Rumour: Sanzaru Have Not Been Working on Boom: Fire & Ice for Several Months

[Badnik Mechanic]

I cannot believe for one second that it's pretty much 100% done.

If it was. Where is the promotion for the game? Why wasnt it at E3 and why the need to delay it?

Like people keep saying. It's a kids tv show tie in if it were nearly 100% done back at E3, why has it been delayed?

[Guest]

Hogfather, you gotta add less speculation to your rumours. The only actual reasoning for why this rumour could be true I saw in your post was that your source knows how the industry and SEGA and outsourcing works. Kinda makes it sound like your source isn't actually close to SEGA, but just heard this through a grapevine, or was just speculating.

Speculation adds nothing to the validity of the rumour. It just shows that it would line up with info that is already known. And anyone with access to the internet could make shit up that lines up with that.

[shdowhunt60]

In which Hogfather throws a temper tantrum because people don't see things his way...

[Jango]

How often Sega promote their games anyway? Aside from Sonic (when is actually a big title, which Boom is not anymoe), it's most of the times just a debut and a launch trailer, and one same demo through the year's events... What Barry said is also true, Sega was invested in the process of moving this year, they didn't even had an actual booth in E3. I also don't blame them for not promoting the game too much, they know it would be time and effort wasted, most people don't care about Boom anymore, and having a new trailer, image or info every week won't change that fact.

[Marcello]

Hogfather, you gotta add less speculation to your rumours. The only actual reasoning for why this rumour could be true I saw in your post was that your source knows how the industry and SEGA and outsourcing works. Kinda makes it sound like your source isn't actually close to SEGA, but just heard this through a grapevine, or was just speculating.

Speculation adds nothing to the validity of the rumour. It just shows that it would line up with info that is already known. And anyone with access to the internet could make shit up that lines up with that.

Reading through Barry's post, it seems like his is speculation, too

Just looking over Barry's proposed timeline makes me find it unlikely myself. Like them, having started development in early 2015 and finishing in mid 2015 just seems unlikely to me. They surely started development last year and most likely before Shattered Crystal was even released.

[Guest]

Reading through Barry's post, it seems like his is speculation, too

Just looking over Barry's proposed timeline makes me find it unlikely myself. Like them, having started development in early 2015 and finishing in mid 2015 just seems unlikely to me. They surely started development last year and most likely before Shattered Crystal was even released.

Well yeah, but I wasn't talking about Barry's post. :V

[Marcello]

Well yeah, but I wasn't talking about Barry's post. :V

Yeah, well I won't apologize.

 

You're right. I was reading through the posts and must've mixed things up there. plus, I'm sick.

Sorry about that.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Marcello

[Graystripe2000]

Any luck on verification so far?

[Nepenthe]

In which Hogfather throws a temper tantrum because people don't see things his way...

You should know that these kind of call-outs are unacceptable. Don't do it again.

[Jason Berry]

I cannot believe for one second that it's pretty much 100% done.

If it was. Where is the promotion for the game? Why wasnt it at E3 and why the need to delay it?

Like people keep saying. It's a kids tv show tie in if it were nearly 100% done back at E3, why has it been delayed?

As I said before, it was likely pushed back for the 25th anniversary and to make improvements.

As it has been said a million times over, it wasn't at E3 because Sega wasn't at E3. They are/were going through trasitional phase at SoA and moving all of their offices leaving them no time for events. And before you say "Nintendo could have shown it at their booth", Nintendo was Wii U focused and barely showing off any 3DS games outside of their top brands. Not even Mario and Sonic at the Olympics was there.

Also, as it has been explained before, if a smaller game isn't coming out until November, you don't start the promotion until October. Hatsune Miku's demo and trailer's didn't start to come out until 2 weeks before it's release. As you recall, Carl's Jr. was about to start the Sonic Boom promotion in October when it was pulled at the last minute meaning that this delay was likely very recently decided. Had Fire and Ice not been ready to go, they would have called the promotion off well in advance. The timing just fits too well. These 2-D Sonic Boom games don't take too long to make. Especially when they've already done one previously. 

[Milo]

As I said before, it was likely pushed back for the 25th anniversary and to make improvements.
As it has been said a million times over, it wasn't at E3 because Sega wasn't at E3. They are/were going through trasitional phase at SoA and moving all of their offices leaving them no time for events. And before you say "Nintendo could have shown it at their booth", Nintendo was Wii U focused and barely showing off any 3DS games outside of their top brands. Not even Mario and Sonic at the Olympics was there.

In fairness, that was a title explicitly announced with a 2016 release date, and it was said that more information would be revealed later in the year / next year (reminder, M&S 2016 was announced just prior to E3).

Edited September 20, 2015 by Gabe

[Badnik Mechanic]

Any luck on verification so far?

I've not been feeling well today so not been doing much, however VEDJF has been looking into it, mainly into what staff have been doing, including some staff who are not on linked in. All of them do not mention Sonic anywhere on their CV's, but they do mention VR projects.

There is another really odd message from Sanzaru themselves which is on their Facebook page right now.

https://www.facebook.com/sanzaru/posts/1040524632665600

The reason why it's odd is because the Sega blog post said the delay was 'polish' but Sanzaru say they want to add in more features? So... who is right?

