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The Future of SEGA: Grim or glorious?


Dr. Victor

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A long time ago, I came here and asked several questions about Sonic fan culture. Now I am back and wondering: what's your view on SEGA's future?


 

1: What do you think will happen to SEGA in the next ten years? Will it survive as a company?

 

2: Assuming SEGA goes bankrupt, what will happen to the Sonic fandom and community at large?

 

3: If you have a pessimistic view of SEGA’s future, when do you think it will cease existing outright?

 

4: If you have an optimistic view of SEGA’s future, what do you think will happen to the company? How will it stay relevant in the modern market?

 

5: Do you think fanmade content can qualitatively compete with official content? If so, why? If not, is it because of technical or stylistic errors? Or something else entirely?

 

6: Do you think the Sonic fandom has superseded SEGA as the primary source of Sonic content?

 

7: If you make fan work of any kind, what motivates you to do so, and what kind of work is it?

 

8: Assuming you make fan work of any kind, on average, how long does it take to complete a project?

 

9: If you could pitch a game idea to SEGA, what would it be, and how would it be different from any previous Sonic game?

 

10: Do you think SEGA should get more involved with its fanbase? If so, why? If not, why?

 

Your usernames will not be revealed and I am not associated with any corporation or motivation beyond curiosity. Thank you for your time.  

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Well, let's have a look at this, here. See the following for my thoughts - granted, I'm not sure if the implication was that I was supposed to DM you these answers, but, I don't particularly mind as far as anonymity is concerned, these are harmless questions, I'll just answer each question in the quote per the following;

11 minutes ago, Dr. Victor said:

1: What do you think will happen to SEGA in the next ten years? Will it survive as a company?

 

I think it's going to survive well beyond this. Because, in addition to the Sonic franchise, SEGA as a whole has stakes in various other properties that are sure to continue to bring in profits of different kinds, which can include properties related to Hatsune Miku, the Puyo Puyo license, the Yakuza series of games, as well as (i'm sure) various other pachinko/arcadey-type gaming facilities throughout Japan. I'm not a total expert or anything on where all of their business is, but considering they've lasted this long, I don't see a reason to doubt their survivability.

2: Assuming SEGA goes bankrupt, what will happen to the Sonic fandom and community at large?

This isn't exactly difficult to answer - the fan community, by and large, will likely continue, and those of us with the smarts, the prowess and the free time will very much continue to create fan works of all types, be it music, artwork, and, of course, video games. SAGE is a yearly thing, after all - and I doubt it would cease just because the official company did.

3: If you have a pessimistic view of SEGA’s future, when do you think it will cease existing outright?

I suppose since my outlook is more optimistic, I'll just scan over this one.

4: If you have an optimistic view of SEGA’s future, what do you think will happen to the company? How will it stay relevant in the modern market?

Likely, SEGA will continue the same line they've been pursuing up to this point, although, if things got particularly bleak, they may go heavier into the pachinko parlor side of things. Assuming it doesn't get that bad, though, I imagine they will just stay the course and continue producing content for various platforms, with their more trusted IPs under their belt.

5: Do you think fanmade content can qualitatively compete with official content? If so, why? If not, is it because of technical or stylistic errors? Or something else entirely?

I think it's pretty clear at this point just how ambitious and passionate fans in the Sonic community tend to be, by and large. I've seen enough to feel confident saying that, in the right hands, fan-made content can share a stage with the official stuff. Mania is basically living proof of this idea.

6: Do you think the Sonic fandom has superseded SEGA as the primary source of Sonic content?

When you have something as large and iconic as the Sonic brand, I feel as though the overlap of produced content is inevitable.

7: If you make fan work of any kind, what motivates you to do so, and what kind of work is it?

Fan art and occasionally fan comics, for me. My motivation is simply the love of the brand, and the hope to kind of put in my two cents on what most appeals to me through the artwork I create.

8: Assuming you make fan work of any kind, on average, how long does it take to complete a project?

Well, given a full time job, partial-time social life, on top of driving and sleeping mixed in all over the place... it totally varies, but if I put my mind to it? A few days to a week, depending on the scope of what I'm doing.

9: If you could pitch a game idea to SEGA, what would it be, and how would it be different from any previous Sonic game?

Honestly, I'd love to go back to a more free-form, exploratory kind of 3D Sonic game. The Adventure series was on a good path, I think, it just needs something a little more to give it that extra oomph. The games are fairly linear, as far as the level design goes, but if we branched out those paths, and included a more refined version of the Lost World parkour system, I think that could definitely go places. I can't say for sure if we've ever had a full-fledged 3D Sonic where exploration was one of the key elements, and mashing that up with a better momentum-based physics engine could really help open up was to get around, and access secrets and such. I think that could be something swell.

