Sega 2014 Plans Topic (page 13) "A-Ran outta here!"

[VlaDDrakkeN]

"2014 will mark a renaissance for Sonic the Hedgehog" "Sega's exclusive announcements and plans for the Sonic brand"

 

"a renaissance for Sonic the Hedgehog" "plans for the Sonic brand"

 

"renaissance"

 

 

So it begins.

 

Ladies and gentlemen of the Sonic Stadium Message Board, ready your weapons of sanity, eat heartily, and sleep well. For in less than 24 hours, the greatest shitstorm the Sonic franchise will ever endure is almost upon us.

 

It has been an honor posting with you all.

I laughed but honestly I'm scared. I may need to stock up on E-Tanks and Robot Master Powers for whats to come.

[Detective Shadzter]

I guess it could be embargo'd for a while or the news might get released to the public straight after. We'll have to wait and find out.

[DarkRula]

I'm guessing this is in Eastern time, so it's almost 11am there. Not long left, but I'm guessing that most of this will be about the TV series. And we might just get lucky with a game announcement, if not - teaser.

[TearForFear]

Talking about The Last Airbender movie, Nostalgia Critic said this

 

 

I'm sure there'll be different adaptations in the future the same way people did with Looney Tunes and other timeless characters, but the point is the original characters are still timeless characters. And nothing anyone can do can change that. If anything, the bad adaptation makes us appreciate the original material even more. So you can do whatever you want to the franchise.

 

Can this statement be applied to Sonic too?

 

No matter what will happen to the francise in the future: Sonic Adventure, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Heroes, Aosth, SatAM, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Rush etcetera etcetera... still exist, and no one can change them and the memory they created.

 

 

EDIT: Wrong thread to post this, I meant the other

[Gligar13]

And now....Sonic is saved yet again. I remember what people were saying back in '08 when that game that was supposed to save Sonic came out, before it bombed.

After all, the Sonic Cycle is still in effect.

[PSI Wind]

I thought we weren't supposed to talk about the Sonic Cycle?

[Nepenthe]

Moved this topic back into the General Upcoming section as its subject matter concerns Sega as a whole.

[Detective Shadzter]

Iizuka's declined to comment on that Jazwares notice about a new game coming to Wii U, Xbox One and PS4 in 2015.

Iizuka declined to say whether the Japanese studio's title would appear on PS4 and Xbox One, as was rumoured earlier this week based on a fact sheet distributed at Nuremburg Toy Fair. Sega called the document "incorrect," but failed to say what it was brewing up.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-06-sega-announces-sonic-boom-for-3ds-and-wii-u

[Tenko]

Don't know if it is really Sega centric, but a fair few here may be wanting to know this since Sumo has done a great deal of Sega related games in the past. Seems they may be joining forces with another giant in the racing circuit. They are looking for staff too

 

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/02/06/sumo-digital-working-on-one-of-the-most-successful-driving-franchises-of-all-time/

[TheOcelot]

For anyone interested, here are the details of:

 

SEGA Sammy Holdings: Appendix of Consolidated Financial Statements

9 Months Ended December 31, 2013.

 

Up to the year ending 31/12/2013, SLW sold a total of 640,000 copies on Wii U & 3DS. That sounds okay.

 

CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

[Autosaver]

640,000 doesn't sound nearly as bad as people were making it out to be earlier in various threads. "the game flopped" "the game bombed"

 

For a low budget title on only two platforms, 640k might have been more than enough. It wasn't close to being an AAA budget game.

[Badnik Mechanic]

640,000 is how many it shipped. But it didn't sell anything near that amount, I think at best it was less than a quarter of that based on it's chart positions.

[Sami]

640,000 doesn't sound nearly as bad as people were making it out to be earlier in various threads. "the game flopped" "the game bombed"

 

For a low budget title on only two platforms, 640k might have been more than enough. It wasn't close to being an AAA budget game.

 

The game did do very badly at launch though - I think they were still below 100k at the beginning of December? That's why people said that. Christmas dealt them a good hand. Game's not a worthwhile success or anything, but it most likely broke even. I don't think it's a stretch to assume that it underperformed, however. SEGA probably expected more.

 

I myself wasn't aware that it had gone up that much when I said it bombed this morning, though.

[Tani Coyote]

If game sales work like ordinary retail, then it doesn't matter if the game sold poorly to consumers; SEGA already made its money when retailers bought copies. The same way when I buy something from a wholesaler, they made their profit already; if I can't sell it the loss is mine and not theirs.

Sure one says this could impact the games' future sales since retailers might not want to hold it but that's shifting the goal posts. Plus absurd since Sonic's still going to be a big seller in absolute terms.

Lost World probably was at least a small profit.

[Badnik Mechanic]

So I just checked the new york toyfair website. 

