Perhaps that last part is somewhat sensationalist, but SEGA has streamlined its US and EUROPE divisions, leading to a shit-ton of layoffs and all but four franchises disappearing from SEGA's to-do list.

These four franchises are Safe. -- Sonic the Hedgehog, Football Manager, Total War and Aliens

All others, including my beloved Super Monkey Ball, are being forgotten and cancelled... a bummer for some of us, like fans of Shenmue and such. However these franchises could make their way to other publishers and developers I suppose. I didn't read anything that said that couldn't happen.

Are you disappointed? Do you care? What will you miss?

GoNintendo's Source
IGN's Source 1
IGN's Source 2

(Clearly it's a disappointment whenever ANYONE loses their job but I'm inquiring about the games here.)

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@New Forms Valkyria Chronicles may have been stuck in Japan anyway. At least, III has been. And personally I wasn't the biggest fan of II, this franchise works way better on PS3 where it doesn't have to be so streamlined.

Posted by

Zero

on: 03/31/12, 03:27

@NoName

Yeah, he's one of the founders of the original Nintendo team over at IGN.

Posted by

Abdooooo

on: 03/31/12, 03:37

@Zero

Yeah, I have I & II and totally agree.

Posted by

New Forms

on: 03/31/12, 03:42

I think the fact that they kept Sonic is a great indicator of why they are in this position really.

Posted by

missypissy

on: 03/31/12, 03:56

Why the fuck didn't they merge with Namco when they had the chance?

Sega Namco would have been. the. shit.

Posted by

Hinph

on: 03/31/12, 06:10

Edited:

03/31/12, 06:11

Hinph said:

Why the fuck didn't they merge with Namco when they had the chance?

Sega Namco would have been. the. shit.

Pac-Man and Sonic: Eat and Run

The awesome games would have programmed themselves.

Posted by

kriswright

on: 03/31/12, 06:29

Makes me feel bad that I have been delaying getting Space Channel 5 part 2 on PSN.

Then I remember I bought Sonic Adventure and I feel less sad. Though I wouldn't call that a win.

Sucks for the employees who have lost their jobs, I hope they land back on their feet. And I hope that Jet Set Radio HD thing is still coming!

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 03/31/12, 06:48

I'd be interested to know how many of this huge lay-off is of executives that make $250,000+ vs. people who make games.

Game wise, after the travesties of the last few Monkey Ball games I'm almost happy to see the poor franchise finally be laid to rest. RIP Monkey Ball. You were absolutely and utterly amazing once...

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 03/31/12, 07:07

@kriswright

Win!

@Hinph

I wondered that too when they merged with Sammy. From an American standpoint, the Sammy merger made zero sense since they had little presence in the US (but Pachinko is pretty big overseas apparently) to speak of, if any.

Posted by

ludist210

on: 03/31/12, 07:09

As long as the Total War games keep coming I could care less. Sega has been horrific for a long, long time.

Posted by

Oldmanwinter

on: 03/31/12, 11:17

Condemned please

Posted by

carlosrox

on: 03/31/12, 11:30

NoName said:

@Abdooooo

While IGN is dead to me, that news, if true, is certainly worthy of a

He's the last of the old regime, right? Or is Fran still hiding about somewhere?

Yeah, Fran is still around. He's the video director. He's probably not going anywhere.

Posted by

Earendil

on: 03/31/12, 17:15

Oldmanwinter said:

As long as the Total War games keep coming I could care less. Sega has been horrific for a long, long time.

How much less could you care?

Posted by

-JKR-

on: 03/31/12, 17:43

Well bummer. So gone permanently is Vectorman, Eternal Champions, and even Streets of Rage? Yeah, older classics, but ones that, if done right, could've seen a decent revival. Ah well.

Posted by

Cryojin

on: 03/31/12, 18:07

I am sad for Virtua Fighter.

I know no one else really cares (why are there not many fighting game fans here at Negative World?!?) but that franchise is pretty awesome.

*WAS* pretty awesome.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 04/01/12, 04:59

@GameDadGrant

I really liked Virtua Fighter; playing every entry ending with the one for Dreamcast (though I vaguely remember that one). Virtua Fighter 2 (for Saturn) was my favorite, playing the royal heck out of it. Akira was my favorite character (generic, I know), with Lau, Sarah, and Shun being close seconds. Though, they were all great to play as. However, I couldn't stand Jeffrey - that brute! The music was great (for the time and genre) and the play control simple and effective. I liked that it was a fighter without projectiles, mad combos, and other such things to bog down the experience.

Posted by

NoName

on: 04/01/12, 05:55