Rumor: Sega Europe to Close, Final AAA game to be announced at E3...

[Mr. Awesomest]

Sonic Adventure 3

That's actually a possibility. The name alone will give it shitloads of publicity, and advertise itself. Might not reach ME3 levels of fame, but it may do more than just equalize it.

[---]

Sonic Adventure 3

What an awful time to run out of likes!....though they would be going out with a bang if this were the case.

[Old dead account]

That's actually a possibility. The name alone will give it shitloads of publicity, and advertise itself. Might not reach ME3 levels of fame, but it may do more than just equalize it.

It actually would, given how much fame that series carries. If this does turn out to be true then I think Sega's got nothing to lose actually doing it.

[LunarEdge]

As far as I know from reading the source, only Sega Europe is closing down. Sega of America and Sega of Japan will still stand. Most Sonic games are made in Japan, so we are still fine with the Sonic the Hedgehog games IF this rumor is true.

^This

Does SEGA Europe contribute much? Other than localizing the games to the area?

[Tori Himemiya]

^This

Does SEGA Europe contribute much? Other than localizing the games to the area?

[Match]

To answer some unanswered questions I saw:

No, SSMB would go nowhere. Why would it? Sega doesn't own us. Even if Sonic died out, this forum would have reason to continue existing.

Sega Europe closing doesn't mean the end of Sonic.

If Sega could no longer make Sonic games, I'm sure they would sell the rights to Nintendo or something.

This is probably not true, and even then doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But it's still interesting.

[Dummy Bear]

If Sega could no longer make Sonic games, I'm sure they would sell the rights to Nintendo or something.

[Badnik Mechanic]

^This

Does SEGA Europe contribute much? Other than localizing the games to the area?

[Kiah]

Why on Earth does everyone and their mothers seem to want Sonic to be sold off to Nintendo if given the chance?

Maybe because they think Nintendo would take good care of Sonic and work wonders with his game given the chance to, being sucessful as they have been with Mario and others. While this may be true personally I wouldn't want Sonic to be sold off to Nintendo, only because I don't like the idea of Sonic being console exclusive. I like Sonic currently being third party, where he is available basically to almost all gamers, no matter the gaming console or PC even, give or take some exclusives. I hope that doesn't change given this rumor and Sega's current financial state.

[Match]

Why on Earth does everyone and their mothers seem to want Sonic to be sold off to Nintendo if given the chance?

I'd rather have Nintendo take a stab at it then just have him die off in a whimper. And my mother would likely disagree, Mr. Assumptions.

[---]

I'd rather have Nintendo take a stab at it then just have him die off in a whimper. And my mother would likely disagree, Mr. Assumptions.

Funny, my mom wouldn't give a rat's rabbie.

[LunarEdge]

I would rather pull the trigger myself than to see it saved on a first party/one console exclusive company.

I rather see Sonic live on, be it console exclusive or not. Given, I have no interest in any future Nintendo consoles as of yet, I will probably opt in to buying one eventually like I always do.

Edited June 3, 2012 by LunarEdge

[Dummy Bear]

I'd rather have Nintendo take a stab at it then just have him die off in a whimper. And my mother would likely disagree, Mr. Assumptions.

The term "Everyone and their mother" is merely an expression...

And I'm rather wary of Nintendo taking the franchise for two reasons:

1. It would mean having to buy a Nintendo console just to play it and after my experience with the Wii, I'd rather not.

2. Kirby and Donkey Kong were barely lucky enough to get a new console platformer this gen. If Nintendo got the franchise, we'd be lucky to get a console Sonic game once every gen.

[Match]

The term "Everyone and their mother" is merely an expression...

Ha ha, I know. I was joking.

In response to the rest of your post, Nintendo was just an example. I have no preferences.

[Old dead account]

2. Kirby and Donkey Kong were barely lucky enough to get a new console platformer this gen. If Nintendo got the franchise, we'd be lucky to get a console Sonic game once every gen.

At least it would an excellent quality title, rather than a sort of good annual release. If anybody can do it's Nintendo. I wouldn't know who else would be more capable.

Just had a thought...can you imagine if somehow Dimps got the rights to Sonic? XD

Edited June 3, 2012 by Prince Solaris

[SenEDDtor Missile]

At least it would an excellent quality title, rather than a sort of good annual release. If anybody can do it's Nintendo. I wouldn't know who else would be more capable.

Just had a thought...can you imagine if somehow Dimps got the rights to Sonic? XD

Automation City? No thanks.

[Candescence]

Console exclusive or not, there's no other publisher I'd rather trust with the Sonic franchise than Nintendo. And I doubt they'd neglect it either - Sonic does sell, they know this.

That, and I imagine they could do great things with it. Give it to Miyamoto or Retro Studios and we could see something fantastic.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Console exclusive or not, there's no other publisher I'd rather trust with the Sonic franchise than Nintendo. And I doubt they'd neglect it either - Sonic does sell, they know this.

That, and I imagine they could do great things with it. Give it to Miyamoto or Retro Studios and we could see something fantastic.

Blank slate Sonic, no extra playable characters other than Sonic, idiotic sects of fans claiming for nothing except Classic 2D....

