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Sega Puts The Brakes On Its Racing Studio

SEGA RALLY REVOH NO!The studio that Sega built specifically to work on its driving franchises has been shut down, reports Develop Magazine. Established in 2005, pulling in talent from UK area development houses like Rockstar, Criterion and Codemasters, the studio only got its hands dirty with one racer, the commercially stalled Sega Rally Revo.

If there's new Daytona, Virtua Racing, Enduro Racer or Sonic R title in the works at Sega, it won't be from this group of 60-odd fellows. Develop cites no known reason for the closure, but we'll just chalk it up to general Sega luck.

Sega Racing Studio closed [Develop]

3:20 PM on Tue Apr 8 2008
By Michael McWhertor
1,230 views
46 comments

Comments

  • I would kill for a new Daytona.

    DAYYYYY-TONE-AHHHHHH

  • EA probably bought them.

  • They didn't do much, so...

    Just hope this constant studio downsizing doesn't catch on.

  • 1st

    prime real estate available

  • Sega luck? Yeah, sounds about right.

    *prays that Sonic Unleashed will be good*

  • Another one bites the virtual dust. They had a fun track deformation engine. But the game was not spectacular so they got axed. Racing games fan endure another loss this week after learning Carmageddon was axed by Eidos :(

  • Maybe it's because nobody can remember any truly great games from them recently.

    Did they make anything that I can't think of?

  • I guess the bad economy is starting to hit yee ol developers.

  • @The_Milkman: PWN3D (And BANN3D)

  • "Sega Rally Revo" what a awful title... it doesn´t pay homage to Sega Rally Championship as it should. It would be much better and sell a lot if it was Sega Rally Unleashed instead. wink wink

  • Shame. I thought Revo was a really good game.

    Granted, if it means less competition for Codemasters, okies then.

  • @balls187++:
    Daaaaaaaaaay-TOE-Naaaaaa

    so much money spent in arcades, so so much money spent on that game.
    please make one on a system i own, and not make it shit.

    ps: so glad that you can download demos on consoles these days - the sega rally demo saved me shelling out 40 quid. never liked SR and the ps3 one was more of the same (which personally wasnt good for me, but im sure was good for others)

  • Am2 and Yu Sazuki haven't been active in a bit (probably Sega's fault). I'm not surprised. Someone please buy Sega and put management out of its misery so that the IPs could make money again.

  • @GMC: The Dreamcast version was far from shit.

  • Come now, let's not pretend Sega just has "bad luck".

    It's clear to me that they are simply alien replicator pods that took over for ye Sega of olde many years ago.

  • Image of Candlejack Candlejack at 03:48 PM on 04/08/08 *

    Revo wasn't a bad game at all. I really think it should have done well. It's just that I don't dig the arcade racer anymore. I had expected that game to be more sim like to be honest, but was let down by that. For an arcade racer though, it packed quite a punch both visually and gameplay wise.

    @balls187++: Just a friendly hint, ban loathing earns the banhammer, too.

  • @Polywhirl: Well Viking and The Club are good games, they're just not Top 10 material. But hey, getting kill multipliers and chopping limbs never goes out of style.

  • Oh man, no new Sonic R? My world has been crushed!

  • @balls187++:

    didnt own a dreamcast.

    did own a pc and heard the pc version was shit.

    My request for non-shittyness was not based on any chip-on-shoulder attitude, it was a sincere hope that any future remake not be shit as i loved the orginal so. Arcade remakes can end up so flat on the console, and a rish t o add extra content can harm the game. This potential remake (which i have just made up in my mind now) needs a lightness of touch that olde sega had!

  • GAME OVER YEAHHHHHHHHHH!

    Sad news though...

    -Niric

  • aawwww daaaamn! i really liked revo.. SEGA.. WTF?

  • Why does Sega close a competent studio like Sega Racing Studio, but continues to allow Sonic Team to ruin their main franchise? Just drop Sonic Team already, I'm sure any other Sega studio could easily make a better Sonic game than they do.

  • More liek "Sega suck".

  • I really didn't understand forming the studio in the first place. You've got Sumo Digital who did fantastic work on Outrun 2 and have generally been an expert source for Sega. It really should have been them making Sega Rally. Pah! I say.

    Still I'm sure since they're only down the street Sumo will be happy to pick a few waifs and strays.

  • I got scared for a second. Thought this meant Sega Rosso was closing. Or did they already close? If so, fuck, this means no more Initial D.

  • @Candlejack: Arcades died charging a buck to play a few races. How can SEGA provide the same shit for the xbox360 and charge $60? I dled the demo and even I was like hmm didn't I play this game on my Dreamcast but it was much better? I actually "have" the PSP version and i couldn't tell a difference between it and the xbox360 version.

    The last decent rally game I played was Rallisport Challenge 1&2 and DiRT (PC).

  • @Rambozo: They probably still making more money off the people playing Phantasy Star Online than all thier other studios combined and is probably the reason why they are keeping them.

    Why can't Sega make cool and interesting games like Shenmue again?

    Even that weird Outtrigger game was alot of fun on Dreamcast, it sure was a change from the shit browns in Quake 3 Arena.

  • @Candlejack: friendly hints about banhammering also incurs banhammering (fyi).

  • Daytona.

    What?

    I'm not a very excitable person.

