Sega of Japan research, information & discussion

[sncvsrtoip]

I remember Times when Sega AM2 was pushing 3D boundaries in Arcade because they had the best hardwares, were dominating the US market for a few years and because that Era needed 15 people (entire staff of Daytona USA) with the model 2 to beat the Rivals.



Sorry to break your rose tinted glasses but that was another story on the consoles you're mentioning.

Saturn
Where are the AAA ?
Daytona ? Players were laughing at it at the Time for the ridiculous draw distance.(and the 20 FPS were not helping)

Virtua Fighter 2 ? Yes graphics were excellent but backgrounds in 2D, with a very light content for a console game, only 10 characters.

Fighter Megamix ? The roster is now pretty good but the graphics downgraded.


Dreamcast

Virtua Fighter 3 ? Great technical showcase but light conversion by genki.

Shenmue ? Yes it's the only AAA except it's not AM2 alone:

It's been revealed in 2018, Toshihiro Nagoshi and his crew had much more involvment in the game than simple supervision. The CEO of Sega asked Nagoshi to be producer and director of Shenmue during the last months.

On top of that, a part of the "AM2" of that Era you're mentioning is nowadays part of Yakuza Studio.

Daytona Arcade(AM2)
Director} Toshihiro Nagoshi (Yakuza Studio)

Virtua Fighter 3 Arcade (AM2)
Program director} Tetsuya Kaku (Yakuza Studio)

Scud Race (AM2)
Designer} Daisuke Sato (Yakuza Studio)

The Dreamcast was impressive but the Shenmue case shows that Sega couldn't handle more than one AAA at the Time. Many AM2 ports were outsourced for that reason and other Sega Teams had small crew but were saved by the technical gap with the PSX.


90's were not a mystical Era where AM2 was an untouchable god. (There was the skies, Lockheed Martin hardware where AM2 was the king and only living entity and the earth, the reality which is having mixed ports on Sega Saturn)

In fact, AM2 was more impressive on PS3 than on the Saturn. This Time, there was no obvious trick with the background (maybe minor but i didn't notice) and the game had the highest polycount by characters of the Time. Virtua Fighter 5 was so impressive that even today the game isn't ridiculous against fighters of the PS4.(especially animations)

So, I agree with you on This. It's a little sad AM2 didn't a release a brand New Fighter on PS4, as impressive as Virtua Fighter on... PS3 ;).


AM2 was pretty cool on PS2, PS3, PSFou(...nope, Sega, I'm still waiting Border Break and Soul Reverse in the west :)
But let's be realistic, if we want a modern AAA like Shenmue, AM2 couldn't do it alone. It would require Sega CS1 + Sega CS2 + AM2 and on the other hand means less outputs from Sega overall.
It was another Era that cannot be translated in 2020. (8 years, 1500 people for RDR2 ?)

Let's enjoy AA games from Sega for the moment and maybe in the future, some series will be multi million sellers and then allow Rediden Evil budgets.

Click to shrink...

You telling me that virtua fighter 2 on sega saturn wasn't platform hit? :d this games got 9s and 10s and was big hit (ok it was better on arcade but that change nothing) other games like virtua cops and fighting vipers was also hits. Then they created vf3 most impressive 3d games for few year (saturn was to weak for it and dreamcast release wasn't perfect but still) and I dob't have to say how impressive was shenmue for it times.

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

You telling me that virtua fighter 2 on sega saturn wasn't platform hit? :d this games got 9s and 10s and was big hit (ok it was better on arcade but that change nothing) other games like virtua cops and fighting vipers was also hits. Then they created vf3 most impressive 3d games for few year (saturn was to weak for it and dreamcast release wasn't perfect but still) and I dob't have to say how impressive was shenmue for it times.

Click to shrink...

I know it was a hit but it was made by less than 30 people, even the exact same persons in 2020 couldn't make a modern AAA.(more than 1000 staff members for RDR2) That's another Era...


And you didn't read... Shenmue is not AM2 alone.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Favorite Sega Studio - Poll Results - StrawPoll.com

What's your opinion? Vote now: AM1 (HOD Scarlet Dawn, Sega World Drivers, Initial D), AM2 (Border Break, VF5 FS, Hatsune Miku), Amplitude (Endless Space, Humankind, Atlus ( SMT, Cat...

strawpoll.com

Sega CS1 is now taking the lead among Sega boys. The Creative Assembly, Sega CS2 and Atlus are not far behind. Relic is crying...

 

[sncvsrtoip]

I know it was a hit but it was made by less than 30 people, even the exact same persons in 2020 couldn't make a modern AAA.(more than 1000 staff members for RDR2) That's another Era...


And you didn't read... Shenmue is not AM2 alone.

Click to shrink...

where I wrote that I want them to make modern aaa games and still be not larger than 30 people? :d capcom re2 development team in 1998 was probably smaller than re2r 2019 team :)

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

where I wrote that I want them to make modern aaa games and still be not larger than 30 people? :d capcom re2 development team in 1998 was probably smaller than re2r 2019 team :)

Click to shrink...

Ok :), then it's a little complicated since (according to Dooble) Sega staff is more or less the same.(2000 people overall)

Sega didn't win the PS2 War, their revenues are now steady but not fantastic either.

I think they made a good choice with Nagoshi. (He Can produce beautiful games with a decent budget.I didn't Say cutting edge though. Remember Nintendo called him asking how he did for F Zero GX with that budget and time frame :)

 

[fiendcode]

VF1 and Dayona were pretty unimpressive (and rushed) Saturn ports but VF2 was a show stopper. I have to disagree with the notion it wasn't impressive at the time, it outdid any PS1 fighters to that point (including Tekken 2) and along with the CTS Team's excellent Sega Rally port changed people's perceptions of what the Saturn even could do. It took several years until we saw more impressive PS1 fighters really imo (Tobal 2, Tekken 3). It was very much best in class, industry leading and cemented AM2's rep as being at the forefront of console tech.