[Candescence]

Blank slate Sonic, no extra playable characters other than Sonic, idiotic sects of fans claiming for nothing except Classic 2D....

... What does that have to do with anything? We've had that for years.

[LATER BUDDY]

If Sonic did in fact die, SSMB will just slowly become one of those places like I've been to for forums about things that died ages ago, but on a larger scale here. If anyone wants to know what I'm talking about, go lurk the many subforums on a place called "Animation Source" *shivers*.

But seriously, it's a bit of a shocker to read this, even just being a rumor. Like Hogfather, I don't want to believe, D;. However, there's a part of me that really thinks it could happen. The problem is if Sonic did get pawned off to another company, who would really be the best to run it? I mean you give it to a first party console place like Nintendo and while it may be good and get frequent releases, the idea of it being land-locked to a console sickens me unless it's a Sega console. Hell, even if Sega had a console in this day in age, with how things are now, I don't know if I'd want it console exclusive.

However, you sell it to a 3rd party, it could be on everything still, but I question the quality depending on the company, as well as if we'd only see Sonic like once every 4-5 years. That's a pretty big difference than the usually few titles a year with him in it at least in some form.

I guess ending with Generations and kinda tying the loop with the original Sonic trilogy and Sonic CD with Sonic 4 makes a pretty conclusive outro though, huh? But IDK guys, I don't think Sonic is going anywhere yet, but it's a weird world to think with out him still running.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

... What does that have to do with anything? We've had that for years.

Well, this is purely anecdote and observation on my part, but Nintendo to me is known for several things:

1) blank slate characters: other than spin offs, nearly all of their major mascots/characters are blank slates. Granted some of them have more personality than others and execute what little they do have well (that's why I love Luigi over Mario any day <3).

2) Only one character is ever playable or even worthy of note in the main game (I'm looking at you Mario).

3) A lot of their games feel kinda samey to me. They aren't bad, I do love some of them, but it does get annoying having what is in essence the same plot over and over again.

4) I don't want them to bend over to the idiotic sects of this fanbase like SEGA has a tendency to do on many occasions.

Maybe I'm just partially sleep deprived, and maybe just overly cynical about it, but I don't want Sonic to become like Mario in the above mentioned aspects. If Nintendo can prove me wrong, then I'll take this back, but until then... eh.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Something that I've been thinking, if this is part of their restructuring and its a decision to save money.

Why shut down the entire Europe arm? Considering how big it is and all the work it does, would it not make more sense to shut down some of the more smaller studios that don't really do much? e.g. Sega Mecixo has it's own place and community manager for goodness sake... this next one is a tad controversial, but compared to Sega Europe, SOA is tiny, would it not make more sense to shut that down instead?

Even within Sega Europe itself there are smaller divisions right? Would it not make more sense to shut down parts of it as apposed to the entire part... and wait a moment, didn't sega recently buy/build a new studio in England which would be making Vita titles?

... I'm slowly starting to lean towards Tom.

[media=]

I know why I'm not instantly yelling 'faaaaaakkkeee' because we've been talking about how Segas got problems for months now, bit games have not sold well at all and the issue of advertising has been going on for years, but looking at the wider picture outside of the complaints regarding segas strategy, it's an odd thing to do all things considered.

[Jetronic]

You know... this could be a very good thing.

*dodges flaming bag of live scorpions*

What SEGA needs right now is limitations with their finances...

*sidesteps machine gun bullets*

...so they can't use high end graphics and production values...

*ducks underneath missile covered in cyanide*

...and therefore, being forced to use their creativity and imagination to make the games fun, like the Genesis days. Back when the stakes were higher, when they had little left to lose, the very environment in which our speedy blue hero was forged 21 years ago!

...guys?

Not that I agree nor disagree, but whatever positive it does bring, the biggest negative here are people losing jobs because of this, considering if it's true.

[Thigolf]

Well, this is purely anecdote and observation on my part, but Nintendo to me is known for several things:

1) blank slate characters: other than spin offs, nearly all of their major mascots/characters are blank slates. Granted some of them have more personality than others and execute what little they do have well (that's why I love Luigi over Mario any day <3).

2) Only one character is ever playable or even worthy of note in the main game (I'm looking at you Mario).

3) A lot of their games feel kinda samey to me. They aren't bad, I do love some of them, but it does get annoying having what is in essence the same plot over and over again.

4) I don't want them to bend over to the idiotic sects of this fanbase like SEGA has a tendency to do on many occasions.

Maybe I'm just partially sleep deprived, and maybe just overly cynical about it, but I don't want Sonic to become like Mario in the above mentioned aspects. If Nintendo can prove me wrong, then I'll take this back, but until then... eh.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Thigolf

[Conando]

I'd be more inclined to believe it's the last Western developed game that would come out of SEGA, not the last retail SEGA game ever. Sonic isn't going anywhere. If SEGA did go under and sell the rights to the series, I honestly think Nintendo is the only company that could do the character justice.

Edit: If Nintendo were to "trim the fat" so to speak (which I doubt they would), they'd probably just rid of all the damn superfluous characters and roll with the classics. Tails and Knuckles wouldn't go anywhere, that's for sure.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Crow T. Robot