Sega of America's chief operating officer says 'words'

[Badnik Mechanic]

More 'words' from Sega. This time about improving the quality of games as well as the cool factor, bringing sonic to where the gamers are, more buzzwords. Same old same old, new guy saying it,

 

"We have an obligation to the fans of Sonic and the consumer," Olson said. So while the company will continue to "[evaluate] different ways to bring cool experiences" based on Sonic, it will do so with an increased emphasis on combining "cool" with "quality."

More interestingly, also says that the new direction may make some fans leave the fandom.

"When we look at bringing Sonic to modern-day gamers, we ... obviously want to appeal to as many people as possible but still focus on what it means to be Sonic and a Sonic game," he explained.

"Maybe that might lose some fans along the road, but we're picking up new fans that will hopefully grow with us as Sonic grows."

 

http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/30/9640190/sonic-the-hedgehog-sega-coo-quality-sonic-boom

[Milo]

Sonic games "appealing to as many people as possible"? (Remember how heavily focus-tested Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric was to appeal to non-Sonic fans? "We don't want speed")

"Bringing Sonic to modern-day gamers"? (Remember how Sonic 2006's was supposed to be a "re-imagining" of the series for the seventh generation?)

And a direction that "might lose some fans along the road"? (Which given how divided the series has historically become...speaks for itself in a lot of ways?)

And to think, all this...will be most likely established by whatever the upcoming 25th anniversary game from Sonic Team will turn out to be...

Everything about this new PR statement sounds absolutely awful to me. Couple that with the repeated "we'll improve on quality" mantra that has been uttered for years on end for Sonic titles; and I'm just really starting to think the Sega PR should just shut their traps until it's time to reveal the next main Sonic game.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Gabe

[PickleBrows]

They sure are pushing this whole quality angle. If they're putting in half as much effort as the statements over the last few months imply then we could be heading for great things.

The only thing is, they've really backed themselves into a corner now. It all starts with the Anniversary game. If that doesn't deliver then they're going to be in some seriously hot water with fans and press.

[Bowbowis]

Well this bodes... something? Jesus, could they be any more cryptic? Still I've got to wonder what exactly it is that they anticipate losing fans over. Whatever they may be planning it sounds like SEGA is done playing it safe. 

For better or for worse 2016 is going to be an interesting one.

[horridus]

Given that this fandom didn't fracture in the face of many, many, maaany divisive things that have happened, I kind of doubt that whatever they're planning is going to be THAT catastrophic. 

At least I hope so... 

[Roger_van_der_weide]

Like Hogfather says, it's just words. PR talk. The Trendy Buzzwords of today.
Kinda hard to take their "quality is priority" talk serious when Sonic Runners' screwups are in the news on a weekly basis.

I'm so baffled they're using this envirement to build hype in. We need faith before we can have hype.
Everyone's so miserable about the last few games that the only hype is people just anticipating a new train crash.

[FriendBot]

I honestly stopped caring about all this PR talk, I'll see what the game is all about then I'll start thinking about how the series' future is going to be changed by it. For now, technical aspect of Sonic's future is in the trash right now and just doing something else in the meantime, like gushing more about Undertale or something like that.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Um...

Umm....

.......

I'm honestly very worried by this. Sure, playing it safe is bad, but in all honestly, I don't trust Sega when it comes to innovating.

Like...I really, really don't trust Sega when it comes to innovating. And let's face it, there's no reason why I should.

But who knows, this could turn out to be awesome, for all I know. And at least it's better than being...boring? I guess? Maybe?

[Draw4Life]

Long live Sonic! SEGA is working pretty hard to get these games to the best they can be. Personally I'm really excited to see what they come up with!

[Tani Coyote]

"We'll lose some fans."

 

While I understand they just preceded this remark with talk of going back to what makes Sonic great... an Oggy can't help but ponder if the Boom takeover is more than just a joke.

[JezMM]

Every time this happens my confidence slips because I just think "why do you need to fill the time between announcements with this non-news, what are you stalling for?"