AM2 went in a different direction for FV and FMM, adding gouraud shading and more complex areans, and they were lower res and arguably less visually impressive as a result. Weirdly the Saturn fighters that hold up more favorably visually didn't come from AM2 but instead AM3 (Last Bronx) and Team Ninja (DOA) both of which built directly off AM2's VF2 engine.

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

VF1 and Dayona were pretty unimpressive (and rushed) Saturn ports but VF2 was a show stopper. I have to disagree with the notion it wasn't impressive at the time, it outdid any PS1 fighters to that point (including Tekken 2) and along with the CTS Team's excellent Sega Rally port changed people's perceptions of what the Saturn even could do. It took several years until we saw more impressive PS1 fighters really imo (Tobal 2, Tekken 3). It was very much best in class, industry leading and cemented AM2's rep as being at the forefront of console tech.

AM2 went in a different direction for FV and FMM, adding gouraud shading and more complex areans, and they were lower res and arguably less visually impressive as a result. Weirdly the Saturn fighters that hold up more favorably visually didn't come from AM2 but instead AM3 (Last Bronx) and Team Ninja (DOA) both of which built directly off AM2's VF2 engine.

Click to shrink...

Nobody said VF2 Saturn was not impressive.
I said it had "excellent graphics but light content". In my book, "decent" is a 6, "excellent" a 9 out of 10.(cannot give more because of 2D backgrounds, as they already saved polygons, they should have improved the 2D images).


Again, there was the king AM2 in the arcades (developing almost alone on the most advanced boards) and the other reality of being simple developer among others on console.

Saturn Daytona, Virtua Fighter 2, Fighting Vipers, Dreamcast Fighting Vipers 2 (released years After Soulcalibur...), there were all kind of outputs but no real AAA except Shenmue.

But Shenmue was developed by AM2, Scarab, Nagoshi (AM11, Amusement Vision), they were not really alone on this kamikaze project.
Daytona (only 15 members for a light content) was already a another World in terms of project scale...


I think people will hate me in the recent "Sega consoles tragedy" ha ha :). (I'll talk about all the Sega fails i didn't enjoy at the Time)

 

[Lant_War]

I know it was a hit but it was made by less than 30 people, even the exact same persons in 2020 couldn't make a modern AAA.(more than 1000 staff members for RDR2)

Click to shrink...

RDR2 / Assasin's Creed are kind of an exception though. Ghost Of Tsushima is like 150 people now and was half of that for the beginning.

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

RDR2 / Assasin's Creed are kind of an exception though. Ghost Of Tsushima is like 150 people now and was half of that for the beginning.

Click to shrink...

It's still 5 to 10 Times larger than Saturn projects.


Current AM2 Lost members from Daytona, Scud Race, Shenmue but gained some others from Virtual On, Virtua Tennis, Top Skater.

 

[Superking]

wait, so sonic team (in name at least) no longer exists?

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

RDR2 / Assasin's Creed are kind of an exception though. Ghost Of Tsushima is like 150 people now and was half of that for the beginning.

Click to shrink...

In the middle, it seems the following numbers of employees are not that rare anymore:

"At a recent NHK showcase, attendee Alex Aniel notes that Capcom has 800 developers working on the Resident Evil 2 Remake."

"In the interview, Eiji Aonuma reveals that the development team for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was made of roughly 300 people, and that it took them about 4 years to make the game. We can assume that number is only for the core team at Nintendo, and that it doesn't include any assist teams (like Monolith Soft., for example)."


"God of War PS4 Development Team Is Thrice As Large As God of War 2's".

Quite impressive.

 

[chivibowie]

The size of the sega development studios (I understand they exclude administrative departments):

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

The size of the sega development studios (I understand they exclude administrative departments):

Click to shrink...

Thanks but it seems Sega studios has already changed quite a bit recently.

According to Creative Assembly, they are 680 employees now.

Careers view all | Creative Assembly

www.creative-assembly.com

Demiurge is no longer a Sega Studio.
And Atlus is over 300 people according to persona central (source Sega financial reports of october 2019)

 

[chivibowie]

Thanks but it seems Sega studios has already changed quite a bit recently.

According to Creative Assembly, they are 680 employees now.

Careers view all | Creative Assembly

www.creative-assembly.com

Demiurge is no longer a Sega Studio.
And Atlus is over 300 people according to persona central (source Sega financial reports of october 2019)

Click to shrink...

Those screenshots are taken from the SEGA SAMMY Management Meeting that seems to have happened in 2019/12/5, shortly before the announcement regarding the absorption of Sega Interactive by Sega Games. I know that in 2019 Creative Assembly announced that 650 employees were working there, but I suppose the data indicated in the SegaSammy report is based on what the company calls Regular Employees and Non-regular Employees. Temporary workers, in other words. This question may be explained in this way, because I am also surprised by this dissonance of the number of employees. Nor should we forget that they indicate this: "The studio size is the number of full-time development members as of the end of Sep 2019".

Or maybe SegaSammy simply has outdated numbers of their employees' numbers ...

Here is the link of that report:

https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/managementmeeting_1205_final_e.pdf

The Demiurge thing was recently, I know xD

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

Those screenshots are taken from the SEGA SAMMY Management Meeting that seems to have happened in 2019/12/5, shortly before the announcement regarding the absorption of Sega Interactive by Sega Games. I know that in 2019 Creative Assembly announced that 650 employees were working there, but I suppose the data indicated in the SegaSammy report is based on what the company calls Regular Employees and Non-regular Employees. Temporary workers, in other words. This question may be explained in this way, because I am also surprised by this dissonance of the number of employees. Nor should we forget that they indicate this: "The studio size is the number of full-time development members as of the end of Sep 2019".

Or maybe SegaSammy simply has outdated numbers of their employees' numbers ...

Here is the link of that report:

https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pdf/release/managementmeeting_1205_final_e.pdf

The Demiurge thing was recently, I know xD

Click to shrink...

I think the data manager at Sega is snoozing hard :). I don't see Atlus speaking of its yearly growth for no reason.


I highly doubt the New studio Zero has only 30 employees (Atlus had 120 people when Sega bought them) especially since they have several game projects.

