The announcement of Balan Wonderworld (by Nakas new Balan company and Oshimas Artoon/Arzest) and TetrisEffects (by Mizuguchi) during the Xbox show made me think about the games and studios made by ex-Sega people.
I'm going through every studio that was founded by ex-Sega employees and what they have made.
It actually all started with the 1995 company Dream Factory by Seichii Ishi. Intially, Ishii worked with Suzuki on Virtua Fighter. Working on Virtua Fighter and then Tekken made him want to do his own thing. Most famous game is Tobal No.1 for Square. The latest game for them is the Xevoius mobile game for Namco in 2016
Square has seemingly been involved with a couple of people that worked on Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. Kunihiko Nakata like Ishii worked on the early 3d games of Suzuki and then founded his own company that developed a fighting game for Squaresoft - Bushido Blade. Now: Hello Kitty and mobile games.
Now Marvelous is less of a game developer and more of a Japanese media conglomerate that also does games - that don't necesarily have a Sega connection. But the company has been founded by the famed Sega executive Hayao Nakayama. You know, he served as SoJ CEO from 1984 to 1998. He's gone through all the good and the bad - from giving the greenlight to SoA for their Genesis marketing in NA with Sonic the Hedgehog to pushing all the Saturn decisions in NA....
Another company formed by ex AM2 employees. I think the game that is of note to most is actually the Virtua Cop 1&2 collection on PS2...not else they have is much of note. Assisting on games, mobile games...and uhhh they helped make Shenmue III!
This company was founded in 1999, by two Sega people. One is a Sega marketer who's names escapes me, but the other guy is Tomohiro Kondo. Kondo worked as a game designer on Shadow Dancer on the Genesis, was director of the Rad Mobile arcade port on the Saturn, and was producer on the three Panzer Dragoon games on the Saturn.
Land Ho! continued to work with Sega on horse training simulators and educational games on DS and PSP....and for other companies they developed casual dance games (Wii versions of Just Dance etc.), mobile games and so on.
The most interresting thing is their Panzer Dragoon connections when they do have them. Like, they developed the PS2 port of Panzer Dragoon for the Sega Ages 2500 series, and also worked on the spiritual successor for Microsoft, Crimson Dragon. They also consulted with the team that developed the new PD remake by Forever Entertainment.
Now we're getting to more significant stuff. Artoon was founded by two powerful Sega guys. One is Yoji Ishii who created some of the first most memorable Sega games in the arcade, such as Fantasy Zone and Flicky, who then became manager of Sega's console games around 1994 or so - NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, Sakur Wars, all the good Saturn stuff as well as later Genesis stuff like Ristar. Then we have Naoto Oshima, the character designer and artist of Sonic and NiGHTS.
Their output includes original platformers like Pinobee, Blinx, working with Nintendo on Yoshi games, as well as working with Mistwalker on RPGs like Blue Dragon. On 2011, they shut down, but re-emerged as Arzest. More on that later.
Here we have another studio founded by ex-AM2. This time by Keiji Okayasu, who's extensive lead programming credits include, Rent-A-Hero, Sword of Vermillion, Saturn version of VF1, 2, Shenmue and then being executive producer on the 3D remake of Rent-A-Hero, Rent-A-Hero No.1.
Sadly, studiofake did not end up that interresting...mostly assisting other companies (Chibi Robo for Nintendo) or working on other IP (DS version of Dynasty Warriors?). Fun fact, this studio came recently back to assisting on Sega arcade titles as well as on Shenmue III. Alongside the usual mobile games of course.
Signal Talk Corp. was founded by Kaya Takafumi, but just spent two years at Sega. Specifically at Sonic Team, he was main planner on Chu Chu Rocket, and then continued to work within the mobile realm, as well the as GBA version of ChuChu Rocket. At Signal Talk Corp. he continued to work on rather non-gaming applications? Well there is Mahjong PC games that I see on their website....
Ah, a siginficant studio again. You know Rez and Mizuguchi, right? This studio continues that lineage with Lumines, Every Extend Extra, Rez HD, Meteos and Child of Eden. The studio still exists, but Mizuguchi left to from Enhance Games.
