As we recently reported, there has been a shake-up at SEGA America. Following this, SEGA's CEO Tetsu Kayama has announced a new "five tier" strategy for its game releases. In this plan, the Sonic the Hedgehog could see more spin-offs to help support the main franchise.
The five tiers of SEGA games going forward will be: Standard, Series, Spectacular, Sports and Arcade. Sonic the Hedgehog falls under the 'Series' category, so will reportedly get 'extensions' in the form of side-stories and spin-offs. Sakura Taisen is another series that will get the same treatment.
As for the other tiers, Sports is apparently most important to SEGA. The company wants to compete with Electronic Arts in this space, so will focus a lot of energy in marketing football and basketball games so it can be a powerful force once next-generation consoles are released.
The 'Spectacular' tier is a special category, reserved for new and original content, while 'Arcade' will follow SEGA's tradition of making amusement products. 'Standard' tier refers simply to the continuation of series such as Virtua Fighter, and is likely where their existing IP will mostly sit.
Of course, other markets are of interest to SEGA too, including mobile phone and internet games, as well as cross-media projects involving film and television. Key personnel will be pushing the five tier focus, such as Sonic Team's Yuji Naka.
Best of luck to SEGA, sounds like a very interesting strategy indeed! We're keen to learn more about what these Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off games will be as well. With Sonic X, it sounds like SEGA's plan to expand Sonic's reach into other mediums is already underway, so it will only be a matter of time before we hear about more projects. And with Yuji Naka behind things, we can be sure to be in for a good time.
Source: Swirlvision
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