Atlus' Studio Zero Currently Developing a Non-Fantasy Title - Persona Central

Katsura Hashino has confirmed, in a new 4Gamer interview, that Atlus' Studio Zero is working on other projects besides Project Re Fantasy.

personacentral.com

 

[chivibowie]

I think the data manager at Sega is snoozing hard :)

Click to shrink...

That seems to be XD

Dooble
BTW, what happened to the supposed reappearance of AM3 a few years back? I was flipping through interviews on the defunct Sega Interactive website and occasionally mention a third department. The truth is that this would explain the abundance of games attributed to AM1 compared to AM2.

The interview must be from 2017/2018:
https://translate.googleusercontent.../5900/&usg=ALkJrhjgbq8yEWq9F-Rqb13HW5jEC7RZlQ


The truth is that everything that surrounds the organization of these companies is quite difficult to discern ...

 

[Dooble]

That seems to be XD

Dooble
BTW, what happened to the supposed reappearance of AM3 a few years back? I was flipping through interviews on the defunct Sega Interactive website and occasionally mention a third department. The truth is that this would explain the abundance of games attributed to AM1 compared to AM2.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, supposedly there now four or five amusement departments if you go by their hiring site, from 2009 to 2017 or so they had two departments. I have no clue which arcade game fits into what. From what I can see, the music games and Wonderland Wars, Chrono Regalia etc. are of AM3?

In the end it's organisational changes that don't seem to impact the creative output that much.

It's hard to guess which ''AM'' department is behind what arcade game. Even Fate/Grand Order being by AM2 is a wild guess of mine, because the Sega Mahjong producer/director is producer of that game. But he could very well just have switched divisions.
For their console games, they usually have detailed interviews in the Japanese media, detailing their development backstory.
But for their arcade games, it's almost old-school and swept under the rug. The newest HotD and SWDC had pseudonyms for their interviews even...

 

[chivibowie]

Yeah, supposedly there now four or five amusement departments if you go by their hiring site, from 2009 to 2017 or so they had two departments. I have no clue which arcade game fits into what. From what I can see, the music games and Wonderland Wars, Chrono Regalia etc. are of AM3?

In the end it's organisational changes that don't seem to impact the creative output that much.

It's hard to guess which ''AM'' department is behind what arcade game. Even Fate/Grand Order being by AM2 is a wild guess of mine, because the Sega Mahjong producer/director is producer of that game. But he could very well just have switched divisions.
For their console games, they usually have detailed interviews in the Japanese media, detailing their development backstory.
But for their arcade games, it's almost old-school and swept under the rug. The newest HotD and SWDC had pseudonyms for their interviews even...

Click to shrink...

Doing a little research it seems that the only game that could be confirmed to be developed in AM3 is Wonderland Wars. The guy in charge of the Sega Tech Blog mentions that he works on AM3 and actually addresses Wonderland Wars as "our arcade game". There seem to be clues from other games that may be associated with that "new" division. Possibly Sangokushi Taisen and Chain Chronicle are from the same team, as they share staff (Specifically, Jun Matsunaga. There is an interview with this guy on the Sega Interactive website).

However, I think this leaves us even more confused. For example, have the developers in charge of racing games returned to AM3? What about the music games you mention? U_u

 

[Dooble]

Doing a little research it seems that the only game that could be confirmed to be developed in AM3 is Wonderland Wars. The guy in charge of the Sega Tech Blog mentions that he works on AM3 and actually addresses Wonderland Wars as "our arcade game". There seem to be clues from other games that may be associated with that "new" division. Possibly Sangokushi Taisen and Chain Chronicle are from the same team, as they share staff (Specifically, Jun Matsunaga. There is an interview with this guy on the Sega Interactive website).

However, I think this leaves us even more confused. For example, have the developers in charge of racing games returned to AM3? What about the music games you mention? U_u

Click to shrink...

I am too lazy to link/dig through Internet archive right now, but I remember reading about Sangokushi Taisen/Chain Chronicle still being AM1, and the music games being at AM3 and also an AM1 hiring site about racing games 'like Initial D and SWDC'

The current hiring site for Sega of Japan does away with divisions for the most part: https://www.sega.co.jp/recruit/parttime/

 

[chivibowie]

I am too lazy to link/dig through Internet archive right now, but I remember reading about Sangokushi Taisen/Chain Chronicle still being AM1, and the music games being at AM3 and also an AM1 hiring site about racing games 'like Initial D and SWDC'

The current hiring site for Sega of Japan does away with divisions for the most part: https://www.sega.co.jp/recruit/parttime/

Click to shrink...

Interesting. More or less, with the information collected here and on several sites (for example, on the Japanese wiki they confirm that the musical games are from that third development study), it is quite possible that the organization is something like this:

AM1

• WCCF Footista
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (Arcade version)
• Puyo Puyo Esports Arcade
• Sangokushi Taisen
• Initial D
• Sega World Drivers Championship
• The House of the Dead - Scarlett Dawn
• Chain Chronicle

AM2

• Sega Net Mahjong
• Border Break
• Hatsune Miku Project Diva
• Fate/Grand Order Arcade (not confirmed)
• Kancolle Arcade

AM3

• Maimai
• Ongeki
• Chunithm
• Wonderland Wars
• On the Sega recruitment website, seems that in this study they are looking for people for a new "match game"

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

Hardlight is hiring too:

Interesting details...

 

[Dooble]

Yeah Hardlight sometimes ports games to PC...

BTW, another interresting detail is from the Sega of Japan employee interviews:

新卒採用情報 | 採用サイト｜株式会社セガ -【SEGA CORPORATION】

株式会社セガの新卒・中途・アルバイト採用サイトです。新卒採用情報の一覧をご覧いただけます。

recruit.sega.jp

Seems as if porting arcade games to console is not gonna stop at least. There were periods where the arcade studios did no consumer work whatsoever.

Also it seems like PSO2 is completely mandated by Sega of Japan looking at their press releases: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...ine_2_nbspis_Launching_on_PC_on_May_27_th.php

"Tokyo, May 19, 2020 – SEGA announced today that their massively popular online action RPG from Japan, Phantasy Star Online 2, is coming to PC on the Microsoft Store. The free-to-play game will arrive for Windows 10 on May 27th in North America."

