Sega Europe Shutting Down Offices

[Hero-of-Time]

Looks like those rumours a while back were true.

 

"We couldn't continue" - Sega Europe COO on restructure

Closing a number of Sega’s territorial offices has been a ‘painful’ but ‘logical’ process, Sega Europe’s COO Jurgen Post has told MCV.

 

Today, the publisher confirmed it will shut offices in France, Germany, Spain, Australia and Benelux and hand sales and marketing duties over to local companies.

 

The shift comes as Sega puts digital content first, with just a handful of boxed product releases a year, after failing to break new IPs into the retail channel.

 

“It’s painful, it’s not an easy process, and we have had to make a lot of changes,” said Post.

 

“But we had to do it. We have been looking at past results, and as we all know the market is tough at the moment, it’s polarising so the bigger games are getting bigger and it’s harder to break new IP.

 

“The business is shifting so fast we had to make the decision. It was inevitable: we couldn’t continue like we were before.”

 

Post told MCV that Sega will now focus on its ‘four IPs pillars’ of Football Manager, Sonic, Total War and Aliens: “65 per cent of our business is generated by those four key IPs. So that is what we will concentrate on.

 

“And within them we will diversify, we really want to go broader with those titles - as we are doing already with things like Football Manager is successful on PC but also now iOS and Android, and Sonic in its many forms.”

 

Sega has not been alone in slimming down its operation. THQ has also recently done the same across Europe – and like Sega it has handed key territories over to distribution force Koch Media.

 

Said Post: “In a way it’s logical. All publishers are focusing on less IP and if you only have a couple of titles, some things have to change.

 

“However, if you are a distributor, if you can combine all of those together, all of a sudden you have a great business model. I think it’s good for the strong distributors at the moment.”

 

Ultimately, the switch comes down to correctly cultivating Sega’s line up of games. The publisher has tried many times over with new IPs and non-Sega brands, and has been disappointed with the results.

 

“We’ve tried with a lot of products to break new IP or new brands into the market but we haven’t succeeded,” said Post.

 

“Some categories are just not working in the market anymore. Titles like Iron Man 2 or other film licences, they don’t work.

 

“Then we tried with new IP; again it’s very tough to get into the market so we basically decided to stop that kind of project because it just takes so much money out of the company. You have to invest in the development and then you have to invest in the marketing and even then it’s still a big gamble.

 

“With the market shifting at the moment and new platforms coming in, it was just the best time to slow down a little bit and focus on what we do best, and that’s those four pillars.

 

“You have to embrace the new world, and you can’t continue doing everything like you were doing it in the past. If you only stick to what you know, you will have a very short success.”

[mcj metroid]

“Some categories are just not working in the market anymore. Titles like Iron Man 2 or other film licences, they don’t work."

 

Iron man 2 was seriously one of the worst games I've ever played. It's no wonder it didn't work. Most of Sega's licensed games were awful, hence why it was taken away from them.

[Cube]

I take it this means we won't get awesome stuff like the Sonic Generations Collector's Edition any more.

[Debug Mode]

I take it this means we won't get awesome stuff like the Sonic Generations Collector's Edition any more.

 

If anything, they should sell more of them. Those things sold like hot cakes.

 

It's pretty unfortunate that this is happening, but they do have a habit of constantly playing it safe these days in the West. Most of these new IP's they release are basically alternate versions of pre-existing popular games.

 

I think I can see their new strategy though. They are definitely testing the market potential of old IP's with the next-gen ports and release sequels if the response is good, but they should be very careful about that. It's a good idea, but they constantly cut corners when it comes to these things (looking at you Sonic 4), and the fact that very little love is going into them is really rubbing on the fans.

 

The crack between SoA and SoJ is getting bigger by the year and this is what they need to address. The internal conflicts in the 90's are well known, but I've always felt that's never come to an end. Big games for Sega in Japan are niche in the west, but niche is still a solid market and they continuously ignore it or put the games through such a long localisation process that by the time they release it people have already given up and imported the JP copy.

 

Look at Anarachy Reigns as a big example of this. The English vocals are already in, just needs an age rating and a few menu translations (I'll do it for a fiver Sega), but we've gotta wait for Spring 2013. Platinum Games supposedly tweeted about it urging fans to import it because of this.

[Hero-of-Time]

Look at Anarachy Reigns as a big example of this. The English vocals are already in, just needs an age rating and a few menu translations (I'll do it for a fiver Sega), but we've gotta wait for Spring 2013. Platinum Games supposedly tweeted about it urging fans to import it because of this.

 

That really annoyed me as I was looking forward to the game. I may just import it and like you said, it's pretty much translated anyway.

[Ike]

SEGA is probably the only company that can die twice

 

Guess this means more Dreamcast ports

[Dcubed]

Look at Anarachy Reigns as a big example of this. The English vocals are already in, just needs an age rating and a few menu translations (I'll do it for a fiver Sega), but we've gotta wait for Spring 2013. Platinum Games supposedly tweeted about it urging fans to import it because of this.

 

Not even that. The game is entirely in English already! (you can switch to English from the menu options)

 

The game is done and ready to go, but SEGA delayed it at the last minute (SOA/SOE probably had to fight to even get a release at all for it and a delay was a compromise)

 

In a way there's a silver lining in all this in that SOJ will still be making arcade titles (as Japan still has a budding Arcade scene) and the western arm's new found focus on digital should mean that we'll be getting those titles in download form.

 

Still, I can't see them localising the likes of Yakuza anymore, so say goodbye to all their RPGs (unless they start allowing 3rd parties to localise their games for them again!)

Edited June 29, 2012 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

Still, I can't see them localising the likes of Yakuza anymore, so say goodbye to all their RPGs (unless they start allowing 3rd parties to localise their games for them again!)

 

It's a shame if that happens. I've heard nothing but good things about the Yakuza series and I know there are one or two fans of the games on these boards. I really need to sit down and play them at some point.

[Magnus]

It's a shame if that happens. I've heard nothing but good things about the Yakuza series and I know there are one or two fans of the games on these boards. I really need to sit down and play them at some point.

I guess the lesson here is to actually support niche titles when they're released. :p

 

Not that that made a difference with Valkyria Chronicles. Thanks for nothing, Sega.

[Hero-of-Time]

Not that that made a difference with Valkyria Chronicles. Thanks for nothing, Sega.

 

I just bought the first one yesterday. I'm expecting good things from it as everyone has raved on about it since its release.

[Magnus]

Well, they did do a fantastic job with the dub...