[Graystripe2000]

I've not been feeling well today so not been doing much, however VEDJF has been looking into it, mainly into what staff have been doing, including some staff who are not on linked in. All of them do not mention Sonic anywhere on their CV's, but they do mention VR projects.

There is another really odd message from Sanzaru themselves which is on their Facebook page right now.

https://www.facebook.com/sanzaru/posts/1040524632665600

The reason why it's odd is because the Sega blog post said the delay was 'polish' but Sanzaru say they want to add in more features? So... who is right?

They're likely both right.

[Guest]

I've not been feeling well today so not been doing much, however VEDJF has been looking into it, mainly into what staff have been doing, including some staff who are not on linked in. All of them do not mention Sonic anywhere on their CV's, but they do mention VR projects.

There is another really odd message from Sanzaru themselves which is on their Facebook page right now.

https://www.facebook.com/sanzaru/posts/1040524632665600

The reason why it's odd is because the Sega blog post said the delay was 'polish' but Sanzaru say they want to add in more features? So... who is right?

You say that as if they couldn't be doing both. :V

[Badnik Mechanic]

You say that as if they couldn't be doing both. :V

Begs the question though.

If during E3 the game was about 100% done. For the last 3 or so months what has happened to mean the game needs more polish and the inclusion of new features which has forced a delay of several months? 

[Tails spin]

Begs the question though.

If during E3 the game was about 100% done. For the last 3 or so months what has happened to mean the game needs more polish and the inclusion of new features which has forced a delay of several months? 

what article are you basing that they were about 100% done? Even if your guessing that is too far to guess by.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Tails spin

[Guest]

Begs the question though.

If during E3 the game was about 100% done. For the last 3 or so months what has happened to mean the game needs more polish and the inclusion of new features which has forced a delay of several months? 

I doubt that the game was actually "100% done". Maybe they meant that the game is content complete, and all that was left at that point was polish, which would make more sense. That's probably no longer true now with the delay though.

[Badnik Mechanic]

what article are you basing that they were about 100% done? Even if your guessing that is too far to guess by.

Ah bugger misread Jasons post from earlier. I thought he was talking about F&I not SC.

Meh point still stands. They had a target deadline which has been missed, so why add new features for what as many people agree on is just a kids tie in? Surely it makes more sense just to stick to the agreed development specification instead of adding new content in unless something bad has happened during development? 

I just can't see or understand why you would do this for a game like this one. If this were a huge title which had a highly ambitious goal, I could totally believe development being extended to add in new stuff, like say the next Batman or GTA. But a kids tie in outsourced license for a handheld system? 

[Guest]

Ah bugger misread Jasons post from earlier. I thought he was talking about F&I not SC.

Meh point still stands. They had a target deadline which has been missed, so why add new features for what as many people agree on is just a kids tie in? Surely it makes more sense just to stick to the agreed development specification instead of adding new content in unless something bad has happened during development? 

I just can't see or understand why you would do this for a game like this one. If this were a huge title which had a highly ambitious goal, I could totally believe development being extended to add in new stuff, like say the next Batman or GTA. But a kids tie in outsourced license for a handheld system? 

Have a quote from that the CEO of SEGA Games, Haruki Satomi, said in a recent interview:

“I've been talking to the employees about how we should start putting serious consideration into quality from this point on,” responds Satomi. “Especially in North America and Europe, where it's always been more of a focus on schedules, I believe that if we can't maintain quality, it would be better to not release anything at all.”

Source

He has been the CEO of the division since April. That's when SEGA had a restructuring and the part of Sega that handles all of the video game stuff was renamed to SEGA Games.

So this might be the best explanation you can get, at least from what's known publicly anyway.

Edited September 20, 2015 by TimmiT

[Lord-Dreamerz]

He has been the CEO of the division since April. That's when SEGA had a restructuring and the part of Sega that handles all of the video game stuff was renamed to SEGA Games.

.

Wait... SEGA is short for "Service Games" ... So SEGA Games whole title would be ... Service Games Games? xD

[Guest]

Wait... SEGA is short for "Service Games" ... So SEGA Games whole title would be ... Service Games Games? xD

Yeah, I guess they didn't think of the origin of their company's name when they restructured it. :V

[TheChris110]

I think they didn't care that it's "Service Games Games".  At first the name seems weird as you mentioned but from their point of view it makes sense: SEGA Sammy has a lot of divisions so if someone is talking about "SEGA Games" you know directly that he is talking about the games division.

[Milo]

I think they didn't care that it's "Service Games Games".  At first the name seems weird as you mentioned but from their point of view it makes sense: SEGA Sammy has a lot of divisions so if someone is talking about "SEGA Games" you know directly that he is talking about the games division.

They could do that without resorting to redundancy, i.e. SEGA Enterprises (which to my knowledge isn't taken by any other division).

[Guest]

They could do that without resorting to redundancy, i.e. SEGA Enterprises (which to my knowledge isn't taken by any other division).

That'd just make things confusing though. When SEGA has this many divisions, the division's name has to make pretty clear what the division actually does. When it comes to that, "SEGA Games" would probably the best possible choice. Even if the "SEGA" abbreviation already has the word in it.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Much like Capcom, the name doesn't really mean "Service Games" anymore. SEGA's a brand in itself, so SEGA Games isn't a problem unless you decide to be stupidly pedantic :V