Usually they have a Irvine (Atlus USA), Los Angeles (Sonic pillar) and London (Sega Europe) instead of Tokyo for western releases. Seems like for GaaS games are handled by a new team outside of the above.

 

[Bman94]

The size of the sega development studios (I understand they exclude administrative departments):

Click to shrink...

Sonic at 920 Million Units? That's absolutely insane. I know the series has a ridiculous amount of games, but I never would have imagined they've sold that much games.

 

[Strings]

Sonic at 920 Million Units? That's absolutely insane. I know the series has a ridiculous amount of games, but I never would have imagined they've sold that much games.

Click to shrink...

They include downloads of free mobile stuff in that number.

Actual game sales are about ~85m as of December 2018.

I think the data manager at Sega is snoozing hard :). I don't see Atlus speaking of its yearly growth for no reason.


I highly doubt the New studio Zero has only 30 employees (Atlus had 120 people when Sega bought them) especially since they have several game projects.

Atlus' Studio Zero Currently Developing a Non-Fantasy Title - Persona Central

Katsura Hashino has confirmed, in a new 4Gamer interview, that Atlus' Studio Zero is working on other projects besides Project Re Fantasy.

personacentral.com

Click to shrink...

That was the Catherine rerelease.

 

[Bman94]

They include downloads of free mobile stuff in that number.

Actual game sales are about ~85m as of December 2018.

Click to shrink...

Oh well that's horseshit. I knew it was including downloads, but I didn't think they meant MOBILE downloads.

 

[Giant Enemy Crab]

Dooble
It seems hardlight also ported games on Switch and now they are talking about all consoles which is great.

For the arcade games, Do you think they will port more recent games that were stopped in Japan like Soul Reverse ? Or do you think it will be much older titles ?

Strings

The interview says "projects"...

 

[chivibowie]

Sega Sammy recently published a small business report that leaves quite interesting information regarding the merger of Sega Games and Interactive. Basically it says that this merger is to compete globally, implying that arcade studios are also included in this new strategy.
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/stockholder/2020/202003_4q_kabutsu_e_final.pdf

 

[nachum00]

All that talent wasted on churning out Yakuza games.

 

[shadowman16]

All that talent wasted on churning out Yakuza games.

Click to shrink...

That's a very interesting definition of the word "wasted" there.

 

[Dooble]

Sega Sammy recently published a small business report that leaves quite interesting information regarding the merger of Sega Games and Interactive. Basically it says that this merger is to compete globally, implying that arcade studios are also included in this new strategy.
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/stockholder/2020/202003_4q_kabutsu_e_final.pdf

Click to shrink...

oh cool...5G and cloud seems to very much connect to the fog gaming thing that they working on.

Also Yakuza 7 sold 450.000 units. Hope with western sales they can reach a million (I know very optimistic). That could be very good for RGG Studio to expand their scope.

 

[shadowman16]

Also Yakuza 7 sold 450.000 units. Hope with western sales they can reach a million (I know very optimistic). That could be very good for RGG Studio to expand their scope.

Click to shrink...

That number is probably higher now. They reported the 450K number back at the beginning of early April when the DLC was released for the game, and it had a pretty decent PSN sale fairly recently. Wouldn't surprise me if the number is closer to 500K now. But yeah, hoping to see it climb higher once it gets released in more regions, certainly nice to see it launch on more platforms closer together this time. Curious though to see if the Fall/Winter release of its localisation might hurt it though.

 

[Dooble]

That number is probably higher now. They reported the 450K number back at the beginning of early April when the DLC was released for the game, and it had a pretty decent PSN sale fairly recently. Wouldn't surprise me if the number is closer to 500K now. But yeah, hoping to see it climb higher once it gets released in more regions, certainly nice to see it launch on more platforms closer together this time. Curious though to see if the Fall/Winter release of its localisation might hurt it though.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, launching a Western Yakuza game in the fall seems risky.

 

[shadowman16]

Yeah, launching a Western Yakuza game in the fall seems risky.

Click to shrink...

Though the devs also talked about how the games have much longer sales legs now as well, thanks to the Western releases picking up some slack so who knows, might manage to still do well. We'll see. Personally, I'm more looking forward to Yakuza 8 already! I've already played through 7 and am impatiently waiting to see what they do next.

 

[King Kingo]

This thread needs some fancy graphics to better highlight the divisions.

This just reminds me of how painful it is to look at Sega when I remember what once was.

Click to shrink...

Sega's just a different company under Sammy's rule compared to CSK.

 

[Suzuki Yu]

Sega Sammy recently published a small business report that leaves quite interesting information regarding the merger of Sega Games and Interactive. Basically it says that this merger is to compete globally, implying that arcade studios are also included in this new strategy.
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/pdf/stockholder/2020/202003_4q_kabutsu_e_final.pdf

Click to shrink...

more into this topic..

株式会社セガ

株式会社セガ 代表取締役社長COO 杉野行雄より、みなさまへのメッセージをお届けします。

sega.co.jp

it's very clear to me that something so big is happening within SEGA internally that will change their output tremendously in the global scene.
basically the arcade arm might release arcade/console titles simultaneously somehow or they will start to actively produce console focused games or both which i am leaning towards.

and from the famitsu interview

it seems like SEGA will also increase the development work force overseas to become 50/50 compared to Japan.
meaning the current 1000 overseas employees will have to match the 1600 working force now at SEGA Japan soon enough as mentioned.

and he expected this whole reorganization to be fruitful after 1 to 2 years due to corona virus , then people will start to notice that "SEGA has Changed!"

セガ60周年スペシャルインタビュー。セガ代表取締役社長COO・杉野氏が60年間を支えたセガの強みや、100年の企業を目指すための課題を語る | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

セガ60周年を記念したスペシャルインタビュー企画として、セガ代表取締役社長COOの杉野行雄氏へのインタビューをお届けする。

www.famitsu.com

also some really interesting bits from the OTAQUEST interview with various key members at SEGA

more emphasis on this "increase global presence" coming from Masayoshi Kikuchi interview

and it seems that there are a new name conversion for internal studios to go with this drastic change.

