Is Sega in trouble of being bought out?
Stock market opinion and analyst site Seeking Alpha posed an interesting question - Could Sega be the target of a takeover? It’s no secret Sega Sammy has hit on hard times over the past few months. Both Sammy’s pachinko and even Sega’s software division haven’t met company expectations and have even made it hard on the former hardware developer to turn a profit.
The future doesn’t look much better than the past, either as Sega has forecasted a full year loss in excess of $242 million and has been forced to close more than 100 arcades and most recently had to let go of 400 employees.
This comes on the heels of Sega of Europe President Mike Hayes predicting the company would be purchasing even more development companies. Of course, those plans are likely on hold now that the company is on red alert to try to stop the bleeding.
Keep reading to see what the possible future holds for Sega Sammy.
All of these turn of events leads to one possible conclusion that would surely be terrible news for any Sega Nerd - Sega being taken over by a competing company. Could Activision, Sony or even Nintendo pony up enough cash to buy out Sega Sammy? The horrible truth is yes.
However, the more important question is: “Would they?”
Now, this next piece is purely speculation on our part, but what other video game company currently has more interest in the future of Sega than Nintendo? Both companies have recently become more close than ever as they tag teamed together to develop and published the multi-million selling Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and Sonic is finally making his appearance in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii.
If Nintendo were to purchase Sega, not only would it gain ownership over Sega’s vast library of intellectual properties, but it’d also gain full profit and publishing rights to the surprisingly popular Mario & Sonic games. One thing the games have proved is the combination of arguably the two most legendary characters in video game history has dollar signs written all over it, and both Nintendo and Sega would have to be crazy not to turn this into a series of future titles.
Plus, you can’t forget how much support Sega has given Nintendo’s Virtual Console. In my opinion, Sega should be given just as much credit as Nintendo for the success of the Virtual Console as it has nearly as many games available as Nintendo and way more than any other publisher.
Years ago, the thought of Nintendo and Sega coming together as one company would have been considered blasphemy, but with the current direction Sega Sammy’s Chairman and CEO Hajime Satomi has the company heading in, serious changes will have to be made for it to stay around for much longer and not get taken over by its competitors.
Tags: Financial
26 opinions for Is Sega in trouble of being bought out?
Graham
Feb 12, 2008 at 4:29 am
Im starting to think that Sega Europe should split from Sega US and Japan. The last year all the best games seemed to come from the European division (with exception of VF5). And upcoming games like Viking seem to only cement my belief that SoE are making the better games right now.
It’ll never happen of course. But the European division definitely seems to be doing the best.
Shadi
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:28 am
Not Nintendo!!! NO they will ruin SEGA
J
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:34 am
Maybe SEGA is exactly what N is needing right now: less kids games.
Aki-at
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:36 am
I don’t think Nintendo would be a good choice, maybe a few years ago, but in the direction Nintendo are going now, SEGA’s titles like Virtua Fighter 5 and Yakuza would be really alienated with the majority crowd Nintendo is pulling on the Nintendo Wii/DS, not to mention, what would become of SEGA’s Total War and Football Manager series? Considering there sales (In the case of FM, majority of sales) come from the PC.
Personally, the most compatible first party for SEGA right now would be Sony and Microsoft, but more so Sony since they have a stronger foothold on the market, games like Virtua Fighter, Yakuza and Valkyrie would sell quite a bit in Japan, but with Microsoft there are strong advantages as well, games like SEGA Rally Revo, Virtua Fighter and Viking would get a rock solid campaign to boost sales to the max and there share of the market in North America is superior to Sony and I don’t see Microsoft not allowing SEGA to make games for the PC.
It will be interesting to see how this year will turn out, SEGA’s position in the European market for third party has averaged around the third place (Though this week they were first!) their position in the North American market is moving up to fifth but they’ve lost there position in Japan (Although they’re really hasn’t been any major Japanese releases apart from SEGA Rally Revo) so they’ve seen gain in both those markets, but loss in Japan, to me though, I do not see this as a big loss, considering how the market is there right now.
