In the wake of big industry acquisitions and mergers like ActiBlizzard and the continuing EA/Take-Two dramas, Sega Sammy US chief executive Simon Jeffrey was asked by Reuters whether Sega were interested in getting in on any of that action:
That's not an area we want to play in right now. We have no interest in being acquired, we are very happy with our position right now.So right. I'm sure there's a rule somewhere saying you can only be bought and merged once a decade.
Sega encouraged by strong "Mario & Sonic" sales [Reuters]










Comments
Just have one baby, Skies of Arcadia 2, with Square enix as the mother, please.
If only they had that attitude about merging with Sammy, maybe then I'd get a Wii sequel that wouldn't make me cry.
Wait, when did Sega merge with another company? When was this and how did I not know about it earlier?
I wish Square Enix or Nintendo buy them. SE for crazy games and for Nintendo to have a 2nd party or 1st party throw back feel to it.
would be cool if nintendo aquired sega. mario-quality sonic platformer!
Yeah, I'd like to see a Skies of Arcadia 2 myself, but wasn't that made by Overworks? Alot of SEGA published games and houses became independent before the DC died. They were free to make games for non-DC platforms, which means they weren't necessarily SEGA owned. I could be wrong about one of these things though...
SEGA...they've certainly gone downhill. It's very sad.
:( I shoulda inb4'd... j/k it would be crazy to have an acutal canon game with both mainstars.
@Spiral: Sonic's not used to having to collect crap to move onto the next level.
I think Sega's quality is hurting due to the merger, The were on a hardware slump, but a software high at teh time, then they merged with sammy(Who at the time thought that pachino machines were the way to go) ad Dev teams got combined, and freedom got squashed. They need more freedom, IMHO they need to buy them selves awyay from Sammy.
in the state Sega is in, for the games, I wouldn't mind them being bought by Nintendo. They are not what they used to be :(
@kaitousai: Yep, but Sega still owns the rigts to Skies of Arcadia, and what I wanted was a new one made by Square enix.
But gah, I do want a new Skies of Arcadia game.
@Spiral: nor is he focused on jumping.
@kaitousai: I think that sega gave them the ability to create non dreamcast stuff due to the fact that they were going multi-Platform.
Sammy Merged most of Sega's dev houses together, and squaseh creativity.
@Sinnbox: They probably don't have the money for it. Hell, it took 3 Halos for Bungie to do it.
They would need sucesses like the first three Sonics on the genesis to make that kind of money.
i said mario-quality, not mario-like -.-
I Eat You At Quizno's....
@QC8472: Sadly i think that Nintendo would crush them, Nintendo would need to give them back their creativity, and unmerge teams, rehire people, ect...IMO Sega's problemis that they are trying to revive old franchises using only parts of the old teams.....
PS. how bout a SquareEnix version of Panzer Dragoon Saga?
@QC8472: True, Mario and Sonic just got them a boat load of cash, but I'm sure Nintendo got alot of that money.
@Spiral: What I said was directed towards something you said in an alternate universe, sorry for the misunderstanding.
I knew Sammy would ruin Sega, and I was more right than I ever wished to be.
@Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.: True, I was a huge Sega fan back then, The moment i read in the Official Dreamcast Magazine that they had merged, I felt sick.
@Sinnbox: The freedom for non-DC games came about 5~7 months prior to SEGA going multi-platform announcement. It was unknown at the time. It probably was done in advance though, but only a SEGA official can clear that up. It's been some time ago, wish I could remember everything.
I'm still itching for a Skies of Arcadia 2 though ;-;
Did they make the Sonic Adventure series before or after the merge? Because that was the last great thing Sega really put out...
@Samos42: I don't know, but Sonic Adventure was the best Sonic game ever, along with Sonic Adventure 2.
Ohh how I love Chao's.
@Samos42: Way before, They came out with soem good stuff after sonic adventure, Shenmue, REZ, Jet Set Radio, ect... They had alot of good looking stuff previewed in the last few issues of ODCM that never saw the light of day.
@Gigith: Finaly someone that agrees with me, it seems that everyone hates them, I loved sonic adventure.
@Sinnbox: Wow, I remember reading that too in that issue. I think I felt the same exact way...
@Spiral: I COMPLETELY agree with that. Although having Nintendo make a sonic game, would be sacrilegious, I really think it would do the series some good.
Boy, 20 years ago I never thought I'd be saying that.
Come back real Sega! And while we're wishing. Can we have Enix stop pimping Square's Final Fantasy IP like a cheap whore and have them develop something cool like Illusion of Gaia?
@TimO777: Nintendo would help alot of the Sega games, but IMO they would kiddyize some of them, I would love a part Nintendo produced Clockwork Knight 3
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: I thought that Illusion of Gaia was a nintendo production? A pawnshop near me keeps getting tons of copys of that game.
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: Yeah, I used to be such a hard-core SEGA fan, but it wasen't after the Dreamcast I stopped, it's when SEGA started putting out crappy games like Sonic Heroes.
Only good game with the Sonic IP so far is Sonic Battle for the GBA, but that was made by THQ.
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: I was just thinking the other day that Square had tons of more interesting games on the PS1 than the PS2.
@Gigith: preach on, brother-man.
yeah, we all wish they got bought by nintendo or anybody else, but that didnt happen, so here's to hoping yakuza 3 or whatever doesnt suck. if it does...well, at least bioware's on sonic RPG.
