Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'corporate'.
-
Now SEGA can prove that it is a great place to work - Yuji Naka and the Sonic Team recently won the 16th Nikkei 'New Office Promotion' Prize, an award that "recognizes excellent offices... that are full of originality and ingenuity." According to a SEGA press release, Sonic Team's concept of "the office is a game! All workers are characters!" was given high praise for providing a fun working environment where employees could feel comfortable and relax. Some examples of this concept in practice includes "a four-person cell system with an L-shaped desk that takes into account individual environments and just-in-time meetings," a casual 'chat corner' for impromptu one-to-ones, and a conference room with the names of Sonic Team characters and coloured in their respective colours. There is even a 'Chao Garden' which is described as "an open space where you can not only store materials, but also set up game software and monitors so you can work while playing. The lighting embedded in the storage shelves and the carpet patterns create a 'soft barrier' that is different from the office room." Yuji Naka is very happy with the award and said that he felt a good office environment stimulates a creative mind. Here is a quote from him about receiving the award (machine translated): You can see images of the Sonic Team office that helped win the studio the prestigious award by clicking this link to go to the SEGA Press Release. -
It looks like SEGA is coming back! In its first publicly-released quarterly earnings report, the company announced that it had generated a profit of ¥1.89 billion ($15.8 million USD) across ¥42.4 billion ($353 million USD) in sales between April and June 2003. And it's all down to Sonic. According to SEGA, the surprise uplift to the publisher's fortunes has come thanks to the release of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut on the Gamecube, which sold above expectations. Another title, Let's Make A J-League Soccer Club 3 for PlayStation 2, is also credited with impressive sales. SEGA dropped out of the home console business back in 2001, in a move that made everyone feel like all was lost for the company that made Sonic. It's great to see the company doing so well today, with its third-party efforts starting to bear decent results. Certainly, it looks like the ports are selling well... so it makes you think, what the sales for Sonic Heroes will be... Via Planet Gamecube -
We have some more details about SEGA's planned re-organisation of its studios, originally announced a few days ago. According to new reports, the paperwork for the mergers and other changes will be signed on August 18 and given approval in a stockholders meeting on August 19. If all is approved, things will move forward on October 1. Also, while it was already known that Sonic Team and United Game Artists (who created Space Channel 5 and Rez) would be merging as part of this restructure, it wasn't yet known until now what entity the resulting studio would be. Gamespot now confirms that United Game Artists will fold into Sonic Team, and Sonic Team will remain as the name of the unified studio. Similarly, Hitmaker will survive the merger between it and Sega Rosso, Wow Entertainment will survive the merger between it and Overworks (although that studio will be renamed to Wow Works), and Smilebit and Amusement Vision will in fact avoid merging after all - instead, some of Smilebit's operations will be transferred to Amusement Vision, but the two studios will remain intact. Sega-AM2 remains unaffected, and Yu Suzuki's new studio is tentatively called 'Cinematic Online Games', launching on October 1 with 50 employees. Apparently SEGA does not intend to lay off any employees as part of the restructure, meaning all who previously had roles within the studios will find a place in the new merged entities one way or another. Source: Gamespot -
Sonic Team SEGA Announces Studio Restructure: Sonic Team to Merge With United Game Artists
Dreadknux posted a story in SEGA
SEGA is taking some dramatic moves to slim down its operations this year, as it has announced that it will be 'reorganising' its entire games business. Only one of its studios (Sega-AM2) will remain unaffected as every other development unit will be merged into (and split off from) one another. Planet Gamecube writes that it was originally reported that some of SEGA's studios would be closing down as part of the reorganisation. But this doesn't seem to be the case anymore, now that we have a better idea of what exactly is happening. Sonic Team and United Game Artists (known for Space Channel 5 and Rez) will merge into one unified gaming studio. The same will happen for Hitmaker (Virtual On, Crazy Taxi) and Sega Rosso (Sega Rally, NASCAR). Overworks (Shinobi, Sakura Wars) will integrate into Wow Entertainment (House of the Dead). Parts of Amusement Vision (Super Monkey Ball) and Smilebit (Jet Set Radio) will integrate and split into new projects, such as Sega Sports titles. A brand new studio will also be set up, which will be run by Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki. From Planet Gamecube: No news yet on when the reorg is due to take place, but we'll let you know if there are any more updates. Source: Mainichi (Japanese) -