OTAQUEST – The Home of Japanese Pop and Geek Culture Enthusiasts

The Home of Japanese Pop and Geek Culture Enthusiasts

www.otaquest.com

there are no more AM & CS studio.
it seems all studios will be referred to internally as Division #(number) and at least there are 5 divisions or more.
i really want to know about this in details.

 

[chivibowie]

more into this topic..

株式会社セガ

株式会社セガ 代表取締役社長COO 杉野行雄より、みなさまへのメッセージをお届けします。

sega.co.jp

it's very clear to me that something so big is happening within SEGA internally that will change their output tremendously in the global scene.
basically the arcade arm might release arcade/console titles simultaneously somehow or they will start to actively produce console focused games or both which i am leaning towards.

and from the famitsu interview

it seems like SEGA will also increase the development work force overseas to become 50/50 compared to Japan.
meaning the current 1000 overseas employees will have to match the 1600 working force now at SEGA Japan soon enough as mentioned.

and he expected this whole reorganization to be fruitful after 1 to 2 years due to corona virus , then people will start to notice that "SEGA has Changed!"

セガ60周年スペシャルインタビュー。セガ代表取締役社長COO・杉野氏が60年間を支えたセガの強みや、100年の企業を目指すための課題を語る | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

セガ60周年を記念したスペシャルインタビュー企画として、セガ代表取締役社長COOの杉野行雄氏へのインタビューをお届けする。

www.famitsu.com

also some really interesting bits from the OTAQUEST interview with various key members at SEGA

more emphasis on this "increase global presence" coming from Masayoshi Kikuchi interview

and it seems that there are a new name conversion for internal studios to go with this drastic change.

OTAQUEST – The Home of Japanese Pop and Geek Culture Enthusiasts

The Home of Japanese Pop and Geek Culture Enthusiasts

www.otaquest.com

there are no more AM & CS studio.
it seems all studios will be referred to internally as Division #(number) and at least there are 5 divisions or more.
i really want to know about this in details.

Click to shrink...

Very interesting what Sugino says about this new era of Sega. When I read the fiscal reports of the last years of SegaSammy, increasing the overseas presence was a goal that sooner or later they were going to consider. It seems that this time they have decided to take the global market more seriously.

And yes, about the name change of the divisions/studios I realized a few weeks ago. For example, on the Makoto Osaki (AM2/R&D Dep.#2) Linkedin you can check it.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makoosa/

 

[Suzuki Yu]

Very interesting what Sugino says about this new era of Sega. When I read the fiscal reports of the last years of SegaSammy, increasing the overseas presence was a goal that sooner or later they were going to consider. It seems that this time they have decided to take the global market more seriously.

And yes, about the name change of the divisions/studios I realized a few weeks ago. For example, on the Makoto Osaki (AM2/R&D Dep.#2) Linkedin you can check it.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/makoosa/

Click to shrink...

cool!
i was suspecting this is AM2 since Hiro is more associated with them historically.
now it's confirmed.

 

[chivibowie]

cool!
i was suspecting this is AM2 since Hiro is more associated with them historically.
now it's confirmed.

Click to shrink...

It would be a good idea to explain this new reorganization in the full annual report that will be published in a few days. In previous reports they did.
Right now Sega's structure is even more confusing than before.

 

[Suzuki Yu]

It would be a good idea to explain this new reorganization in the full annual report that will be published in a few days. In previous reports they did.
Right now Sega's structure is even more confusing than before.

Click to shrink...

did they? i don't remember them specifying in details their internal domestic structure.

 

[chivibowie]

did they? i don't remember them specifying in details their internal domestic structure.

Click to shrink...

Especially they did it in the pre-SegaSammy era. I think I remember that in 2015 they explained something of the new structure they adopted at the time, although in a very superficial way. Now sometimes they say, in some of the few developer interviews that we can read in those reports, the division to which the interviewed worker belongs.

EDIT:
It seems that Sega Interactive had several restructurings, judging by the profile of Kenji Arai on this website similar to Linkedin: https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://8card.net/p/39647696329

It´s difficult to know the current structure with the little info we have, but with what we know thanks to the website of temporary jobs and info from other sources (such as interviews), it seems that all the old Sega Interactive is in the same division (the fifth), divided into several teams such as Nintendo EPD.

Hopefully Nullpointer will clear us of doubts as it happened previously with CS3 xD.

 

[Suzuki Yu]

EDIT:
It seems that Sega Interactive had several restructurings, judging by the profile of Kenji Arai on this website similar to Linkedin: https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://8card.net/p/39647696329

It´s difficult to know the current structure with the little info we have, but with what we know thanks to the website of temporary jobs and info from other sources (such as interviews), it seems that all the old Sega Interactive is in the same division (the fifth), divided into several teams such as Nintendo EPD.

Hopefully Nullpointer will clear us of doubts as it happened previously with CS3 xD.

Click to shrink...

but it's hard to imagine that one division out of possibly 5 or more will be this huge! i mean 600 people out of 1600 in one division seems unlikely to me! maybe it's a similar scenario like when AM3 members were split between AM1 & AM2?

 

[chivibowie]

but it's hard to imagine that one division out of possibly 5 or more will be this huge! i mean 600 people out of 1600 in one division seems unlikely to me! maybe it's a similar scenario like when AM3 members were split between AM1 & AM2?

Click to shrink...

Until we have official sources, we will be in doubt
Looking for Japanese sources, I have found a report on the restructuring that took place in 2005. As I already said, it would be great if they reported on this recent restructuring.

 

[Dooble]

A Thread bump?

I am gonna take this oppurtunity to update the current OP (also include the licensed Sega of Japan IP, which is what I think people are also interrested in)

So actually, we don't know what projects Sega of Japan is currently working on, outside of assisting in getting some of their games overseas (Yakuza: Like A Dragon, who knows what they will do with Olympic 2020). I think they have several announcements this year.

