They'll have to do a bit of work to convince those who are generally console gamers to say, buy the next big Sonic release on PC.

Well sonic never has had a big PC game since CD.
In sonic games the PC version is always the worst

 

[Arras]

The last online PC game I remember Sega being in charge of was PSO2, and, well... that didn't end too well for us in the west.

 

[Foxi4]

Old news is old. They're not ditching the console market, they're restructuring - big difference.

 

[Nathan Drake]

The last online PC game I remember Sega being in charge of was PSO2, and, well... that didn't end too well for us in the west.

The PSO2 situation confuses the living hell out of me, mostly because they translated the game to English, but chose not to give that version to any English speaking countries and actually banned those daring enough to try to play it from outside the South East Asian region. We're sorry we want to play your game, Sega. Please forgive us.

At least we have Ship 2 and the decently translated Japanese version.

 

[FAST6191]

An interesting move if so. I am of several minds about this and will have to do some reading up on things before I do something resembling a proper comment.

I had a quick snout through http://www.seganerds.com/2013/09/18/segas-timeline-of-acquisitions-and-sales/ and it does not make as interesting reading as some other companies we consider around here, however if they do turn to properly face mobile world then they can clean up -- EA might have been buying things here and there but the combined resources of all Sega's stuff could do serious damage.

Even if a game doesn't sell well, you end up needing to sell a whole lot less than you do when you have to count manufacturing and distribution.....
They'll have to do a bit of work to convince those who are generally console gamers to say, buy the next big Sonic release on PC.

Hopefully I will not kick off the next round of Sonic Adventure vs the world but I do have to say that unlike Mario many Sonic games have appeared on the PC and have done for many years now. Not to mention the mobile thing is probably where it will be at.

On the costs of manufacture I will have to run those numbers; we are told it is the advertising that costs the big money these days but then again that is an upfront cost. I have to wonder if you could not fund advertising via early rounds of buyers and more viral/cheaper forms of marketing.

 

[Arras]

The PSO2 situation confuses the living hell out of me, mostly because they translated the game to English, but chose not to give that version to any English speaking countries and actually banned those daring enough to try to play it from outside the South East Asian region. We're sorry we want to play your game, Sega. Please forgive us.

At least we have Ship 2 and the decently translated Japanese version.

To be fair that translation (SEA) is also not that amazing. Didn't they translate Force with Wizard or something? IIRC they also changed the names of the mate items, Photon Arts were renamed to something silly and just about everything got a weird localized name.

 

[emigre]

The only problem I really see with this is that their games aren't really known for their PC popularity. They've been engineered for the console experience for decades, and that's what people have come to expect. They'll have to do a bit of work to convince those who are generally console gamers to say, buy the next big Sonic release on PC.

They have Total War and Football manager. They may not be the first titles that spring to mind when you speak about Sega, but those titles are PC mainstays adn will provide reliable revenue.

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Well sonic never has had a big PC game since CD.
In sonic games the PC version is always the worst

Not true.

Sonic Gens best release was on PC and with the infinite amount of mods it made the game last forever.

 

[RevPokemon]

Not true.

Sonic Gens best release was on PC and with the infinite amount of mods it made the game last forever.

Depends I guess I prefer sonic on my TV with a console controller.

 

[Vengenceonu]

Don't worry, Sonic will be back to play in the 2016 Olympics for sure. Besides, Sega hasn't been in the "home console market" since the Saturn. They've just been visiting.

 

[Flame]

This is a nightmare for some sonic & altus fanboys...


But a Dreamcast for me, cause all I see is tears.



your tears are delicious sega fanboys..

(Just do football manager"trollface" and we be cool)

 

[duffmmann]

According to this: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...or_the_iconic_franchise_to_drop_home_consoles

there are no plans to stop making Sonic games for home consoles

 

[WiiCube_2013]

Depends I guess I prefer sonic on my TV with a console controller.

You can have a PC tower connected to the HDTV and use a console controller.

 

[duffmmann]

You can have a PC tower connected to the HDTV and use a console controller.

Truth. The complaint about playing PC games not being as fun without being played on a TV with a console controller hasn't held water for years at this point.