Sega – It’s Time For a Buyout

For a company most famous for its speedy mascot, Sega has been pretty backward about coming forward.

Let’s face it, the glory days of Sega are far, far behind them. Gone are the genre-leading Dreamcast and Megadrive days. Instead, we’re left with a company not really pushing to its limit. Revivals of old IP – even the brilliant Sonic Mania and Streets of Rage 4 – are experiments outside of the main teams that develop these games. Besides that, we’re left with Yakuza, Football Manager, Total War and the work of Atlus.

With Sega in the rumour spotlight once again, it’s time to ask whether a buyout might actually be for the best.

Risk and Reward – A Sega Fantasy

Look, we get it. Making games is expensive and risky. Factor in that most money in the industry is coming through the likes of Apex and Fortnite, and it makes sense why, say, a new Skies of Arcadia isn’t rushing to release.

And Sega isn’t alone in this. The Bethesda story was very similar – where decisions were being made based on keeping the lights on. There’s no room for a ten-year development cycle on the next Elder Scrolls title without chucking in a Fallout 76.

Pick any third party developer and you can see the same thing. Even first parties aren’t immune. That’s why Gamepass exists. Taking the risk away financially allows developers freedom to ignore that segment of production.

There are a lot of downsides to a few big companies buying up every publisher, but we know it’s on its way. Amazon, Google, Tencent, Microsoft – the name of the game is no longer following Sony’s model. Paying for third party exclusives while developing in-house doesn’t work anymore. The second all this money started floating around was when the child’s play of “Spider-man is a PS4 exclusive in Avengers” stopped being viable.

But the positive of having a huge financial base is that you don’t have to worry about keeping the lights on. Say what you want about third parties splitting off to Stadia and Luna, the games they will support will be incredible.

A Changing Industry

There’s no amount of angry forum posts that will change it: the industry is transforming beyond recognition. For better and for worse.

Resistance is futile. All praise to our new gazzilionaire overlords. All hail King Zuck and his cold, robotic heart.

I hate even joking about it, but it’s true. When the gaming industry overtook the film industry in pure profits, we celebrated how mainstream our little hobby had become. That success was the beginning of the end in many ways.

But we have to be realistic about the situation. Look at Konami. Metal Gear is dead. Silent Hill is dead. They have resigned themselves to tossing out a few mobile releases and a football game, because there’s a little reward in not taking risks. Konami isn’t just being stingy – they literally cannot afford to create a game that fails. It could have ramifications for years to come.

So when Sega doesn’t bring out Sonic Adventure 3, but instead creates yet another mediocre Game/Books/Film/TV multimedia crossover, it’s because that way there’s a chance they’ll still be here in five years.

And, believe me, I’m not trying to make you feel sorry for the poor little multibillion dollar company. There’s no sympathy to be had, except for the state of gaming. Instead, I’m trying to look on the positive side. Because, like it or not, a buyout is inevitable.

Sega: The Future

It seems Sega has been being bought by Microsoft for about 20 years now. Every couple of years, the rumour pops up its head, everybody is certain it’s happening and then, unsurprisingly, it never comes. That was then, this is now.

A major restructure at Sega means that its video game production side is separate from its other businesses. Now, obviously, companies restructure. There can be a million reasons. But it would also be convenient if there were plans to sell off that portion of its company wholesale.

Enter internet theorists. And it doesn’t take a doctorate in memes to know what the internet theorists have seen.

Knowing all we know, you can bet a few major companies are looking in that direction. I don’t buy the “Japanese companies are off-limits” talk. If I’m Microsoft or Amazon and I want to buy Sega, I have an army of very clever people who will work it out.  There is nothing that’s not possible when you’re the biggest businesses in the world.

But here’s the thing, I want Sega to be bought out. I want brilliant people to take these IPs and make them happen. I want a world where Shenmue 3 didn’t have to be paid for on Kickstarter, because this hugely iconic and influential series wasn’t a big enough potential seller for its rights holder to do anything with.

Fans – myself included – paid money upfront so that Sega – a big video game company – didn’t have to risk its profits. And I know Sega wasn’t involved in Shenmue 3, and that makes it worse.

A New Life

A Sega buyout doesn’t necessarily mean free reign. I mean, a subscription service would suit any developer that wants to do something that’s not immediately profitable. That doesn’t give Basement Bob free reign to make “Booby Punch 2000” on Microsoft’s dime. Bethesda can’t just turn on the ability to kill kids now, just because Fallout 5 doesn’t necessarily need to sell a single copy to be profitable.

But it would mean a young developer who wants to make a new Shining Force game doesn’t necessarily have to reckon with a board of old non-gamers asking “but will it sell four million copies?”

A buyout would give Sega’s new owner a treasure trove of old IP to build on. Would a company with deep pockets and massive profitability worry too much about bringing Jet Set Radio back? Sega can’t, but Google just might.

And that’s before you get to the benefit of having Sonic the Hedgehog as your mascot. Hell, the idea of Sonic being tied to a console’s image again gives me goosebumps.

Sega – It’s Time For a Buyout – Conclusion

I like the idea of these third parties getting a bunch of money. They’ll no longer have to water down their biggest hitters with yearly releases and cookie-cutter gameplay loops. I like the idea of companies signing cheques and then just leaving creative people to do what they need to do.

But I also realise in the long term that that’s a naive outlook. If I could press a button and rain unlimited funds onto every publisher, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

But we have to realise that the industry is going to become a much smaller place very soon. The likes of Sega, Ubisoft and even Take-Two are ripe for purchase, for the right amount of money and under the correct circumstances.

We can be scared of that – and there’s plenty of reason to be. But we can also acknowledge the positives it will occasionally bring.