Game Sales Sonic Series Sells Over 1 Million Units from April to June 2023
Dreadknux posted a story in Games
The Sonic the Hedgehog game series has sold over 1.2 million units over the last three months, according to the latest financial results from SEGA's corporate body SEGA Sammy Holdings. During SEGA's first quarter of FY2024 (April 1 - June 30, 2023), Sonic series game sales reached approximately 1.22 million units, a drop of nearly 240,000 copies compared to the same period the previous year, but still pretty impressive. Although these results were not further broken down by game, it's safe to assume that the lion's share came from continuing sales of Sonic Frontiers. The open-zone adventure game originally released last November, but has received free content updates in March and June, which is likely to have sustained interest in the title. Sonic Origins Plus also released in June and would have contributed to the sales figure above, but sales were only tracked for a week so we are more likely to see the impact of this release in the next quarter. Elsewhere in its fiscal report, SEGA announced that overall sales were up 63% year-on-year to ¥108 billion ($756.9 million) and their operating income rose 712% to ¥22.5 billion ($123 million). Further games growth of around 9% is expected throughout the rest of the year - due to the upcoming release of titles such as Sonic Superstars and Persona 5 Tactica. Overall, it sounds like SEGA is in a great place right now, and with Superstars and more Frontiers DLC right around the corner it seems like the Sonic series is going to experience one fantastic sales year. via Final Weapon and MyNintendoNews -
The crazy rollercoaster that is SEGA's love-triangle merger may well be coming to an end - and an end that nobody really saw coming at that. Is it going to be Sammy that SEGA merges with? Or Namco? Turns out, it's probably going to be neither of them! On the one side, it sounds like Namco got tired of waiting for an answer from SEGA about whether it wanted to merge with the company or not, and decided to withdraw its offer after all. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that, because SEGA "wasn't able to give a specific answer to its offer, Namco has dropped its proposal and SEGA has announced that merger talks have concluded." On the other side, SEGA also announced that it had broken off merger talks with Sammy as well. So now it seems like SEGA won't be merging with any company at all and will continue to go it alone. An article on Gamers.com says, "SEGA would have continued to consider Namco's offer, but Namco, which had asked for an answer by the end of the week, apparently considered that response unsatisfactory. "Namco said that it may consider a merger in the future at Sega's instigation, but Sega responded that it will not pursue such a course. Thus, it appears that Sega will no longer merge with anyone, at least in the near term. At a press conference announcing Sega's current course, president Hideki Sato declined to comment on any other potential future deals -- including a rumored capital investment by Electronic Arts." So, after all of that... SEGA is going to make it on its own! Hooray! -
Merger SEGA Merger Update - Decision Between Sammy and Namco To Come Soon
Dreadknux posted a story in SEGA
A recent article written by Japanese website Asahi details the current state of SEGA, Namco and Sammy, and a possible merger with the former hardware giant and house of Sonic. Quite interestingly, this is turning out to be some kind of love triangle, tiffs included and all. To catch you up: it was announced in February that SEGA would be merging with pachinko company Sammy, with the deal all due to be wrapped up in May. Then, it turned out Namco had been talking with SEGA about the same thing since last year, and had publicly come out about a merger in mid-April. In response, SEGA announced it was "carefully" considering its options, a statement that clearly took Sammy by surprise. A decision from SEGA is due early May, but things have become a little frosty from Sammy's perspective. According to Asahi (via interpretation from Cube-Europe), Sammy President Hajime Satomi and the late CSK founder and former SEGA chairman Isao Okawa were close friends, and had apparently made a handshake agreement on their partnership back in February. So, "when Sega officials announced last month they were considering a partnership proposal from Namco, Sammy officials were furious... [SEGA president Hideki] Sato met with Satomi shortly after Namco proposed a merger on April 14. When Sato told Satomi about the offer from a third party, it took him completely by surprise." For its part, Namco has urged SEGA to move into partnership with them instead of Sammy, claiming that the two companies share the same goals and work in the same industry. "We have to do something, or Sega will go under," a Namco official was on record as saying. "Namco is Sega's best partner because we are in the same industry." Apparently SEGA killed talks with Namco just before it announced its merger with Sammy in February, but a senior Namco official said, "Sega has apparently come back to the negotiation table after seeing its stocks fall. We are serious about this and we wouldn't even mind Sega acquiring us." Interesting times! We'll let you know when SEGA makes a decision, and which way it ends up going. -