@Sinnbox: Actually looks like a company called Quintet made it, but it was published by Enix and Nintendo.
[en.wikipedia.org]
@Sinnbox: Yeah, but at least they would be better. I have to say though, that Sonic for the Wii is a great game. Definitely my favorite 3D sonic since Sonic Adventure.
now that i think about it there have been some good sega games sice the DC, but they realy are whoring out the sonic franchise.
Panzer Dragoon Orta(Great Game)
Gun-Valkyrie(Good)
JetSetRadioFuture(Good)
Skies Legends(as good as the original)
Shenmue 2(EHH..ok)
Billy Hatcher(Ok for a new IP)
Sega GT...(ok i'm not a racer fan)
and lots more...
The new valkyrie game for PS3 looks amazing!!!
@TimO777: I'll have to look into that once i get a new Wii.
@TheIrishNinja: Yeah, I can't wait for that. I love Bioware even though the AI in Mass Effect is unbelieveibly horrible.
I hope SEGA gets some good teams soon, but even if they don't they have the right idea to work with THQ and Bioware.
And I can't wait for Yakuza 3.
An area they shouldn't have played in was going strictly software.
@Sinnbox: Technically, Shenmue 2 was a DC games (I should know, I have a copy for my DC sitting in my living room!)
I was only a brief Sega fanboy during the Dreamcast years (not like I didn't like them before, but I never paid much attention to them during their Genesis hay day when I had a SNES), but during that brief time, it seemed like Sega could do no wrong.
Basically all I want from Sega anymore is the completion of the Shenmue series. Anything else just doesn't seem to capture my interest.
@Trowble (XBL/PSN): I have wondered about that, I think that if they had started a new console they may have succeded, but To many people were turned off. I would love to see them pull out some new hardware in the future....
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: ya, I have seen it, but I was mainly talking about US releases. I about bought Shenmue 2 for $6 from a local import shop, but waited for the Xbox veersion. P.S. I love imports, It seems that new DC games pop up in Japan every so often....
@Sinnbox: Really, the Japanese voice acting is worth it if you get the U.K. version. One thing that annoyed me with the original Shenmue was the horrible English voice acting. Especially the main character's whinny spoiled brat voice.
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: ya the voice acting was bad, is it all subtitled in the UK version?
@Sinnbox: Yup. The minor inconvenience of having to read the text far out-weighs the English voice actors. Plus I think the game just feels like it should be played on a Dreamcast. I saw it on an Xbox, and for some reason..it didn't feel right (probably the voices, haha)
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: could be i do know that the Xbox version of 2 was far less enjoyable than 1 on dreamcast...I remember all my friends were excited cause Majoras mask(and the PS2) were comming out the day shenmue was released. They soon were in awe of shenmue and many dreamcast fans were born....
@Sinnbox: To tell you the truth, Shenmue 2, while more ambitious, probably wasn't as good as Shenmue 1. One thing that I think that hurt it was the fact you didn't have a dojo to spare in/memorize your moves, so every battle was either button mashing, or looking through your move scrolls.
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: True. What ever happend to that MMO shenmue that was announced?
True, What ever happened to that Shenmue world MMO that was supposed to be comming?
Last I heard it was Korean only (if it ever came out).
Wasn't really looking for it. MMO's don't seem to be the right fit for a story driven detective game -- you'd have jerks spamming the shout channels, giving away all the details and spoilers.
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: true.
I would love to have the original redone on 360 or PS3...I can only wish though....
@Capt. Struggle Bunny: You must not have played City of Heroes. Mind you, the jerks are usually too stupid to figure out the plot points.
@Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.: That sucks, The only MMO I have played was WOW, fun, but time consuming....
well guys it 2:30 am here i got to head to bed...
can't say if another merger would be good or not.
i know there are probably way better sega games,
but sonic and the secret rings was good like sonic again.
i owned a genesis and every sonic for it,
so don't kill me.
I think Sega is gaining the ground it lost and they have learned from the fans to stop rushing sonic platform games... Or maybe I'm just behind on whats coming out but it looks like their treating sonic now with the same love nintendo has for mario(hahaha). I like this new leaf they are turning over and hope the games developed for the western market do very well. Don't overlook that Yakuza 3 and that PS3 rpg show there still making games just for japan in mind too. I really enjoyed Sega rally and can't wait for samba for wii. Also that they even brought out nights still shows they value their old "dead" ip.
Anyway I try to do my part and buy the games i like from them. I bought ghost squad and plan to get superstar tennis, Hotd 2&3 and bass fishing. Why buy games i already own for other systems? Because its the only way i can see shenmue 3 ever getting made and I can't leave Ryo in that cave to die. :(
Sega should have merged with Nintendo instead of Sammy. It's pretty clear that what Sega had during the DC era was what the Cube missed. The other way around not as much but Nintendo's reputation and their business side of things could have helped Sega. That is kind of happening with Sega's Wii releases which are mostly DC ports although it's too little, too late.
Please stop saying SquareEnix should do Sega rpgs, they're not the only ones making good rpgs you know. They would probably turn them into DS games anyway.
Thus proving that Sega's not on drugs, but they're all just incredibly stupid.
@Gigith:
I'm guessing that it's not too likely considering Sega's arrogance because of stupid people who buy their not-so-high-quality games.
@ph15h: Sonic Fantasy? Tails Quest? Space Cream?
I don't think those would work as crossovers if Squeenix and SS merged.