  • Well shit, if there's 60 developers and all you got is sega rally, you're in deep shit. Should have busted balls over there instead of relaxing...now they're out of a job. I use to go to the arcade just to play vf racing, sega rally and virtua fighter....but there's not that many arcades anymore worth going with a ps3 at home.

  • Shit. I really loved Sega Rally Revo, it's one of the best looking games of this gen IMHO and it played brilliantly as well. I was hoping SRT would do a Daytona Revo next.

    Why couldn't Sega shut down Sonic Team? All they ever make is crap Sonic games. They should let Yu Suzuki out of the shame closet and get him back to making games, including Shenmue III.

  • @nxp3: Unless you live in Japan.

  • Daytona USA on Xbox Live Arcade.

    Why the hell not, Sega?

    As far as Revo goes, I think coming out at the same time as DiRT probably didn't help.

  • Revo just didn't control right, IMO-- I know, Sega Rally is floaty, but this was like being on ice the whole time. It looked gorgeous but the gameplay just wasn't there at all.

    I mean, c'mon Sega-- there are some great unreleased (at home) arcade racers... or an updated Sega Rally would've been fine had it not played like ice hockey on gyroscopes...

  • Closed after 1 game? Come on Sega, Revo was a good game if you like arcade racers. Maybe $60 was asking to much if you wanted it to sell big numbers. I hope theses guys find a good job making racing games somewhere else because I think there talented.

    Sega please stop expecting your "hits" from the past to do big numbers. Look at Mario's, Gta's, Halo's and Final Fantasy's they all take there time to make a quality game. When I play sonic or crazy taxi for psp or nights (you get the point) they all feel rushed like the deadline was more important than the quality. Or that you over estimated how many fans you really had. Thank God they haven't touched Shenmue yet even though I hear yakuza looks good. Anyway I think internally Sega needs to have somewon really creative looking over all of these projects like Nintendo does or Sony had with Phil. Because Sega is all over the map when it comes to their old ip's.
    How about a Sega Classic's Studio ;)

  • First the Korean branch, and now the racing branch? Sega Rally Revo was pretty cool! I know they're not doing THAT bad considering the moderately good titles they've been producing lately. Either they're putting it all into the new Sonic game or there is some foul play going on.

  • I kinda wish that Sega would bring back the old AM Dev Teams of the past, and get rid of it's currently failing "different subsidiaries" concept that came around about the same time that Peter Moore was in charge of SOA. And no, I'm not implying that he were responsible for that logic (Though I certainly wouldn't rule it out, either...)

    To me, what made SEGA great was that they all each had an identity that was first and foremost SEGA(!), and that the concentration seemed focused on making SEGA games, and not WOW Entertainment, United Development Artists, and other tacky names and logos affixed.

    At the same time, I would SERIOUSLY consider going back to Japanese dev teams if I were running the SEGA show. It seemed as if SEGA had a good thing going when it had that method going, and lost it's vision and path when it started dividing itself and really lost it's identity to me when they started going all "Let's make US Sonic Team to go along with Yuji Naka's Sonic Team! They won't know the difference!"

    The problem with this: We know the difference...

    And the difference SUCKS!

    I really miss the SEGA of the 80s and 90s...

  • I suspected trouble when I saw the game in stores not long after I saw the first previews. I don't even recall seeing a launch schedule it was out in stores so quickly and within a couple of months I found it (and bought it) at $19.00 new in the bargain bin.

    There was no hype and nothing to distinguish this game from the rest of the racing games out there. They should have pushed the arcadey aspect further, maybe with some bloated, extreme versions of the cars to make them look more like Hot Wheels versions come to life... anyway, I blame Sega Marketing 100% for the failure of this game and thus the equipe.

    Peace, studio.

  • @balls187++:

    ROOOOOOOOLLLINGGGGGG STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT

  • Sega racers are always hard anyway. Only a few of them is good, well alot of them but they never came out on consoles. Anyway, sorry to hear about the news :(

    SEGA RALLY SUCKED AFTER PART 1 THO. sega rally 2 is impossible to beat, and revo, well its hard too.

  • Too bad Sega didn't put on the brakes and park Sonic the Hedgehog. If Sega did that then the world can rejoice. Oh well, if Sega wants to run Sonic into the ground they can, or I think they already did. Sucks those guys are out of job. Hopefully a company looking to expand will pick them up.

  • I thought Sega were mad for even contemplating starting a European dev studio focusing on racing games; they've been making the best arcade racers since the days of Outrun. Initial D is the best racer around in my opinion, although Egde didn't "get it", giving the PS2 version a criminal 4 out of 10. :-S Sega would have been better off translating and promoting Initial D for the West instead of blowing millions on a European dev studio, especially given the massive following that drifting and street racing has generated over the past few years. Still, the definitive version of the game is due out on PS3 this July - perhaps Sega will finally see sense and give it a worldwide release. ;-)

  • CRAP! I love Sega Rally Revo on my 360, it totally pwned Motorstorm in the mud stakes!

    Gutted!

  • SEGA SUPER GT!!!

    WTF didn't they revive this? This game was awesome.

  • Sega has been disapointing me lately, but I keep thinking of all their great games in the past and I would still support them if they just make some great games. I love VF...wish it was more for the ps3...but this is a great game. Now bring daytona and heck...bring fighting viper back. Enough of sonic.

  • @balls187++: You would kill for the right reasons *applauds*

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