Video game publisher and developer SEGA recently announced a massive, company-wide down-sizing and re-structuring. It is another major moment in SEGA’s history–and a sad one. It is hard to believe SEGA has fallen so hard from its olden days. There was a time where SEGA was a major video game hardware developer. However, SEGA is falling on hard times. It is somewhat sad to see SEGA sort of stumble, yet again, after it has struggled so much in the last 15 years.
Under SEGA’s new plan, the company is scheduled to focus more on digital mobile and PC releases instead of major console releases. My understanding is that means there could still be some big triple A games similar to Alien: Isolation. However, I get the sense that SEGA will shift its focus away from such games after it meets its current release plan. This moment seems somewhat familiar to the time when SEGA got out of the hardware and console making business. SEGA used to be a hardware and console giant in the industry. That all ended with the SEGA Dreamcast. I really liked the Dreamcast and found it quite innovative. There were many classic and underrated games for the Dreamcast that I really enjoyed. Unfortunately for SEGA, the console struggled, and ultimately, SEGA was forced to discontinue making consoles and hardware. SEGA would move on to focusing on game development. It was a humbling moment in SEGA’s history, and it is happening again.
It will be interesting to see what the downsizing will mean for subsidiary developers such as Creative Assembly, which are owned by SEGA. Could Creative Assembly separate or get acquired by another publisher? It is a little sad to see this occur after SEGA had finally found some redemption with the Alien franchise through Alien: Isolation. Hopefully, with the company downsizing, a sequel for Alien: Isolation is not in jeopardy. I wonder if SEGA might lose other assets as a result of the downsizing. I doubt SEGA would let go of Sonic the Hedgehog as a property, but the company has already licensed out Sonic to Nintendo for some crossover games with Super Mario Bros. Stranger things have happened in video game history.
The other hard part of all this is that several hundred people will soon be out of a job. One of the harsher aspects of working for a big corporation. Job security could be volatile, since it is based on the health of a corporation. When that is the case, employees may become expendable. While it may not be any fault of their own, people are losing their jobs. Ultimately, the current state of SEGA is sad to look at considering the company’s roots and history of classic video games and consoles.
0 Comments