 

Tomy are attending. But there is no mention of Sonic on their bio.

[Hero of Legend]

I actually think Lost World will gain a bit more steam now that Boom is announced exclusively, since people know they're getting more, so they might gain interest in the already released product. It made me interested in playing it again.

 

Plus there's still the Zelda DLC to boost interest.

[TheOcelot]

From the SEGA blog:

 

 

"We are honored to have several nominations in multiple categories in the 2014 Pocket Gamer Awards! Help us out by voting on your favorite SEGA mobile games."

 

SEGA is nominated for the following awards:

 

Best Strategy/Simulation Game
Football Manager Handheld 2014

 

Best Sports/Driving Game

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

 

Best Publisher
SEGA

 

 

Hope SEGA does well. 

[AlphaRuby]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/18/5421642/sega-to-rebrand-index-as-atlus-in-april-creates-new-division

 

SEGA have announced that Atlus will return as a fully-fledged company, not just a brand that they have been since 2010.

 

They'll do this by renaming Index to Atlus Co., Ltd on April 1st 2014, while a new subsiduary, called Index Corporation will be created to handle non-gaming business.

[Captain Fun]

SEGA Loses Shenmue Trademark since they haven't been using it. 

 

Should note that this affects the US only. 

 

 

 

Section 8 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1058 is a regulation that requires a sworn declaration on the “continued use” of a trademark or “excusable nonuse,” to be provided  between the 5th and 6th  years and between the 9th and 10th years after the registration date. Since the trademark was registered in 2002, the second step wasn’t successfully completed.

[Tenko]

Thats...odd. Especially since they have had Ryo in All-Stars and also have a statue of him coming out via First4Figures. I'm sure they must have used the name Shenmue in the advertising etc for those. Lack of use seems odd. Forgetting to renew it I can understand tho, I imagine Sega would forget about poor old Shenmue left to its own devices without other companies and studios wanting to use the characters.

Edit : Seems some asscracker is spreading the rumor that Sega has lost the rights to ALL of the Shenmue franchise, which is fueling the other rumors that Shenmue may turn up on PS4 cause of Yu Suzuki being at GDC on the Sony stage discussing the game. Some people have to learn to read...seriously.

[Badnik Mechanic]

So the other day the PS4 was released in Japan.

 

According to Amazon, the top selling game on the system is Metal Gear Solid V.

 

The second highest selling game? It's a Sega one. Yakuza Ishin.

 

http://www.dualshockers.com/2014/02/22/here-are-the-best-selling-ps4-games-in-japan-according-to-amazon/

 

Guaranteed never to get a western release.

[Tani Coyote]

While I have confidence in SEGA America for the Sonic franchise, I will admit I do dislike their policy towards non-Sonic titles. I don't know much non-Sonic SEGA myself, and SEGA America's policy of ignoring any homebrewed (i.e. Company of Heroes, Total War, etc. do not count given they weren't originally SEGA) franchise besides Sonic just ensures that these franchises will continue to be forgotten as time goes on.

I really would like it if a newer gamer could pick up an All Stars title and not go "Who's that?" to half the characters, myself.

[MegasonicZX]

While I have confidence in SEGA America for the Sonic franchise, I will admit I do dislike their policy towards non-Sonic titles. I don't know much non-Sonic SEGA myself, and SEGA America's policy of ignoring any homebrewed (i.e. Company of Heroes, Total War, etc. do not count given they weren't originally SEGA) franchise besides Sonic just ensures that these franchises will continue to be forgotten as time goes on.

I really would like it if a newer gamer could pick up an All Stars title and not go "Who's that?" to half the characters, myself.

Yeah, this is honestly my problem with them too, I love my sonic games and stuff but for once I would really like it if sega focused on other things too.

[RK64]

If Sega were to highlight their other franchises as much as they do Sonic, they would be much more successful on the home console and handheld front.

 

They have really great franchises like Fantasy Star Online, Yakusa, Binary Domain, Vanquish, and Vakara Cronicals that if they were pushed more could have been huge hits last generation but they are just....their sadly . At least its good to see Yakusa doing great on PS4 and Sega funding a Vita-exclusive Fantasy Star, so things aren't that bad I guess.

[Tani Coyote]

It's really a self-fulfilling prophecy. SEGA America decided that nothing besides Sonic of the original SEGA brand will do well, so doesn't bother with any of it since the fall of the Dreamcast. And because they're letting those games slip into obscurity, the chances of making them profitable to a mainstream audience has more or less gone with it. SEGA's brand has largely gone the way of Crash Bandicoot - they're just IPs that are being squatted upon and not really doing much else.

To be honest I wouldn't mind if a company lost its IP after a fairly short (5-10 years) amount of time if they aren't going to use it.