10: Do you think SEGA should get more involved with its fanbase? If so, why? If not, why?

I would say they're already pretty involved at this point, no? The regular interactions via the Social Media Twitter account, the acceptance of all sorts of fangames without directly resorting to DMCA takedowns and copyright strikes, and even the actual literal inclusions of fans with official projects (see -> Christian Whitehead ports, CD, and now Mania), I feel like this all amounts to some solid interaction with the community at large.

Hopefully that's insightful enough. Thanks for the questions!

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Since this is specifically about a video game company, I'll move it to Video Games.

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Sonic Forces is not going to be the catalyst for the company folding. In the past few years alone Sega has had disasters of a much higher profile (Colonial Marines being the most obvious one) that they ultimately weathered without much incident even though they probably spent a lot more money on them in the process.

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SEGA is a multi-million dollar corporation. It's far from being run by idiots despite the rather clumsy decisions they take sometimes. So, for me, while not "glorious", their future is absolutely not grim at all. In fact, it seems pretty good. Not only they have Sonic (whose games continue selling well despite the mixed to positive reviews that the recent titles have received), but several other franchises that they make good profit of as well. 

 

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7 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ace Joranvexeon said:

SEGA were behind Halo Wars 2? Huh,  news to me. 

Sega has several projects that not many know like Age of Empires IV.

 

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1: What do you think will happen to SEGA in the next ten years? Will it survive as a company?

Yes, it will. Mainly as a publisher. Sega's old franchises should be revived soon, but I can't say I trust Sega on how will they do it. Sega is not a quality label. Quality is Relic entertainment's or Creative Assembly's, or the Sonic Mania Team.

2: Assuming SEGA goes bankrupt, what will happen to the Sonic fandom and community at large?

Sonic franchise or even the whole Sega franchises catalog could be bought by Nintendo. We might finally have someone taking good care of Sonic as a franchise.

3: If you have a pessimistic view of SEGA’s future, when do you think it will cease existing outright?

My pessimistic view is only for their franchises, their legacy. As a publisher for talented developers, I think Sega is doing right and don't see them ceasing to exist.

4: If you have an optimistic view of SEGA’s future, what do you think will happen to the company? How will it stay relevant in the modern market?

I don't have it, but I have a simple advice: take care of your legacy, Sega. Nintendo is where it is because they've taken care of their image and franchises. Sega forgets franchise after franchise. It looks like complete unknown people get to control the company every year, thus not knowing anything of Sega's legacy.

5: Do you think fanmade content can qualitatively compete with official content? If so, why? If not, is it because of technical or stylistic errors? Or something else entirely?

When there's money involved, things get better faster. Fanmade projects tend to be unpolished ni some department, although many are really impressive.

6: Do you think the Sonic fandom has superseded SEGA as the primary source of Sonic content?

Not really, no.

7: If you make fan work of any kind, what motivates you to do so, and what kind of work is it?

I don't.

8: Assuming you make fan work of any kind, on average, how long does it take to complete a project?

I don't.

9: If you could pitch a game idea to SEGA, what would it be, and how would it be different from any previous Sonic game?

I assume you're talking about a Sonic game idea. I'd go either for a HD sprite-based game (like Mania but HD sprites) or for a 2.5D.

10: Do you think SEGA should get more involved with its fanbase? If so, why? If not, why?

Yes, totally. Because they don't seem to be good at having ideas most of the time. Sega Forever seemed like a good idea but they rushed it and I still can't play any game in my tablet properly. How are they not making a Mega Drive Mini like Nintendo (don't mention the AtGames Genesis Flashback)? What the hell was Sonic 4?

Sega really needs a group of people that actually know what the company has done since the 80's at least. It's clear the CEO has zero knowledge about Sega, and some knowledge (maybe) about standard business. Which is really sad.

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My sincerest apologies,  when I said SEGA, I meant to state Sonic Team, the subsidiary branch, rather than SEGA itself. This was made as a hobby, and errors are bound to be made, so I once more apologize for my lack of specificity.

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On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 12:43 AM, Mr. Armstrong said:

Just because Forces and Valkyria Revolution fail does not mean that Sega is lost,  Sega actually had a good year.

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Wait. Bayonetta is no longer Sega's? Could have sworn Nintendo saved the franchise.

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2 hours ago, Eternal EX said:

Wait. Bayonetta is no longer Sega's? Could have sworn Nintendo saved the franchise.

Nintendo only gave the money to make Bayonetta 2, the ip belongs to Sega Hideki Kamiya said it hundreds of times on twitter.

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