Most likely the most publicized exodus of Sega, during the development of the infamous Sonic 06, The Sonic Team leader himself - Yuji Naka, left Sega. And weirdly, his first couple of games, Let's Tap and Let's Catch, still were published by Sega. Prope continued to make some admirable novel games imo. Ivy the Kiwi, Rodea the Sky Soldier...but then it fell of the face of the earth with a middling licensed games like Digimon and also mobile games...officially it still exists, but with Yuji Naka launching Balan at Square Enix, its a shell now.
This company was formed in 2006 by the person who directed the original Sega Rally and a bunch of other racing games at Sega of the same lineage (Sega TouringCar, Initial D Arcade Stage). His last title at Sega was the JP only Sega Rally 2006 for PS2.
They seemingly still work in the realm of Japanese arcade games. Their clients have Bandai Namco, Tose, Square Enix but also Sega - infact Sega's newest racing game (Sega World Drivers Championship) is partly developed by them.
Now the founder of this company is interresting. Kotaro Hayashida has a career at Sega and Game Arts, and is overall quite the illuminous figure. At Sega he was the creative force behind Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd at Miracle World, and then has "planning and production" credits for the first Sonic and the first Shining Force. Aside from Alex Kidd, all the three other IP that he helped create at Sega are still active, which is impressive. When he left Sega for Game Arts, the most notable game he worked on was the first Grandia.
Liber Entertainment itself is not that exciting however - from what I can see on their website, it's mostly support for games and mobile games.
This one is founded by a very interresting Sega employee. Tetsu Katano main point of fame after working on some arcade games is being the originator and director of Segagaga. He also worked on Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Gunstar Super Heroes and Thunder Force VI. He then founded Huga, which continues his way of bizarre retro throwbacks of mostly shmups, the kind that you see on Japanes doujin cons.
Two true Sega veterans founded this one. One is Mineko Okamura, she worked with Mizuguchi but then later went to work for Microsoft Japan. The other is Yukio Futatsagi, the creator of Panzer Dragoon. In terms of of how interresting they are, I would put them above Land Ho! but not on par with Prope or Q?. They actually worked on a very underrated Nintendo published title for the 3DS called Sakura Samurai. In regards to Sega connections, they helped create Crimson Dragon with Land Ho! and also made the Space Channel 5 VR game.
Now this one is interresting. By far the most beloved aspect of Sega is their consoles. Now alot of their console staff stayed at Sega working on arcades, toys and such. But a number of them went to make a new company called Advance Create, lead by Hideki Sato, the hardware lead at Sega, involved in creating every Sega console. What to they do? LED lighting for roads, signage, batteries and various electronic equipment like that. Very interresting indeed....
The company that made Shenmue III actually was founded in 2008. Bunch of failed pitches, mobile games, unsuccessfull attempts and a successful Kickstarter later - finally Shenmue III was released in 2019. Wew! We all of course continue to hope that Yu Suzuki continues to make some games.
The successor to Artoon. It's mostly the same as before. They continue to work with Nintendo (this time also doing a Pikmin spin-off and not just Yoshi) and do support for other games. However their new project Balan Wonderworld show at the Xbox Games Showcase - is likely their biggest project since Blinx all the way back in 2002.
Anyone play orgarhythm on the Vita? It's by them and the company was founded by Takeshi Hirai who worked with Mizuguchi, at Sega and at Q? as well. No original games of note after that tough. Mobile games, assitance on bigger games (such as Shenmue III, which Hirai used to work on),
The two above are companies were I cannot find any game attached to them...support and mobile stuff I guess? More interresting are the people that founded these. GameBank was founded by Masahiro Shiino who worked on the Typing of the Dead, sports games and mobile games. At GameBANK, which lasted 2 years, he also developed more mobile games.
ArAtA is founded by AM3 people like Shoichiro Kanazawa and Mie Kumagai. Seems like support for anything digital etc.
Continuation of Q? Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect are their titles. One man company. Development goes to other companies.
And here we have Yuji Naka's new company. Or rather "brand". Balan Wonderworld is their first title, named after the brand itself. Does not seem that it will be a full fledged developer, but rather development goes out to Arzest. Similar to how Mistwalker worked.
So that's it.
IMO it still seems like Capcom has the strongest ex-employee companies with stuff like Inti Create, Platinum Games, Hexa Drive etc. Just shows that Capcom just has/had very strong developers I guess.
