Sega restructures.

[Romier S]

Well here it is. The new restructured studio setup for Sega has been completed. I was hoping to see Smilebit remain autonomous but its merger with Amusement Visions could make for some interesting titles. Now that this has been completed can we PLEASE get back to announcing and developing the games that made me fall in love with Sega in the first place (Altered Beast PS2 and Vectorman are not those titles)

 

http://www.gamers.com/news/1429918/

 

Heres the restructure with my comments below:

 

Sega has completed the contraction of its development subsidiaries, creating seven teams where there once were nine, reports Mainichi Interactive. Some teams have been combined with others, but none have actually been eliminated. Rather, Sega hopes to streamline and refocus its teams in order to create more hit titles over the next five years.

The new structure works out as follows:

 

 

Sonic Team combines with United Game Artist.

This team will focus on popular titles for more casual gamers -- Sega likely wants to balance Sonic Team's focus on mass-market games with UGA's creativity.

 

-The focus for this restructuring is of course to increase overall sales and add more focus to game development. With that, I hope that the Sega of the future continues taking chances and with these 2 studios combining I'm hoping Rez 2 is a possibility and with that a decent marketing push behind it. (I can dream).

 

Hitmaker combines with Sega Rosso.

This team is to focus on new types of games for new hardware.

 

-New type of games eh? I would figure UGA would have been a better selection here as Hitmaker, though a good studio is not as well known for its creativity as UGA or say Smilebit.....IMHO. In fact..I'll get to that later on...

 

Wow Entertainment combines with Overworks.

A rather odd fit -- the makers of House of the Dead combined with Sega's premier RPG team -- but this group's focus is on games for all age groups.

 

- Odd indeed. House of Arcadia? Skies of the Dead? Lets hope not. Should be interesting to see what these two studios come up with in the future.

 

Amusement Vision combines with Smilebit.

A meeting of two extremely talented teams -- this team will focus on creating movie-like experiences.

 

-Amusement Vision if memory serves are the folks handling F-zero and known for the Daytona series. Mind you I have very little trouble with these 2 studios working together considering, as noted above, both are exremely talented. However a union of Smilebit and UGA would have m foaming at the mouth to see what they could come up with.

 

Sega-AM2 will remain independent, but with the departure of Yu Suzuki, its focus will shift even more towards games for serious gamers, especially fighting games.

 

Meanwhile, Sega will also create two entirely new teams. One of the two new teams will focus solely on sports games, using staff drawn from Smilebit and Amusement Vision (likely those responsible for the "Let's Make A Pro Sports Team" titles and the Virtua Striker series). The other will be headed up by Yu Suzuki, who has turned over leadership of the AM2 division to Hiroshi Kataoka. Suzuki's new team will be built around his hit properties, like the Virtua Fighter and Shenmue series. This holds out the strange possibility of the Shenmue series continuing, despite its commercial failure in the past.

 

Hopefully, these moves will help Sega more effectively direct the considerable talent at its disposal. We'll continue to update with more news on Sega's reorganization as it arises.

 

My only other comment here is that I'm excited to see what the future of Sega holds. Can't wait to start hearing some game announcements!

[iainl]

Yes, AV are they guys who've just finished doing the new F-Zero game.

 

Before they did that, they built a pair of the best games on the Gamecube in Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2.

 

And now they "will focus on creating movie-like experiences"?

 

Have they completely lost their minds? Nagoshi-san is one of the kings of instant fun, and they want him boring us to death with cutscene-filled rubbish? Arse to all that.

[Romier S]

Have they completely lost their minds? Nagoshi-san is one of the kings of instant fun, and they want him boring us to death with cutscene-filled rubbish? Arse to all that.

 

Agreed Ian. AV would have much better been paired with a house like Hitmaker who also has a knack for arcade like fun.

 

If it were me and mind you I'm keeping an open mind here about these pairings but I would have gone with:

 

Sonic Team - Overworks

United Game Artists - Smilebit

Hitmaker - Amusement Visions

Wow Entertainment - Sega Rosso

[Romier S]

Well looks like Sega has announced the full restructure and the final plans for what studios will be merging. Heres the report:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/news/news_6072725.html

 

Sega has revealed the structure and names of its development studios after its planned reorganization. Under Sega's new studio structure, there will be seven development studios--Hitmaker, Sonic Team, Amusement Vision, Smilebit, Sega-AM2, Wow Works and a new studio named Cinematic Online Games.

 

Sega Rosso (Sega Rally, NASCAR arcade) will be merged and absorbed into Hitmaker (Virtual On, Crazy Taxi) , and United Game Artists (Rez, Space Channel 5) will be merged and absorbed into Sonic Team (Sonic the Hedgehog, Phantasy Star Online). Smilebit (Jet Set Radio) and Amusement Vision (F-Zero AX, Super Monkey Ball) will not be merging as previously reported, but a part of Smilebit's operations will be transferred to Amusement Vision. Sega-AM2 (Virtua Fighter series, Shenmue series) will stay intact without any changes. Overworks (Shinobi, Sakura Wars) will merge into Wow Entertainment (House of the Dead, Vampire Night) and Wow entertainment will change its studio name to Wow Works. A new company tentatively named Cinematic Online Games will be established. Cinematic Online Games's president will be Yu Suzuki, and 50 employees are scheduled to be present at the studio launch planned for October 1.

 

Paperwork for the merger will be signed on August 18 and given approval in the stockholders meeting on August 19. The mergers are scheduled to take place later on October 1. Sega does not plan to lay off any employees in the reorganization, meaning that 191 employees will be switching studios in the merger (Sega Rosso: 45 employees, United Game Artists: 40 employees, Overworks: 96 employees). Sega will release more specific details on the studios at a later date.

 

Looks like Smilebit is till around with part of its work force going to AV. UGA and Sonic Team are now one (really interested in seeing what they come up with...Rez 2? Please please please!?) .

 

Really wanting to see what comes out of COG (Cinematic Online Games). Shenmue 3 would be met with a smile and excitement if it was the studios first title.

 

At this point I'm really just wanting October 1st to come and go and the game announcements to start rolling in. If anything I am just ecstatic that Sega is remaining autonomous.