Sonic the Hedgehog may be Sega's most recognizable cash cow—those Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games titles are huge—but the successes of Bayonetta, Total War and Football Manager may represent the new wave of Sega's key franchises.
Sega bigwig Mike Hayes tells CVG in an interview that has designs on "sequelizing" many of its recent hits and some of its expected hits. That includes titles like Platinum Games' Bayonetta, a series already identified by its creators as having sequel and spin-off potential.
"We've got our shooter with [Aliens Vs. Predator] and our RPG with Alpha Protocol - we really want to make that into a franchise. That's the area where we need some success, to sequel-ise that," Hayes says. "If you think about it, we can sequel-ise Bayonetta, AVP, Alpha Protocol - if we can make a hit of something like Vanquish - then you add that to Football Manager and Virtua Tennis - we actually have a broad portfolio."
Maybe not the type of sequels longtime Sega fans have been clamoring for, at least the kind raised on Alex Kidd, Space Harrier, Shinobi, Panzer Dragoon and Jet Set Radio. Those series don't seem to get as much attention from Sega these days, at least not on par with Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star.
Hayes also gives the impression that Creative Assembly's Total War strategy series is ripe for expanding.
"There is still a lot more we can do in the pure historic field," he tells CVG. "But we also think we can take things in another direction [with Total War] - obviously I can't give you any more there. But we want to branch into different areas."
Sega's Mike Hayes Pt. 2 [CVG]