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View Full Version : Sega And Sammy(chaos Relationship)



alistein
04-05-2004, 04:12 PM
Here is an article from the latest issue of edge magazine about Sammy and Sega and it looks as if this forced merger is similar to that of Phantagram and NCSoft which only saw NCSoft gain while Phantagram continued loosing until it came to it's senses and bought it self over from NCsoft, well it seems the Sega we know might soon be a memory to be told to the kids here is Edges article. hope it comes clear as I had to type it all.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/objectifmicro/psoscene_a2.jpg The fuel for the fire makes ugly reading. After 3months of shilly shallying about a prospective merger between the 2 companies, Sega finally called things off last summer. Sammy was reportedly furious. Then, in December 2003 Sammy bought 22.4 percent of Sega’s shares from CSK Corporation, a computer services and outsourcing company that bought in to Sega in1984. This made Sammy the majority shareholder. Soon after that, Sammy CEO Satomi Hajime issued a threat, announcing that Sammy would consider buying further share in Sega and reducing it to a subsidiary if Sega did not cooperate with his plans for the company .A few weeks later, shareholders appointed him Sega's new chairman.
There are reports from Japanese insiders that the mood is very bleak at Sega. Some say Sega’s president Hisao Oguchi who opposed the Sammy merger, will have no option but to leave resign and that key Sega staff, such as Toshiro Nagoshi,Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki will follow. All this is unconfirmed. But what is also unconfirmed is the existence of any concrete evidence to support the rumors currently circulating that Sammy intends to demolish Sega, as we know it.
Sega doom mongers have three main fears for the future of the company under Sammy .The first is that Sammy will either abandon or emasculate Sega 's console development activities. There’s certainly reason for this concerns: Satomi-san's bullish (although accurate) statements to the press emphasized the loss making nature of Sega’s consumer projects (2.5 billion yen /12.3 million pounds) as opposed to the substantial profits of their arcade division (5.6billionyen/27.6 million pounds), and indicated he would require Sega to select it’s home console releases ‘more strictly in the future’. Nor have any reassuring announcements concerning the current Sega projects been forthcoming .In lieu of any official word from Sammy, the best clue perhaps lie with Rowe’s assessment of the company’s current position. “Is the pachinko market saturated absolutely .You might be able to garner a little more market share, but in terms of total units it’s not a growing business. And so Satomi-san wants to build an international interactive entertainment division where there is room for expansion, and certainly includes console gaming and likely Pc gaming as well.’’
It’s a statement that is at odds with the idea of Sammy intending to wind down Sega ‘s home console business.
However it says nothing for the quality or nature of games that will be produced from that division. Despite being cherished by dedicated gamers it’ no secret that many of Sega’s more ground breaking titles such as REZ and SHENMUE, were a commercial disaster. Rowe again: ‘The first thing we have to think of when we start making a game is whether we go for the casual or hard core market. And there’s ten times as more of one as the other.”The next fear is that Sammy will plunder Sega’s IP (Intellectual property) to promote it’s own ¸lower quality arcade titles. Again, there’s no official word on this, but a number of factors make it definitely it unlikely. The first is Sammy’s intense pride .The .The strength of belief the firm has in Atomiswave is impressive, although only time will tell if it’s well founded. There is every intention to seethe brand succeed on it’s own merit, and with it’s own titles. The fact of the matter is that the places where Sammy wants to succeed (see Rick Rochetti interview)- the developing world and the non arcade environment in the west are places where the likes of Tails and knuckles mean very little at all.
The third fear, that Sammy will empty Sega’s lucrative arcade floor space and fill it with it’s own, more profitable pachinko and pachinko lot machines is probably the least well founded, since it contradicts everything about Sammy’s position as Rowe sets it out. There is no reason for Sammy to want to weaken Sega’s stronghold on the arcade ‘ especially since Rocketti makes it clear that there is an awareness that Atomiswave’s most lucrative market is almost certainly in a non-traditional setting. Now there is no reason to assume that the two brands couldn’t exist side by side, catering to different markets. Nothing, at this stage, can be certain except perhaps one thing: Sammy wants it all. The overwhelming tone of the company at the moment is one of ardent, aggressive ambition. There is a perception among gamers that Sammy isn’t interested in them, and to some extent that is justified; the company’s eyes are firmly fixed on the vast, untapped market of current non-gamers. However, that Sammy doesn’t want to make money out of gamers, and the way to do that is to make the games that they want to buy. As Rowe makes clear, Sammy is well aware that if gamers don’t like what they are getting, they’ll vote with their wallets and buy from someone else. Sammy simply doesn’t act like a company prepared to let that happen.
http://www.wapers.com/games/shenmue/shenmue2640.jpg

[ March 27, 2004, 13:12: Message edited by: Alistein ]

StudioAlex
04-06-2004, 01:53 PM
Ummm... Microsoft to the rescue!!!!


Please?