Topic: SEGA Downsizing to Focus on Digital and PC

[alexosborn]

A few hundred employees are being offered voluntary retirement.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/39550/sega-downsizing-to-focus-on-digital-and-pc

SEGA is undergoing some restructuring, as its American-based office is being relocated from San Francisco to Southern California.

Approximately 300 employees are being offered voluntary retirement, as the house of Sonic aims refocus the company's efforts on digital and PC.

"This move was crucial to keep SEGA operations moving forward throughout North America and to provide our millions of fans a strong pipeline of content across gaming, TV, merchandising, and more," SEGA of America president and COO John Cheng said. "We are confident that by relocating to Southern California we will be able to thrive, grow and become a stronger company because of it."

SEGA hasn't been exactly thriving over the past several years, but will a digital-focused future get the company back on its feet?

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

At this point I wish they would go away entirely like Atari. There is nothing left at Sega of their former selves anyways its just a name. I would hope for them to find away to get the rest of the back catalog out in digital form, preferably the Sega CD and Saturn stuff they continue to neglect, but realistically this will probably just be more re-issues of the same old games.

[Caterkiller]

I don't know what coming down here is going to do but make their taxes insanely high. Though If they come to LA they will probably be in the video game circle that is Square , EA, Konami and some smaller ones I see in the same general area.


Have they had any hits lately? I guess Bayonetta but does that count?


I just want Sonic to be developed with love in every line of code.

[TheXenocide]

Or they could, you know, just make a GOOD sonic game...

[marvel_moviefan_2012]

Or they could, you know, just make a GOOD sonic game...

That might be asking a lot.

[broodwars]

Honestly, I'd be happy if SEGA went under. Then maybe a company that wants to do more than make terrible Sonic games could pick up their licenses and actually do something with them (how has Skies of Arcadia HD not already happened?) . And I wouldn't worry about Atlus: they'd get picked up in an auction long before any other division of SEGA was.

[Enner]

Please don't go under before I see Hatsune Miku: Project MIRAI Remix on North American shores!

Joking aside (well, half joking), I do hope SEGA finds their feet. Their biggest and recent English language releases have been terrible Sonic games, Total War games, Football Manager, and Alien: Isolation. On the Japan side, they have been keeping Yakuza games and Phantasy Star Online 2.

It would be really nice to have Phantasy Star Online 2 in North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Sadly, SEGA doesn't seem to have the resources for that.

[Luigi Dude]

At this point it's a miracle Sega is even still around considering the company has been run by incompetent morons for almost 30 years now.  The only time something good happened was during the early 90's in the West, which the people in Japan running the show intentionally stopped because they were literally jealous.  That's right, this was a company where the management was angry they were making money, just because that money wasn't being made in Japan.

You'd think 20 years later Sega would have learned by now but nope.  It's like their goal is to go down in history as one of the worst run companies of all time, which they already managed to do just fine over a decade ago.  I guess they want to set the bar of failure so high, it'll be impossible for anyone else to surpass by the time they finally go under.