I'm going through every studio that was founded by ex-Sega employees and what they have made.
It actually all started with the 1995 company Dream Factory by Seichii Ishi. Intially, Ishii worked with Suzuki on Virtua Fighter. Working on Virtua Fighter and then Tekken made him want to do his own thing. Most famous game is Tobal No.1 for Square. The latest game for them is the Xevoius mobile game for Namco in 2016
Square has seemingly been involved with a couple of people that worked on Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. Kunihiko Nakata like Ishii worked on the early 3d games of Suzuki and then founded his own company that developed a fighting game for Squaresoft - Bushido Blade. Now: Hello Kitty and mobile games.
Now Marvelous is less of a game developer and more of a Japanese media conglomerate that also does games - that don't necesarily have a Sega connection. But the company has been founded by the famed Sega executive Hayao Nakayama. You know, he served as SoJ CEO from 1984 to 1998. He's gone through all the good and the bad - from giving the greenlight to SoA for their Genesis marketing in NA with Sonic the Hedgehog to pushing all the Saturn decisions in NA....
Another company formed by ex AM2 employees. I think the game that is of note to most is actually the Virtua Cop 1&2 collection on PS2...not else they have is much of note. Assisting on games, mobile games...and uhhh they helped make Shenmue III!
This company was founded in 1999, by two Sega people. One is a Sega marketer who's names escapes me, but the other guy is Tomohiro Kondo. Kondo worked as a game designer on Shadow Dancer on the Genesis, was director of the Rad Mobile arcade port on the Saturn, and was producer on the three Panzer Dragoon games on the Saturn.
Land Ho! continued to work with Sega on horse training simulators and educational games on DS and PSP....and for other companies they developed casual dance games (Wii versions of Just Dance etc.), mobile games and so on.
The most interresting thing is their Panzer Dragoon connections when they do have them. Like, they developed the PS2 port of Panzer Dragoon for the Sega Ages 2500 series, and also worked on the spiritual successor for Microsoft, Crimson Dragon. They also consulted with the team that developed the new PD remake by Forever Entertainment.
Now we're getting to more significant stuff. Artoon was founded by two powerful Sega guys. One is Yoji Ishii who created some of the first most memorable Sega games in the arcade, such as Fantasy Zone and Flicky, who then became manager of Sega's console games around 1994 or so - NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, Sakur Wars, all the good Saturn stuff as well as later Genesis stuff like Ristar. Then we have Naoto Oshima, the character designer and artist of Sonic and NiGHTS.
Their output includes original platformers like Pinobee, Blinx, working with Nintendo on Yoshi games, as well as working with Mistwalker on RPGs like Blue Dragon. On 2011, they shut down, but re-emerged as Arzest. More on that later.
Here we have another studio founded by ex-AM2. This time by Keiji Okayasu, who's extensive lead programming credits include, Rent-A-Hero, Sword of Vermillion, Saturn version of VF1, 2, Shenmue and then being executive producer on the 3D remake of Rent-A-Hero, Rent-A-Hero No.1.
Sadly, studiofake did not end up that interresting...mostly assisting other companies (Chibi Robo for Nintendo) or working on other IP (DS version of Dynasty Warriors?). Fun fact, this studio came recently back to assisting on Sega arcade titles as well as on Shenmue III. Alongside the usual mobile games of course.
Signal Talk Corp. was founded by Kaya Takafumi, but just spent two years at Sega. Specifically at Sonic Team, he was main planner on Chu Chu Rocket, and then continued to work within the mobile realm, as well the as GBA version of ChuChu Rocket. At Signal Talk Corp. he continued to work on rather non-gaming applications? Well there is Mahjong PC games that I see on their website....
Ah, a siginficant studio again. You know Rez and Mizuguchi, right? This studio continues that lineage with Lumines, Every Extend Extra, Rez HD, Meteos and Child of Eden. The studio still exists, but Mizuguchi left to from Enhance Games.
