SEGA's all about the PC gaming now

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/08/08/sega-is-refashioning-itself-as-a-pc-game-maker/

Makes sense - Total War is pretty much its only AAA-franchise left. (and Company of Heroes, I guess).

Kind makes it weird that SEGA put in a bid for ATLUS then, since ATLUS isn't even close to a PC game maker/ publisher.

Thoughts?

Sonic will still be on consoles, though, right?

...Right?!

CanisWolfred wrote:Sonic will still be on consoles, though, right?

...Right?!

I think the question should be "Sonic games will still be made, though, right?"



Slightly flippant, but look at where SEGA's putting its efforts - the biggest games it makes now are hardcore strategy games. It's almost weird that it also has Sonic.

Fingers crossed that Wii U Sonic game gets some interest beck into Speedy Blue.

CanisWolfred wrote:Sonic will still be on consoles, though, right?

...Right?!

Considering Sega has that exclusive deal with Nintendo right now, I would assume it is attempting to keep him in the console space and will base  future actions on how games like Lost World sell. As the article states, Sonic has historically performed well on Nintendo consoles (often surpassing the combined totals of the games on other systems) and being the company mascot, I'm not convinced he's going on the backburner for the foreseeable future unless the deal under performs by a notable margin. At the very least, I'd bet my house on the smaller digital games sticking around for several more years.

With regards to the potential Atlus purchase though, that is interesting. I'm not going to bother too much with my baseless speculation, but Atlus could be used to bolster PC support or simply go about business as usual to replace Sega's waning occupancy of the realm. Atlus certainly has a lot that could be ported should Sega have it mimic the whole porting shtick.

I can't see SEGA taking Sonic to PCs in any meaningful fashion. Even beyond the exclusivity contract, Sega understands that the biggest market for those games is the same market that dedicate themselves to Nintendo consoles - the people that grew up in the SEGA vs Nintendo console wars and have a strong sense of nostalgia there.

It's in SEGA's best interest to support the Wii U with those games because the death of Nintendo home consoles means the death of HD Sonic. PC Gamers are just not going to be interested in those games - look who actually bought the last Sonic Kart Racing game...

Midori wrote:With regards to the potential Atlus purchase though, that is interesting. I'm not going to bother too much with my baseless speculation, but Atlus could be used to bolster PC support or simply go about business as usual to replace Sega's waning occupancy of the realm. Atlus certainly has a lot that could be ported should Sega have it mimic the whole porting shtick.

More Atlus games on PCs could be a good step for the company. PCs have a far bigger audience than consoles and, from what I can tell, the majority of Atlus's games have never been graphics hogs.

As for SEGA being PC-focused; From a publisher perspective, SEGA is focusing its efforts on PCs. As a developer, it seems that SEGA is caring about PC ports but not so much focusing on PC development.

Except...There's no established fanbase on PC for JRPGs. How are they supposed to get sales when the vast majority of PC players wouldn't even look twice at their games?

V8_Ninja wrote:

Midori wrote:With regards to the potential Atlus purchase though, that is interesting. I'm not going to bother too much with my baseless speculation, but Atlus could be used to bolster PC support or simply go about business as usual to replace Sega's waning occupancy of the realm. Atlus certainly has a lot that could be ported should Sega have it mimic the whole porting shtick.

More Atlus games on PCs could be a good step for the company. PCs have a far bigger audience than consoles and, from what I can tell, the majority of Atlus's games have never been graphics hogs.

As for SEGA being PC-focused; From a publisher perspective, SEGA is focusing its efforts on PCs. As a developer, it seems that SEGA is caring about PC ports but not so much focusing on PC development.

Similar to what Canis said, I can't see any company going through the kind of work it would take to introduce a niche JRPG franchise to the PC audience. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but it would be much more difficult than simply growing Atlus' presence in the console market.