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Post by JACK-2 on Jan 30, 2015 18:36:11 GMT -5
arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/01/sega-cuts-hundreds-of-jobs-in-pcmobile-focused-restructuring/Sega will be reducing its workforce significantly as it goes through a "group structure reform" to refocus on digital PC and mobile games, the Japanese publisher announced overnight.
As part of the plan, Sega will offer an early retirement package to "around 300" employees and seek to "rightsize" an undeclared number of other employees to reduce labor costs and streamline its packaged games business overseas. The company had about 2,200 employees as of the 2013 fiscal year.
Sega of America will also shut its San Francisco headquarters and move to southern California in a move to reduce fixed corporate expenses. A Sega representative tells Eurogamer that the restructuring will only affect "a limited number of staff" in Europe.
The staff reductions are part of a major pivot away from console games and toward "digital games, centered around smartphone and PC online gaming, as a growth area," as Sega put it. Sega has adapted a number of its popular franchises for mobile platforms in recent months, including Super Monkey Ball, Crazy Taxi, and a pair of Sonic titles.
FURTHER READING
SEGA TO CUT JOBS AFTER MASSIVE LOSSES
After experiencing some significant losses, Sega has announced that it will be …
Once a major player in the console hardware market, Sega has struggled to maintain its brand since becoming a third-party publisher in 2001. After being acquired by pachinko manufacturer Sammy in 2004, the company cut 400 jobs after an extremely weak fiscal performance in 2008.
While Sega's recent release of Creative Assembly's Alien: Isolation sold over a million copies, Wii U and 3DS exclusive Sonic Boom was savaged by critics and seems to have suffered on store shelves. Sega's Football Manager series remains a popular force in Europe, though, with annual releases still regularly appearing near the top of sales charts on the continent.Sega knows. It's funny that when we both decide to drop consoles many companies we both grew up with are switching to consoles. It's like were prophets lol.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 30, 2015 20:06:27 GMT -5
We are. It's why I started going over to PC. Everything was over there anyways, I stopped using my console, and there wasn't really any reason to still use it.
It's sad from a business point of view too in regards to Sega. It shows that California isn't very business friendly for one with all of the high costs. They might be better off in Nevada or something honestly.
Hopefully that means a new Virtua Fighter on PC!
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Post by JACK-2 on Jan 30, 2015 20:44:35 GMT -5
Development cost are also gonna go down because PC is much cheaper to developer for. Since they don't have to pay for overpriced development kits. We'll get much more games like we did back in the days. No more "One bad game = Profits in the Red"
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 30, 2015 20:50:53 GMT -5
Development cost are also gonna go down because PC is much cheaper to developer for. Since they don't have to pay for overpriced development kits. We'll get much more games like we did back in the days. No more "One bad game = Profits in the Red" Yep, no stupid licensing fees and expensive updates. Sega has the right idea. Consoles are just a dumb oligopoly at this point. Nintendo can hold out because of their first party games, extra funds,and their traditional way of doing things, but I wouldn't be surprised if some time in the future they'll be doing PC stuff. Sega made some amazing games and took risks, the PC is perfect for that because of the options. |
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Post by JACK-2 on Jan 30, 2015 20:55:22 GMT -5
Yeah, Nintendo's business model can hold out in console games for now. But, third party devs should do PC. I feel Sega is gonna make a comeback after this restructuring. Consoles are dead as shit, Sega did a good job pulling out when it did.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 30, 2015 21:13:44 GMT -5
Yeah, Nintendo's business model can hold out in console games for now. But, third party devs should do PC. I feel Sega is gonna make a comeback after this restructuring. Consoles are dead as shit, Sega did a good job pulling out when it did. Definitely. With the architecture being the same now there's no reason not to. I don't think consoles have "died off" just yet but they are going downhill, it'll still take some time and now that they're making PC's more and more user friendly with more options while consoles become more like PC lites the choice is clear. I wonder how long Nintendo can hold out? Another 10-15 years at best? |
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Post by JACK-2 on Jan 30, 2015 23:53:04 GMT -5
Check this video out, this guy absolutely destroys this console tard.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 31, 2015 0:55:36 GMT -5
