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.)

URL to share (right click and copy)

Oh no! I heard about the jobs...but MONKEY BALL????


Then again, I haven't bought a Monkey Ball game since SMB2.

Posted by

PogueSquadron

on: 03/31/12, 01:51

What does it even mean to say a franchise is "dead" though? Every franchise is dead, until someone decides to make a new game in it. I mean, I absolutely guarantee that we will see another Super Monkey Ball game at some point in the future. Maybe just not right away.

... is "Aliens" really one of Sega's biggest franchises now?

Posted by

Zero

on: 03/31/12, 01:54

Considering that much of what Sega does anymore isn't all that I hope it to be (at least where Nintendo platforms are concerned), this news affects me not. Sure, I'd love to see a new Ecco the Dolphin, but I know it would never happen anyway, and if it did, they'd flub it up somehow. Other franchises such as NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, and ToeJam & Earl would be neat to have new installments of, but as with Ecco, I don't think such would ever come to fruition anyway. Hopefully, though, this restructuring allows them to place more attention on getting Sonic right. Sonic Colors was a good start, but the 2D remake? Not so much.

Posted by

NoName

on: 03/31/12, 02:01

So no Valkyria Chronicles III for the US then?

Posted by

X-pert74

on: 03/31/12, 02:04

This news is 2 days early.

Posted by

carlosrox

on: 03/31/12, 02:04

@X-pert74 Was that really going to happen at this point anyway? The PSP is dead here.

Posted by

Zero

on: 03/31/12, 02:07

Hmmm, what in the hell is Football Manager & Total War?! Seriously, these are games? They sound like a menu option. So, its basically Sonic and Aliens, huh? Sounds like Sega is about to go completely out of the videogame business. Are they honestly sucking that badly?

I do feel bad for the people that is getting affected. Now that I think about it, the last Sega game I bought was Sonic Secret of the Rings. I did own the Super Monkey Ball games on the gamecube, at least the first two. I have not bought any since then.

Not that Im an expert, but with the 4 titles listed and 2 of them I've never heard of before, it seems like Sega is going to have a hard time staying in the game. I can't believe they are not even making money off the monkey ball games.

Even though I don't buy hardly any of Sega's games, it just seems bad for the overall videogame industry when stuff like this happens. Well, maybe some other publishers will pick up some of the bigger titles not on that list, like the monkey ball games and maybe be able to do something to make those games more successful and keep the fans of those games happy.

Posted by

gamewizard65

on: 03/31/12, 02:07

@carlosrox

You think it's merely a joke?

Maybe that's why I couldn't find it on GoNintendo or NintendoWorldReport...

Either way, I hate the internet at April Fools' time.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 03/31/12, 02:10

@gamewizard65

Football Manager is one of the all-time most popular sports titles in Europe. It's a hardcore sim.

Posted by

New Forms

on: 03/31/12, 02:12

Jet Set Radio? Seaman?

Posted by

vids

on: 03/31/12, 02:18

@vids

I'm more bummed about Valkyria Chronicles, Condemned and Bayonetta.

Posted by

New Forms

on: 03/31/12, 02:23

@DrFinkelstein

RMC posted the news early this morning...

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=174650

Though, I'm with you, perusing the interwebs on or around April 1st is a seriously annoying experience.

Posted by

NoName

on: 03/31/12, 02:28

@vids @New Forms

I'm hoping other developers pick up these now lost in the abyss franchises.

@NoName

Ah okay, I just didn't look back far enough on their site. Thanks for the link! I'll add it to the OP.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 03/31/12, 02:29

Edited:

03/31/12, 02:29

@New Forms

Thanks, and actually I just read elsewhere that these are pc games. So, that explains my ignorance of the existence of these games.

Posted by

gamewizard65

on: 03/31/12, 02:30

@gamewizard65

Actually, the games are on PC, consoles and handhelds.

It's easy to understand why they're under the radar though, as they're not that popular outside of Europe.

Posted by

New Forms

on: 03/31/12, 02:37

They didn't make enough money on the Mario and Sonic games? Combined they sold over ten million and were pretty cheap to make, so I'd think that'd be plenty of profit coming in to support losses on other games.

Posted by

Mop it up

on: 03/31/12, 02:49

From the sounds of it on Facebook, Craig (formerly @ IGN) may have gotten laid off.

Posted by

Abdooooo

on: 03/31/12, 02:53

So...not a great sign for Skies of Arcadia then...?

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 03/31/12, 03:00

@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?

Posted by

NoName

on: 03/31/12, 03:01

@TriforceBun

Shit! Forgot about Skies of Arcadia.

Truly the biggest loss.

What affect will this have on the possibility of the 360 XBLA port of the first game?

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 03/31/12, 03:25