 

Whatever is being made behind the scenes, they sound less and less confident in it every time they attempt to reassure us of stuff we didn't ask about.  Just show us the damn game or talk about the ones that have been announced until it's ready to show.

[PerfectChaos]

Honestly, right now the best PR talk from Sega would be no PR talk at all.

They're just going to annoy people by saying things like this, which is understandable, all things considered.

[NoirSuede]

Sega of America's finally said it......

For context, this is what Sega of Japan first said when Haruki Satomi became CEO :

http://www.siliconera.com/2015/07/07/sega-learned-about-making-quality-games-from-atlus-aim-to-regain-trust-from-players/

It may look rough if you look a it from a Japanese standpoint, but on a global scale the PlayStation 4 has a record-selling history, so I believe there’s a good opportunity there,” says Satomi.

 

He goes on to say that he also feels good about the Asian market, where the Chinese version of Yakuza Zero had sold much better than expected.

 

“As far as the Western market goes, we learned a lot from Atlus,” continues Satomi. “If we can make a title with proper quality, I believe there’s a good chance for it to do well even in the West for players that like to play Japanese games.”

 

Next, Famitsu asks what are they’re looking to focus on more when it comes to home console games.

 

“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.”

 

Satomi continues, “We did our best to build a relationship of mutual trust with older fans of Sega, but looking back, there’ve been some titles that have partially betrayed that [trust] in the past 10 years.”

 

Famitsu asks if it’s safe to expect a high quality title to be released sometime in the second half of this year.

 

“Since we’re seriously considering quality, I can’t make that promise for the time being, but I believe we will announce something for home console at Tokyo Game Show,” says Satomi.

 

Finally, Famitsu asks about what more can we look forward to in the future.

 

“Sega in the ‘90s was known for its ‘brand, but after that, we’ve lost trust, and we were left with nothing but ‘reputation. For this reason, we’d like to win back the customers’ trust, and become a ‘brand,’ once again.”

Then after about 3 months, Sega of Europe said almost the exact same thing :

http://www.marketingweek.com/2015/10/12/sega-europes-marketing-director-on-the-transition-from-sonic-to-smartphones/?nocache=true&adfesuccess=1&ad_562e3db5868f3=562e3db586997

Rooke explains: “Sega has publically apologised to the fans as the quality of console games in the Sonic franchise hasn’t been acceptable over recent years. It’s been tough translating that iconic side scrolling 2D experience from the 90s into 3D but Sonic is still huge for us so the new games will be more inspired by how it played in its heyday.”

Listening to fans remains key to Sega’s strategy. For years hardcore gamers have called for Sega to release a third title in the Dreamcast’s Shenmue series, which is set around a teenage martial arts expert in rural China.

But their pleas were repeatedly ignored until earlier this year when its original developer Yu Suzuki unexpectedly announced a $2m kickstarter campaign in order to get Shenmue 3 finally made after Sega handed him over the license. The hugely popular campaign ultimately raised over $6m and became the sixth most funded campaign in the crowdfunding website’s history.”

“Yes, we want to innovate and back smartphones and virtual reality but our key purpose is to go back to what the brand used to stand for and I think the buzz around Shenmue 3 shows that people love our legacy,” adds Rooke, who says Sega is currently “exploring ways” to re-release the original two Shenmue titles.

“Sega was an innovator, the Dreamcast was offering online gaming as early as 1998. But perhaps back then we were pushing boundaries a little too soon. Nowadays we know what we’re good at and the strategy is to be more gradual. Over the next few years, we want to use engaging content and marketing to remind the public why they fell in love with Sega in the first place.”

 

And now Sega of America's finally said it too. Considering the fact that usually when a branch of Sega wants to do something the others just kinda ignore it, I think that they're actually serious this time because this is the first time that Sega of Japan/Europe/America has done something in unison.

[FriendBot]

And now Sega of America's finally said it too. Considering the fact that usually when a branch of Sega wants to do something the others just kinda ignore it, I think that they're actually serious this time because this is the first time that Sega of Japan/Europe/America has done something in unison.