It will be interesting to see how this year will turns out…
c2k8
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:54 am
To be honest Microsoft could do much worse than buy sega after losing bungie and watching Bioware and bizzare being purchased, plus the sega name would help in japan.
Kogen
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:54 am
I’d rather it be another third-party publisher in Japan rather than an American company or console maker. I’m entirely sure they would ruin SEGA.
But it doesn’t seem as likely as it looks. I don’t see anyone wanting to buy Atari, Midway, EA(they lost money even during Christmas and layed off a ton of people), and THQ(same deal).
Diogo
Feb 12, 2008 at 8:59 am
That would be horrible if it happened as it would mean more games for one console than for all of them. I really hope that SEGA manages to get back its profits and turns it around.
Yan
Feb 12, 2008 at 10:12 am
It would still be a blasphemy if Sega were sold to Nintendo. Nintendo only makes kiddy craps. They consoles (GC, Wii) , and their games are very childish. I would much rather MS buys Sega. It is a better fit.
radrappy
Feb 12, 2008 at 11:17 am
Well, as much as I’m opposed to Sega being bought out, what could be worse than being owned by a gambling king? Right? right?
Aki-at
Feb 12, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Being owned by Rupert Murdoch?
Bruceongames
Feb 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Original source for this here: http://www.bruceongames.com/2008/02/09/sonic-trips-over/
joei
Feb 12, 2008 at 4:16 pm
ugh.. thats all i have to say.. nintendont sux and will bring down sega’s already sinking creative mind.
joei
Feb 12, 2008 at 4:18 pm
sega did/does what nintendont … now imagine if they would.. ah! nintendont would either ruin sega’s properties or make them a success its a hit or miss usually w/sega.
joei
Feb 12, 2008 at 4:19 pm
nintenega
F-Unit
Feb 12, 2008 at 5:12 pm
All things must pass. Sega had their time. I’d rather see them fade away than get bought out by Nintendo or Sony etc. Although personally I doubt many companies would be that interested in buying them anyway.
Kyle
Feb 12, 2008 at 7:17 pm
while the nintendo interest does raise a very good point, on a completely personal opinion, id rather it be Sony bought SEGA to be a first party exclusives developer, or even a relationship like Microsoft and Bungie used to have.
I know SEGAs products have never been stellar on the PS hardware, but for some reason i get the feeling if the two actually worked together, they both would jive really well. I mean, speaking specifically in similarities: SEGAs mindset when it came to hardware, wasn’t that different from the PS3 “More power, more options, more innovative things”. Plus their ideas on Software arent that far from eachother either, Yakuza is a perfect example of this.
I dunno, just my 2 cents. I dont want it to happen, but if it does, i vote for Sony.
City Hunter
Feb 13, 2008 at 6:21 am
This is the chance for Sega to re-buy itself from Sammy.
shinneri
Feb 13, 2008 at 10:53 am
I think Sega just needs to jump off the sinking ship that is Sammy. Sammy is a company built on a stupid fad, and the few video games they’ve published have shown their ineptness in the matter.
Really, the losses are coming largely from Sammy. Losses are now also coming from arcade, but I think everyone knows that’s the direction the entire arcade business is headed and Sega needs to just devote less resources to it.
If Sega were just a stand-alone company again with a diminished focus on arcades, I think they would easily be in the black.
Anyway, I’d normally have no problem with a Nintendo/Sega alliance, but I personally see the Wii as Nintendo’s very worst platform to date from a gamer’s perspective (Besides VB, of course). The gimmicky controls would ruin Yakuza.
ChaosAngelZero
Feb 13, 2008 at 12:05 pm
… I… I just say someone, please, put SEGA’s name out of its mysery.
That’s all.
ChaosAngelZero
Feb 13, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Uhmm… actually, that’s not all (and I misspelled misery).