So I am gonna do some rampant speculation on everything that I know:

CS1/RGG Studio

So CS1 aka the Yakuza team, has about 4 teams lined up: The Judgment team, The Yakuza 7 team, the team that did the remastered Yakuza collection and the Super Monkey Ball team.

Here are some musings on what the Yakuza team mentioned on what they want to do nextt: New Ichiban game, explore new genres within the Yakuza games post the turn-based battle system of 7, Kenzan Kiwami on the Dragon Engine, Judgment 2, something fantasy related instead of realism...
What I think will happen: Sega and RGG Studio will release a sequel to Judgment and Yakuza 8, but have worldwide release on all platforms like Yakuza: Like A Dragon this year.
I suppose there is still room for a third Yakuza project, and the Asian and Western fans have long been asking for a Samurai spin-off game to be localized. I think Kenzan Kiwami on Dragon Engine will be the answer to that.
Then there is still the Monkey Ball team. The producer seems really passionate about Monkey Ball and it definitely sounds like he wants to make a game that lives up to 1&2. We might get a game new game this year even. Monkey Ball games are not a big investment and are quick to make.
Also I think the studio is gonna release future games on Steam on their own instead of relying on Sega Europe. They made the Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz HD PC port and even added exclusive stuff to it, like the Cube/Triangle/Spike shaped Monkey ''Balls''

CS2/Sonic Team:
So there is the JRPG group of CS2. Evenif some games have flopped like Sakura Wars 5 or Valkyria Chronicles 1 in the past...Sega always continues to make some kind of JRPG be it Shining entries, Sakura Wars, Valkyria Chronicles or 7th Dragon games.
Some people are hoping for Skies of Arcadia, but it is way more likely to be VC5 or a new Sakura Wars. A new IP is also likely, which is something that they are working on.
I actually have pretty much no clue or guess what the Sonic, Puyo Puyo or Olympics devs are doing. Plenty upon plenty of devs where I don't know what they will do.
The Sega Ages group also has only a couple of releases left before they announce the next wave. I am thinking they will hopefully and finally switch to 3D stuff, they alreasy they got NAOMI/Dreamcast working pretty good.

AM1 & AM2:
Despite the current situation - arcades will still be their bread and butter. Games like Soul Reverse or Chrono Regalia have not been successes, but they will instead try new arcade games. Their new racing game IP, Sega World Championship Driver got an update this year, it seems like it is a success.

However most would actually care about potential console projects. And it's been looking a bit better now, with AM2 supporting Border Break on PS4 in Japan, and wholly new Hatsune Miku game developed from the ground up for a home system, the Switch. As Sega's reports show they want to continue investing into console games instead of mobile, and they had several arcade staff do mobile when they had a big mobile push since about 2012. Chain Chronicle was by AM1 which was a success, but their newest efforts like League of Wonderland (this mobile game was actually localized) have not done well. There is a better chance for a success with a console game rather mobile at this point.

Yu Suzuki might get in touch with AM2 again because he talked about there might being another OutRun and Virtua Fighter in the works.

Also it seems that the creative behind House of the Dead, Takashi Oda, isn't done with the franchise. He wants to do several more games, and he is likely is involved in the House of the Dead 1&2 remakes.

Other mobile projects and the PSO2 team:
Yeah the latest mobile efforts like Revolve8 have not done well and Idola: Phantasy Star Saga is not lighting up the charts (but they keep supporting that).
PSO is still a big thing for Sega, they keep hiring for it more than anything else. I am thinking they have plans to do a really big worldwide launch with PSO3 with Microsoft backing them.

Which IP will Sega of Japan license next or do more of?
Panzer Dragoon on Switch seems like it was a huge success with 3 times making it's money back. They have Zwei announced and the VR game coming out too. I think it might come to a point where Sega will publish one game themselfs.
Space Channel 5 VR kinda went under the radar, a Steam release might bring some life into it, but I don't think so.
Streets of Rage 4 also was a huge success.
Shenmue III also released, and IV is not unlikely. However I don't think Sega wants to publish it

I think Skies of Arcadia and Jet Set Radio are very likely to be next. They mentioned in an interview that with the Sega Ages poll, they took notice of the demand of Jet Set Radio, and they don't know that they will release a Sega Ages version, however they think licensing might be an option to answer these calls.

I wonder who they would get for a Jet Set Radio game, however I don't see a Japanese developer pitching a game. It was never that popular in Japan. Some people on RGG Studio worked on JSR in the past (Kazuki Hosokawa), so I they would assist like they did with Streets of Rage.

Also there is a huge push by a former Skies of Arcadia developer on Twitter to make a new game, and he is in contact with Sega about it too (talking with the original devs too). However I think it is gonna take a long while.

Click to shrink...

Looks like I was on the nose on an MS supported ''global launch'' of PSO3 (well its almost that)

 

[chivibowie]

Today I have been looking for information about the new divisions of Sega. Investigating the profile of a few Sega workers, and the job offers on their website and others, it seems that we can get an idea of how the company is organized in terms of development studios.

Division 1 (The old CS1)
Division 2 (Same = CS2)
Division 3 (PSO saga and online games like Yakuza Online)
Division 4 (Mobile games like SMT Dx2)
Division 5 (Arcade Division)

Basically it is a structure similar to the previous one, with the addition of Sega interactive in a single division. The main question I have is with divisions 3 and 4 (as in the previous Mobile R&D and Online R&D).

All these divisions are supposed to have several subdivisions. For example, I´ve counted up to 5 subdivisions in Div. 5 (including prize games) and Div. 3 has at least 3 subdivisions. It´s a more logical organization than it seems due to the decline in arcade earnings, while the digital games division is increasingly in the quarterly reports.