Check this video out, this guy absolutely destroys this console tard. People can't get over their bias. It's astounding. Basically "consoles are consoles so they aren't going anywhere". But when you bring up consoles not performing like the PC "Well that doesn't matter because they're consoles." There's no reason for these inconvenient and under-performing PC's. These people are just fanboys. I can't wait for consoles to go out tbh. Get my favorite games all on one device? You bet. |
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Post by JACK-2 on Jan 31, 2015 2:44:48 GMT -5
Also, the fanboys don't understand the PC development is much Much cheaper than Consoles which basically gentrify the market. It's the reason why we keep getting all these crappy sequels and prequels. Because development cost are too damn high via consoles developing fee. If game development was as cheap as it was in the 6th gen we would have alot more games and alot more creativity. Why would you continue to support a market where no one can take risk because of high cost? SMH.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 31, 2015 3:53:58 GMT -5
Also, the fanboys don't understand the PC development is much Much cheaper than Consoles which basically gentrify the market. It's the reason why we keep getting all these crappy sequels and prequels. Because development cost are too damn high via consoles developing fee. If game development was as cheap as it was in the 6th gen we would have alot more games and alot more creativity. Why would you continue to support a market where no one can take risk because of high cost? SMH. The PC is just a device that's all about freedom and options. Consoles are about restrictions. It's the result of catering to the least common denominator. It made me laugh when someone said that console games were objectively better when PC has more games and even entire genres that aren't on console. PC has mods and everything else to spice up even the greatest classics decades after release. Consoles have just been milking the same thing over and over in the past. The old stuff was great, but they just suck now. They're becoming more and more like PC's and are worse at it. The companies put a lot of restrictions on developers and essentially hold them hostage. The PC is cheaper and freer to work on but we get dumbed down content because of them. |
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Post by gurpwnder on Jan 31, 2015 4:04:00 GMT -5
Hopefully this means we get all the new Sonic games on PC. That'd be great. Sonic Generations on PC was fantastic and I had a great time playing it, along with S3+K. Hopefully we can get some more cool games (that are actually good...)
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 31, 2015 4:06:41 GMT -5
Hopefully this means we get all the new Sonic games on PC. That'd be great. Sonic Generations on PC was fantastic and I had a great time playing it, along with S3+K. Hopefully we can get some more cool games (that are actually good...) I don't see why we wouldn't if this happens. I'm looking for a new VF game which is very possible. This means it should be guaranteed on PC if this happens. I hope this works out for them in the long run. |
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Post by magicattack on Jan 31, 2015 13:27:03 GMT -5
Hopefully you guys are right and they produce some quality "standalone" PC games. My fear is that they restrict themselves to freemium and mmorpgs. Then once in a while releasing a compilation. ie. Bad Dudes.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 31, 2015 13:52:14 GMT -5
Hey Ron! How were the holidays for you?
Well I just want them to do a good job and keep their costs low. Sega had some revolutionary games but they made some bad decisions.
They have a lot of great titles on PC now. Loads of classics.
I think this will happen more and more though with other companies.
I don't know if they'll do MMO's but some people like the F2P model, I don't care either way. It seems to work for fighters. Have one free character rotate and then pay to unlock more characters and costumes and then have a full version people can buy.
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Post by magicattack on Jan 31, 2015 15:48:12 GMT -5
The holidays were good on my end, how about yours?
Sega has had a lot of great games over the years. I just don't want them to turn into a company that only makes f2p games.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Jan 31, 2015 16:08:35 GMT -5
The holidays were good on my end, how about yours? Sega has had a lot of great games over the years. I just don't want them to turn into a company that only makes f2p games. I can't complain. I don't think they'll do that as most games don't fit the model. Do you not like F2P games or Moba style games? |
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Apr 21, 2015 14:34:00 GMT -5
It's over? www.japantoday.com/category/arts-culture/view/fans-mourn-segas-exit-from-the-console-video-game-marketTOKYO —
Sega Sammy Holdings, the parent company that now controls one-time video gaming pioneer Sega, is looking to seriously overhaul its structure and business operations. Statements from the conglomerate have stressed that this is an ongoing process, but one of the first steps seems to be Sega ditching the console video game business to focus on what it considers the areas of biggest growth, mobile and online PC games.