You do have a point there, if all 3 major branches of SEGA have said that they're dedicated to insure quality in their games, that they mean it. Though stuff like the clusterfuck of problems in Runners is happening right now, that kind of looses some credibility but hey, Aaron has said that he might check what's up so who knows. 

I don't know, I really don't care at this point. The only thing I can hope is that SEGA can get their shit together and provide quality games while keeping the actual energy and action Sonic is once known for.

[Dizcrybe]

"When we look at bringing Sonic to modern-day gamers, we ... obviously want to appeal to as many people as possible"

And herein lies the problem.

Suffice to say if they still haven't figured out at least part of the reason they (think they) have to keep making these statements, I dunno how confident in whatever ST has planned next.

[NoirSuede]

You do have a point there, if all 3 major branches of SEGA have said that they're dedicated to insure quality in their games, that they mean it. Though stuff like the clusterfuck of problems in Runners is happening right now, that kind of looses some credibility but hey, Aaron has said that he might check what's up so who knows. 

Well the problem with Runners stems from the fact that instead of letting Sega of Europe/America help Sega of Japan (Iizuka) insists on handling Runners themselves, which meant stretching their already thin staff into handling everyone's problems.

[Tani Coyote]

Well the problem with Runners stems from the fact that instead of letting Sega of Europe/America help Sega of Japan (Iizuka) insists on handling Runners themselves, which meant stretching their already thin staff into handling everyone's problems.

I pray this doesn't take away from precious time that would be better spent making sure the 25th anniversary game is the best they've had in ages.

[NoirSuede]

I pray this doesn't take away from precious time that would be better spent making sure the 25th anniversary game is the best they've had in ages.

As i've said in the Runners thread, the fact that Runners now uses an incredibly rudimentary anti-cheat program instead of having dedicated admins means that Sonic Team MIGHT be pulling the Runners team to work on the 25th anniversary game.

Edited October 31, 2015 by NoirSuede

[FriendBot]

I pray this doesn't take away from precious time that would be better spent making sure the 25th anniversary game is the best they've had in ages.

Isn't most of the Runners staff the same people that worked on the M&S Olympic games based on the credits? I really doubt Runners has an affect on the main series title.

[NoirSuede]

Isn't most of the Runners staff the same people that worked on the M&S Olympic games based on the credits? I really doubt Runners has an affect on the main series title.

I meant that because the 25th anniversary game's so taxing on the main team, Iizuka's pulling in some men from the Runners team to help on the 25th anniversary game.

[Diogenes]

You do have a point there, if all 3 major branches of SEGA have said that they're dedicated to insure quality in their games, that they mean it.

Does it? It's not like they'd ever come out and say "We don't really give a shit about the quality of our games" even if they believed it.

And whether they want to make good games and whether they can make good games are two different things anyway.

[FriendBot]

Does it? It's not like they'd ever come out and say "We don't really give a shit about the quality of our games" even if they believed it.

And whether they want to make good games and whether they can make good games are two different things anyway.

That's true, then again I don't really care about it. If they can make a good game (that isn't just good in terms of gameplay, that ain't good enough) then cool, they mean it. But if not, then they're just full of it and the trust declines.

Though I'm pretty sure Sonic Team can make good games, Lost World was a hiccup but they did made Colors and Generations. Though I would prefer a more "original" title that provides an overall good experience rather than just "shit story but the gameplay's good"

[CottonCandy]

 Again, all words no action. Although, all three divisions of Sega have said about increasing quality in their games and they have already delayed some games, so it could be a sign.  Still, a game that's polished in every way doesn't mean it's a good game. :/ 

 

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

And whether they want to make good games and whether they can make good games are two different things anyway.

 Thats true. I think are you getting that they can make good games but they dont want to anymore? 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

 Thats true. I think are you getting that they can make good games but they dont want to anymore? 

More like they might want to make good games but they just don't have the skill, understanding of the things they work on, or the resources to do so.