Basically this is the info we have until Sega reports about the new organization, since HIRO was asked about this on twitter not long ago and he hardly said anything about it.

https://twitter.com/cityhunter_sega/status/1277956903490826246?s=21

Sources:
Div. 1: There are many job offerts in this studio. One of many:
https://translate.google.es/translate?hl=&sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://www.sega.co.jp/recruit/index.html

Div. 2: (not a conclusive source as it only mentions the division, but I doubt this division has changed much)
https://translate.google.es/transla...//www.ecareer.ne.jp/positions/00041752001/131


Div. 3: I have found two developers who are in this division involved in the PSO saga
Here the guys: https://translate.google.es/transla...cesa.or.jp/2020/session/detail/s5e79f42ad5710
Here they are in the Idola credits: https://idola.sega-online.jp/intro/credit/
In particular, Kazuhito Fumoto appears to have been previously involved in the Yakuza games. What is not clear to me is whether they refer to the previous games in the series or in Yakuza Online, since there are offers that mention PSO, RGG Online and Idola (so those games are possibly from this division). Continuing with the credits of Idola, seems that there are many people from the Valkyrie saga ...

From Div. 4 we already have the source of Masayoshi Kikuchi. To add something, SMT DX2 is from this division
https://translate.googleusercontent...00000&usg= ALkJrhgeB22YLZpF29Nd8Ni8fMAfDYkUwg


From Div.5 there are sources in this thread with HIRO. It is easy to find job offers for this division on the Sega web and Japanese job websites, like this one https://translate.google.es/transla...D1efp84ufmr06n800% 26from% 3Dserp% 26vjs% 3D3

 

[Dooble]

Oh cool, some good info there chivibowie!

Sega's constant reorgs always seem pretty arbritary. From 2010 to 2015, they had R&D1 (AM1), R&D2 (AM2), R&D3 (CS 1, 2, 3), and then Mobile and Online R&D.

The shake-ups don't really concern many teams that continue to do well such as the Yakuza team on the consumer side or cash cow franchises in the arcades (Initial D always gets new entries). However for stuff like Sonic Team, or the section of the AM teams that do console stuff, you are always hopeful that things will get better.
2010 they had a shake-up and it seemed promising with Sonic Colors and Generations, as well as VF5:FS, After Burner Climax, Model 2 ports etc. by AM2. But from 2013 onwards came Sonic Lost World, PSO2 became unlocalized for a long time, mobile game increase etc.

I just got done playing some Border Break on PS4 and played various modern arcade only games (R-Tuned, Initial D, Sega Race TV, Operation GHOST etc.) through different "ways", and Sega still delivers good old arcade fun. But not just shallow stuff, but games like Border Break have tons of deep content and very competetive. Sega's arcade talent is vastly underutilized
I love what Sega is doing with PSO2: New Genesis, with a very current gen looking game that releases globally on all platforms. AM2 should follow suit and instead of making Border Break 2 for arcades, or trying yet another failed arcade games like Soul Reverse, they should license Unreal 5 and get to work PS4 and Series X immadietly and see what they can do.
Sega still was doing various Japanese only releases on PS4 and I really hope they don't do that with PS5...the market doesn't make sense for it.

 

[Suzuki Yu]

Today I have been looking for information about the new divisions of Sega. Investigating the profile of a few Sega workers, and the job offers on their website and others, it seems that we can get an idea of how the company is organized in terms of development studios.

Division 1 (The old CS1)
Division 2 (Same = CS2)
Division 3 (PSO saga and online games like Yakuza Online)
Division 4 (Mobile games like SMT Dx2)
Division 5 (Arcade Division)

Basically it is a structure similar to the previous one, with the addition of Sega interactive in a single division. The main question I have is with divisions 3 and 4 (as in the previous Mobile R&D and Online R&D).

All these divisions are supposed to have several subdivisions. For example, I´ve counted up to 5 subdivisions in Div. 5 (including prize games) and Div. 3 has at least 3 subdivisions. It´s a more logical organization than it seems due to the decline in arcade earnings, while the digital games division is increasingly in the quarterly reports.

Basically this is the info we have until Sega reports about the new organization, since HIRO was asked about this on twitter not long ago and he hardly said anything about it.

https://twitter.com/cityhunter_sega/status/1277956903490826246?s=21

Sources:
Div. 1: There are many job offerts in this studio. One of many:
https://translate.google.es/translate?hl=&sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://www.sega.co.jp/recruit/index.html

Div. 2: (not a conclusive source as it only mentions the division, but I doubt this division has changed much)
https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.ecareer.ne.jp/positions/00041752001/131


Div. 3: I have found two developers who are in this division involved in the PSO saga
Here the guys: https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://cedec.cesa.or.jp/2020/session/detail/s5e79f42ad5710
Here they are in the Idola credits: https://idola.sega-online.jp/intro/credit/
In particular, Kazuhito Fumoto appears to have been previously involved in the Yakuza games. What is not clear to me is whether they refer to the previous games in the series or in Yakuza Online, since there are offers that mention PSO, RGG Online and Idola (so those games are possibly from this division). Continuing with the credits of Idola, seems that there are many people from the Valkyrie saga ...

From Div. 4 we already have the source of Masayoshi Kikuchi. To add something, SMT DX2 is from this division
https://translate.googleusercontent...00000&usg= ALkJrhgeB22YLZpF29Nd8Ni8fMAfDYkUwg


From Div.5 there are sources in this thread with HIRO. It is easy to find job offers for this division on the Sega web and Japanese job websites, like this one https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://jp.indeed.com% 2F 仕事% 3Fjk% 3D327580a7ffdc33f6% 26tk% 3D1efp84ufmr06n800% 26from% 3Dserp% 26vjs% 3D3

Click to shrink...

interesting... Thx for sharing this.
i think in this new organization while divisions can be formed from certain backgrounds like Division 5 consisting of arcade developers from the old structure the intent is not to say that this division will produce only arcade titles or just some ports but they might work on a full fledged console or mobile titles as well giving each division more freedom to work on various fronts.
therefore the name attachment to consumer / online / mobile / arcade are all gone.

based on everything we know from SEGA's movements as of late i believe SEGA Japan has big plans towards making more games & IPs for worldwide audiences. how they would achieve that if not the entire company is backing this approach?

i am not going to be too surprised if similar scenarios like the following happened...
- a new BORDER BREAK for Arcade & Consoles with crossplay
- a new VF for Arcade & Consoles with Crossplay
- a new console Shinobi Reboot by AM2 staff
- a new offline RPG from the PSO2 staff
- a new console title from Masaysohi Kikushi (ex-mobile R&D lead)
etc etc

the thing is each division might focus on a certain business but with some freedom to work on other fields as well.
anyways the picture will be more clearer by the end of next year i think.