It’s a bittersweet day for the Sega faithful who over the last two decades watched the company’s fortunes take a downturn along with the arcade game market. Perhaps Sega’s new focus will finally help it rebound to the heights of its glory days. For the time being, though, Internet commenters have taken to their keyboards to voice their sorrow over how much they’ll miss its wares (both hard and soft), and also to ponder the hidden nonsensicalness of its new name, Sega Games.
While it was Nintendo that revived video gaming after the industry crash in the early 1980s, Sega has its own lengthy list of contributions to electronic entertainment. In contrast to the way Nintendo almost entirely exited the arcade business after the early success of its Famicom/NES home console, Sega stayed in the game and released some of the most instantly fun to play coin-operated hits of the 1980s and early ‘90s, including the visually impressive “Out Run,” visceral “Golden Axe,” revolutionary “Virtua Fighter,” and ridiculously ambitious 360-degree revolving “R-360” arcade cabinet.
On the home console front, Sega released its 8-bit Master System two years after the Famicom. But while it boasted more powerful hardware than Nintendo’s system, Nintendo’s golden era of in-house development, plus its extremely restrictive exclusive licensing contracts, meant that where software was concerned Sega was basically taking on the whole market by itself. So even while the Famicom was still going strong, Sega dropped its Mega Drive/Genesis into stores.
This started a pattern where Sega would be the big dog, in terms of hardware specs, for a year or so at the start of each new generation of video games. Then, as its rivals’ last-generation systems sputtered out, their successors would appear on the market, surpassing Sega’s in performance and putting the pressure on the company to develop yet another, newer, shinier piece of hardware. Eventually, this game of leapfrog broke Sega, and after its Dreamcast system was discontinued in 2001, Sega decided it was done making consoles and became a publisher for Sony, Microsoft, and even Nintendo’s platforms instead.
Sega’s sporadic bouts at the top, though, have won it an astounding level of loyalty from fans, even though it’s been years since the company has had an unqualified commercial and critical success. With Sega packing its bags and getting ready to vacate the console arena, Japanese Internet commenters have been sounding off about the company’s new direction and its continued status as part of pachinko machine manufacturer Sammy.
“The Sega of today is Sega in name only.”
“The Sega we knew and loved is finished.”
“I hope they can get back the confidence they had when they were making a killing in the arcades.”
“Who says Sega is down for the count? Not me. I’m hoping for a comeback.”
“I really want them to make their own console again.”
“I think their greatest masterpiece was ‘Fantasy Zone.’”
But one Sega loyalist didn’t have anything to say about the company’s hardware or software. Instead, he’s got a bone to pick with whoever came up with its new official name, Sega Games.
“So it’s come to this, even though it used to have totally badass name Sega Enterprises?”
We’re not sure we’d classify the word “enterprises” as badass (maybe it sounds cooler to Japanese ears when it’s pronounced as entaapuraizesu). We can agree that calling the company Sega Games is a little bit silly, though. Why? Because Sega is a compressed mashup of the words “service” and “games.” As such, the change to Sega Games essentially means the company is now “Service Games Games.”
It also makes it incredibly similar to the 2001 release Segaga, in which the player runs a hardware/software company and meets Sega characters in a game so self-referential it was like a fever-dream-powered death throe for the Dreamcast during its final year of life.