From a strict fanboy/ nerd perspective, I wouldn’t approve of a Nintendo or Sony merger since those were its main competitors and both, even today, embody the very mentalities SEGA managed to evade; overly kiddy games and soulless, generic crap (with bright exceptions in each camp).
I don’t see any reason why Microsoft shouldn’t buy it, after all SEGA’s been torn between its Japanese roots and its western success almost from the beginning, and even then Microsoft could very well enforce SEGA’s original arcade branch in Japan.
I may also clarify that pachinko was, at one point, almost a socially accepted endemic addiction that goes against their gambling ban, though due to various regulations they’re now losing popularity.
V1L3
Feb 13, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I really really think the Sega/Sammy merger was the biggest mistake they could have ever made. Not only did Sammy’s influence dilute Sega’s business plan (Sega was on the right track in the early Xbox days), but now they’ve become an open wound in Sega’s side from which money oozes.
The best bet would be for Sega to remain third-party, and so a merger with another third party (Capcom, Namco, etc) would be in everyone’s best interests, if such a measure became necessary.
The last thing we’d want is for Sega to throw all their eggs into the Nintendo basket and then have Wii sales take a nosedive or Nintendo decide to just up and call it quits when Miyamoto retires/gets eaten by fire-breathing plants.
eday_2010
Feb 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm
If someone would end up buying Sega, the last company I would want it to be is Sony. Ntohing about Sony appeals to me. Not the games on their console, or the console itself. Microsoft would be a better fit. Their Xbox Live thingy would be a perfect place for updated and enhanced versions of classic Sega games. And it would help them in Japan, and possibly overall. I’ve always felt that instead of MS putting out their own console, it would have been better to team up with Sega (MS deep pockets plus Sega’s game-making abilities; we’ll forget the fiasco of them losing so much gamer trust after thei screw ups in the mid-90’s); if the Xbox had Sega’s name on it instead of Microsoft’s, it would have sold better.
I think Nintendo would be a good choice too. The Wii is a great console. The control scheme is what got me back into current generation games. If you sit down and actually play it for a while, and are also into games that aren’t just first-person shooters, it is insanely fun. If Nintendo bought Sega, I don’t thik they would mess too much with Sega’s franchises. I don’t think they’d ruin them at all; Sega is capable of doing that themselves. Nintendo might be able to give them the resources and help to improve on titles like Sonic, because Sonic games need a lot of improvement (less the handheld versions). Though MS could provide the same resources, but they don’t put out much in the way of adventure titles.
Ideally, Sega would buy themselves out, but if they are losing money, they don’t really have the money to do this. Another third party company buying them would probably be best, but I would rather see Sega stay Sega.
But if I had to choose between Sony, MS, and Nintendo, I’d pick Nintendo. they themselves make excellent games, and Sega’s more adult oriented games would help balance out the titles available for Nintendo’s system. Though it would suck to finally see Nintendo ultimately and decisively win against Sega.
alimn
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:02 pm
What if Apple buys SEGA?
SEGApple?
Regards-Alimn
alimn
Feb 14, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Well we must save SEGA before this happens by advertising
for their big upcoming titles?
games like Yakuza:Kenzan! and Golden Axe plus a new 2D(view) remake
from Sonic The Hedgehog and of course Shenmue III CAN SAVE SEGA!
Regards-Alimn
Ryan
Feb 16, 2008 at 3:05 pm
The only thing that would make me happy is if Sega leaves Sammy and merges with Capcom.
Sammy sucks, I don’t want to see Sega exclusive to any current consoles and I don’t want them to be eaten up by some shitty mammoth 3rd party like EA, Activision or Ubi.
Capcom + Sega = best thing to happen to the world since the wheel.
ChaosAngelZero
Feb 16, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I don’t see why SEGA shouldn’t ‘be exclusive to a single console’, after all SEGA contents were confined to SEGA consoles back then, it would be much like “back to the roots”.
What’s more, if Microsoft doesn’t show up with a portable system, they could very well keep developing games for both the DS and the PSP.
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