 

[Dooble]

interesting... Thx for sharing this.
i think in this new organization while divisions can be formed from certain backgrounds like Division 5 consisting of arcade developers from the old structure the intent is not to say that this division will produce only arcade titles or just some ports but they might work on a full fledged console or mobile titles as well giving each division more freedom to work on various fronts.
therefore the name attachment to consumer / online / mobile / arcade are all gone.

based on everything we know from SEGA's movements as of late i believe SEGA Japan has big plans towards making more games & IPs for worldwide audiences. how they would achieve that if not the entire company is backing this approach?

i am not going to be too surprised if similar scenarios like the following happened...
- a new BORDER BREAK for Arcade & Consoles with crossplay
- a new VF for Arcade & Consoles with Crossplay
- a new console Shinobi Reboot by AM2 staff
- a new offline RPG from the PSO2 staff
- a new console title from Masaysohi Kikushi (ex-mobile R&D lead)
etc etc

the thing is each division might focus on a certain business but with some freedom to work on other fields as well.
anyways the picture will be more clearer by the end of next year i think.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I'm thinking with the open field assets they have cultivated with New Genesis, they can go in new directions with offline RPGs. Be it Phantasy Star or something new.

 

[chivibowie]

It's hard to guess which ''AM'' department is behind what arcade game. Even Fate/Grand Order being by AM2 is a wild guess of mine, because the Sega Mahjong producer/director is producer of that game. But he could very well just have switched divisions.

Click to shrink...

I have a list of AM2 games that I think is pretty accurate. The biggest doubt I have is with Fate / Grand Order Arcade, since in various places like Wikipedia it´s assumed that the development (or co-development) is by AM2.

As you say, and according to Japanese wikipedia, the producer of the arcade version of this title (Shinichi Yoshino) is in charge of Mahjong games that are part of AM2. However, the director of the arcade version (Kimihiro Igami) we also know that he is part of Sega. But what´s the problem? Well, it seems that he doesn´t have previous works, or at least I cannot find information about this guy to know what games he has worked on. In this Twitter thread, some Japanese users wonder which studio he belongs to. Knowing that Shinichi Yoshino is "supposed" to be part of AM2, we still need to confirm if AM2 is part of Fate Grand Order Online knowing more about Kimihiro Inami. Of course, it would be desirable to catch more info, but for now I cannot find much more ...

Curiously, one of the people in charge of the original game it´s a former AM2 member who has gone to Delightworks (more info here, in the page 2). Perhaps this fact is another clue.

FGO Arcade a quite unique case comparable to the similar situation with Kancolle arcade, but in this case the palmtree logo is displayed on the web, AM2 is mentioned in the twitter account and in the game. I don't know exactly what criteria there are with advertising a game like AM2 or not. For example, we know that Project Diva games are from AM2, but it´s not explicitly advertised that they are from this development "studio". However, FGO Arcade is in a kind of limbo on that kind of information.

Continuing with the thread, it´s assumed that September / October is when SegaSammy makes its full annual report available to interested people, which usually contains a lot of information about the company. It would be nice if they detailed the new structure a bit. Besides, in a few days it´s the TGS, I hope there will be a surprise (a sequel to Judgment would be good, I remember that the announcement at TGS 2018 and its release was quite fast).

 

[Dooble]

Interresting developments at Sega.

A Judgment sequel is not surprising at all.
As is the new Monkey Ball game that was leaked.

However AM2's comeback into the console scene after Border Break being made with the help of RGG Studios is surely surprising...

Same thing happened with Sonic's Hedgehog Engine being used for Sakura Wars.

It makes sense that they use the current gen Yakuza graphics...since AM2 graphic departments kinda worked in very different areas than VF, like anime type games (Miku and Kancolle), dark fantasy (Soul Reverse) and Border Break looks way dated.

Using UE4 for their arcade devs has worked updating old IP (House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn and Initial D The Arcade), but their new Sega racing game (Sega World Drivers Championship) is not getting updated anymore.
IMO, they should start to use UE5 right away and get to work on new console games. I can't think of many more games that would fit the Dragon Engine aside from VF.

Also the new PSO2: New Genesis open world stuff can surely be used for other games too. I wonder.

Also we might get to see how the new Sonic looks soon (livestream on the 27th).

 

[Piccoro]

Interresting developments at Sega.

A Judgment sequel is not surprising at all.
As is the new Monkey Ball game that was leaked.

However AM2's comeback into the console scene after Border Break being made with the help of RGG Studios is surely surprising...

Same thing happened with Sonic's Hedgehog Engine being used for Sakura Wars.

It makes sense that they use the current gen Yakuza graphics...since AM2 graphic departments kinda worked in very different areas than VF, like anime type games (Miku and Kancolle), dark fantasy (Soul Reverse) and Border Break looks way dated.

Using UE4 for their arcade devs has worked updating old IP (House of the Dead Scarlet Dawn and Initial D The Arcade), but their new Sega racing game (Sega World Drivers Championship) is not getting updated anymore.
IMO, they should start to use UE5 right away and get to work on new console games. I can't think of many more games that would fit the Dragon Engine aside from VF.

Also the new PSO2: New Genesis open world stuff can surely be used for other games too. I wonder.

Also we might get to see how the new Sonic looks soon (livestream on the 27th).

Click to shrink...

Yeah, Sega is looking pretty healthy right now.

 

[chivibowie]

There are still a lot of unknowns, but Makoto Osaki now being in a division that seems to be Yakuza Studio and now the announcement of VF 5 US with the AM2 and RGG Studio logo in the trailer...it's still interesting and surprising. A lot can happen from now on.
It could be a case of a relationship like the old Sonic Team and Valkyria Team. Only this time we would be talking about Yakuza Studio and Am2. It could be something great if that's the case.