Stocka Posted May 8, 2006 Posted May 8, 2006 http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/705/705584p1.html May 8, 2006 - Sega announced today the formation of Prope, an independent studio headed up by former Sonic Team master, and current head of Sega's software development as a whole, Yuji Naka. Prope, which has 10% of its initial ten million yen in funding provided by Sega, will begin operations on June 1. The studio's goal is to explore new forms of entertainment and build new worldwide intellectual properties. The establishment of Prope is actually the first step in a new independent developer support program from Sega. As part of this program, Sega will be establishing independent development companies from its current development staff. Sega actually dabbled in independent developer subsidiaries years ago. During the Genesis and Saturn eras, Sega housed a group of R&D (research and development) divisions, with such well-known names as AM2, Sonic Team and AM3. During the Dreamcast era, the company split off its R&D divisions into subsidiaries, and while Sonic Team and AM2 kept their names, new studios like Smilebit, Overworks and Amusement Vision were born. Years later, as Sammy took over, Sega absorbed the studios back into its fold, merging teams under a new development structure. While not on the same scale, it appears that Sega is reverting to its Dreamcast-era development structure. Sega plans on pushing this program step-by-step, targeting developers with a proven track record. The program's goals are to push the creative talents of developers and build relationships with development companies. As for Prope, the company has set up a Japanese website which has the following English introduction: "PROPE" (pronounced "pro-pe") is a Latin word which means "beside" and "near" future. We named our company PROPE in the hopes of bringing game entertainment much closer to users, establishing closer ties between users and us, and creating near future entertainment. The new development studio has yet to make specific game announcements. Well thats kind of boosted up the hope of Shenmue III being made I guess. Also because of the timing of this announcement, surely they'll announce/reveal games at E3?!
Anakenobi Posted May 15, 2006 Posted May 15, 2006 So this new company is not really independent from SEGA? If it was, who was going to fund their games? These days the costs of developing games is almost the same costs of making a hollywood movie.
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