Most likely the most publicized exodus of Sega, during the development of the infamous Sonic 06, The Sonic Team leader himself - Yuji Naka, left Sega. And weirdly, his first couple of games, Let's Tap and Let's Catch, still were published by Sega. Prope continued to make some admirable novel games imo. Ivy the Kiwi, Rodea the Sky Soldier...but then it fell of the face of the earth with a middling licensed games like Digimon and also mobile games...officially it still exists, but with Yuji Naka launching Balan at Square Enix, its a shell now.
This company was formed in 2006 by the person who directed the original Sega Rally and a bunch of other racing games at Sega of the same lineage (Sega TouringCar, Initial D Arcade Stage). His last title at Sega was the JP only Sega Rally 2006 for PS2.
They seemingly still work in the realm of Japanese arcade games. Their clients have Bandai Namco, Tose, Square Enix but also Sega - infact Sega's newest racing game (Sega World Drivers Championship) is partly developed by them.
Now the founder of this company is interresting. Kotaro Hayashida has a career at Sega and Game Arts, and is overall quite the illuminous figure. At Sega he was the creative force behind Phantasy Star and Alex Kidd at Miracle World, and then has "planning and production" credits for the first Sonic and the first Shining Force. Aside from Alex Kidd, all the three other IP that he helped create at Sega are still active, which is impressive. When he left Sega for Game Arts, the most notable game he worked on was the first Grandia.
Liber Entertainment itself is not that exciting however - from what I can see on their website, it's mostly support for games and mobile games.
This one is founded by a very interresting Sega employee. Tetsu Katano main point of fame after working on some arcade games is being the originator and director of Segagaga. He also worked on Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Gunstar Super Heroes and Thunder Force VI. He then founded Huga, which continues his way of bizarre retro throwbacks of mostly shmups, the kind that you see on Japanes doujin cons.
Two true Sega veterans founded this one. One is Mineko Okamura, she worked with Mizuguchi but then later went to work for Microsoft Japan. The other is Yukio Futatsagi, the creator of Panzer Dragoon. In terms of of how interresting they are, I would put them above Land Ho! but not on par with Prope or Q?. They actually worked on a very underrated Nintendo published title for the 3DS called Sakura Samurai. In regards to Sega connections, they helped create Crimson Dragon with Land Ho! and also made the Space Channel 5 VR game.
Now this one is interresting. By far the most beloved aspect of Sega is their consoles. Now alot of their console staff stayed at Sega working on arcades, toys and such. But a number of them went to make a new company called Advance Create, lead by Hideki Sato, the hardware lead at Sega, involved in creating every Sega console. What to they do? LED lighting for roads, signage, batteries and various electronic equipment like that. Very interresting indeed....
The company that made Shenmue III actually was founded in 2008. Bunch of failed pitches, mobile games, unsuccessfull attempts and a successful Kickstarter later - finally Shenmue III was released in 2019. Wew! We all of course continue to hope that Yu Suzuki continues to make some games.
The successor to Artoon. It's mostly the same as before. They continue to work with Nintendo (this time also doing a Pikmin spin-off and not just Yoshi) and do support for other games. However their new project Balan Wonderworld show at the Xbox Games Showcase - is likely their biggest project since Blinx all the way back in 2002.
Anyone play orgarhythm on the Vita? It's by them and the company was founded by Takeshi Hirai who worked with Mizuguchi, at Sega and at Q? as well. No original games of note after that tough. Mobile games, assitance on bigger games (such as Shenmue III, which Hirai used to work on),
The two above are companies were I cannot find any game attached to them...support and mobile stuff I guess? More interresting are the people that founded these. GameBank was founded by Masahiro Shiino who worked on the Typing of the Dead, sports games and mobile games. At GameBANK, which lasted 2 years, he also developed more mobile games.
ArAtA is founded by AM3 people like Shoichiro Kanazawa and Mie Kumagai. Seems like support for anything digital etc.
Continuation of Q? Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect are their titles. One man company. Development goes to other companies.
And here we have Yuji Naka's new company. Or rather "brand". Balan Wonderworld is their first title, named after the brand itself. Does not seem that it will be a full fledged developer, but rather development goes out to Arzest. Similar to how Mistwalker worked.
So that's it.
IMO it still seems like Capcom has the strongest ex-employee companies with stuff like Inti Create, Platinum Games, Hexa Drive etc. Just shows that Capcom just has/had very strong developers I guess.
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