While Sega Games Games is exactly the sort of oddball naming convention we could see Sega shouting at the end its mid-‘90s TV commercials, the redundancy can be seen by grumpier gamers as adding insult to injury as it slinks away from consoles. But hey, with all the tragedies you can find in the story of Sega, maybe a little comedy to lighten the mood isn’t such a bad thing? |
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Post by JACK-2 on Apr 22, 2015 0:32:39 GMT -5
Smart move, mobile has like 1 billion dollars over consoles. While PC is just flat out better.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Apr 22, 2015 3:41:16 GMT -5
Smart move, mobile has like 1 billion dollars over consoles. While PC is just flat out better. Sega messed itself up over the years. So much quality. They're Japanese and the Japanese like to cater to the Japs when the US was making them tons of money and they didn't get the same attention. Look at Sonic when it was good. I hope they make more good stuff either way though. Welcome back btw. |
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Post by JACK-2 on Apr 22, 2015 8:11:50 GMT -5
They couldn't adapt to the changing console market overseas and decided to double their efforts in a more fruitful industry. Even Nintendo has to acknowledge the existence of mobile. Look at their new deal with DeNa: time.com/3748920/nintendo-mobile-games/So, the market is changing over there at least. Also, Thanks, it's good to be back. |
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Apr 22, 2015 8:35:08 GMT -5
They couldn't adapt to the changing console market overseas and decided to double their efforts in a more fruitful industry. Even Nintendo has to acknowledge the existence of mobile. Look at their new deal with DeNa: time.com/3748920/nintendo-mobile-games/So, the market is changing over there at least. Also, Thanks, it's good to be back. It's about time Nintendo did something right. Sega had the console market at some point but they just didn't adapt and made poor decisions. Japanese developers like to cater to their small segment and ignore the much larger segment worldwide. Can't do that anymore with mobile and PC's growing so much. |
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Post by magicattack on Apr 22, 2015 13:57:22 GMT -5
Sega Genesis was their last good console. Then they made the add ons- 32X and Sega-CD they were each basically a failure.
Saturn was a nightmare for game designers and never took off here anyways.
Dreamcast, they priced themselves out of the market.
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The Big Daddy C-Master
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Apr 22, 2015 14:10:29 GMT -5
Sega Genesis was their last good console. Then they made the add ons- 32X and Sega-CD they were each basically a failure. Saturn was a nightmare for game designers and never took off here anyways. Dreamcast, they priced themselves out of the market. Sega made too many bad decisions which is a shame considering some of the things they came up with. They just didn't beat the market or keep up. |
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Post by JACK-2 on Apr 23, 2015 8:55:08 GMT -5
It's about time Nintendo did something right. Sega had the console market at some point but they just didn't adapt and made poor decisions. Japanese developers like to cater to their small segment and ignore the much larger segment worldwide. Can't do that anymore with mobile and PC's growing so much. Well, with Mobile they're catering mainly to their growing domestic market. |
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on Apr 23, 2015 19:47:57 GMT -5
It's about time Nintendo did something right. Sega had the console market at some point but they just didn't adapt and made poor decisions. Japanese developers like to cater to their small segment and ignore the much larger segment worldwide. Can't do that anymore with mobile and PC's growing so much. Well, with Mobile they're catering mainly to their growing domestic market. I hope to see good things out of them. |
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Post by Maulen on May 2, 2015 7:06:54 GMT -5
Great! hope I'll see good games in few years from Sega.
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on May 2, 2015 8:45:57 GMT -5
Great! hope I'll see good games in few years from Sega. What Sega games do you like? |
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Post by Maulen on May 2, 2015 15:06:06 GMT -5
Great! hope I'll see good games in few years from Sega. What Sega games do you like? Never played Bayonetta. but would like to have it on steam. There's a lot of games from sega I've played as a kid. can't remember though, but I always knew the logo. |
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Post by The Big Daddy C-Master on May 2, 2015 15:17:11 GMT -5
What Sega games do you like? Never played Bayonetta. but would like to have it on steam. There's a lot of games from sega I've played as a kid. can't remember though, but I always knew the logo. I've heard a lot about that game. I want to play it to. |
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Post by Maulen on May 4, 2015 12:27:40 GMT -5
store.steampowered.com/app/294860/I'm also waiting for this game to go on sale for at least 50%. I probably missed it when it goes on sale last time. Look at the score. it must be really good.
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