Merger Namco and SEGA Confirm Merger Talks, Proposal 'Being Examined Carefully'
Dreadknux posted a story in SEGA
Namco and SEGA have made public statements confirming news that broke the other day that the two companies are in high-level negotiations to merge. SEGA stated that it had received Namco's proposal and will "begin examining the offer carefully". According to Namco's own statement on the matter, talks of a merger had apparently started last year, following a collaboration between the two companies in the arcade space (which likely included the 'Triforce' arcade board that has been co-developed with Nintendo). But SEGA "halted the talks", and recently Namco "requested a reopening" of those merger talks. SEGA said it would aim to come to a preliminary decision over Namco's proposal by April 23, noting that the company is already in late-stage talks with pachinko maker Sammy over a merger. For what it's worth, Sammy said that it was not aware of talks between Namco and SEGA, and hopes to close its deal in May so that the merge can happen in October. Gamespot reports that there is apparently more appetite for Namco to be SEGA's merging partner over Sammy. Since the news of talks broke, Namco's share price has reportedly risen 1.3 per cent while SEGA's has risen 15.72 per cent. In contrast, market reaction to SEGA and Sammy's merger in February actually resulted in a "rapid decline in stock value". We'll have to see what SEGA's decision is at the end of the month. -
Just when we thought SEGA's corporate story could not get any more complicated, it appears that discussions surrounding a merger with pachinko maker Sammy have actually been put on hold as fellow video game maker Namco has publicly expressed an interest in joining forces with the House of Sonic instead. According to a story on Gamespot (which cites the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun), Namco has already engaged in merger talks with SEGA at the highest level. The Tekken publisher has stated that it feels the move would be beneficial to both parties, strengthening the power of both companies' IP catalogue and ensuring that they remain competitive internationally. "Sega is scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss mergers with three of its current suitors, including Sammy and Electronic Arts, which are reportedly interested in investing in Sega or at least doing some sort of tie-in with the company," reads the report. "Sega's board members are reportedly less interested in merging with Sammy due to its focus on pachinko machines, which has delayed talks with that particular company. Sega is expected to make an announcement as soon as the end of this month." Would you prefer that SEGA teams up with Sammy or Namco? -
No sooner has the ink dried on the deal between SEGA and Sammy to merge companies, has the House of Sonic had to issue a denial on several fronts of rumours that both Electronic Arts and Microsoft are planning a takeover. A XenGamers story (via TSSZ) says that a SEGA representative has had to release a public statement. This reads, "We have not received any formal proposal on a capital alliance and no such issue has been discussed at our board meetings or chief executives meetings. On the contrary, Sega continues to make preparations for a proposed merger with Japanese arcade manufacturer Sammy." Microsoft - which has been rumoured to buy SEGA since late 2002 - has apparently asked lenders in the US for ways it can finance a partial or complete buyout of the Japanese publisher. This is according to a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal (via CNET), which also said that Electronic Arts approached other game companies about launching a joint bid for control as well. Importantly, the report states that, while all this chat is going on, no formal talks have been held between either company and SEGA, and no deal was actually imminent. So, basically, just a lot of nonsense. But, shortly after the Asian Wall Street Journal story was published (via Gamespot), a new report from the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper announced that EA was in fact in discussions with SEGA over a potential sale. This, we should mention, is all taking into account that everyone knows already that SEGA is merging with Sammy! What a weird, weird, WEIRD month this has been for SEGA and corporate buyouts! Can things get back to normal now, please? -
Things have just been a rollercoaster for SEGA lately, haven't they? After rumours of buyouts, following a split from its parent company, it's being reported that it will fully merge with Japanese pachinko company Sammy from October 1. A report on Gamespot says that the new merged company will be led by current Sammy president, Hajime Satomi. The value of the new company will be around $3.1 billion - so, plenty of reasons for the two to join forces! "Sega recently announced that it would be cutting its profit forecast for 2002-2003 by 90 percent, while Sammy's sales have tripled over the last three years," Gamespot writes. "The added financial stability provided by Sammy will help Sega focus more on its arcade business and general software development. "Details of the merger have yet to be finalized, so it's not currently known if the companies will be kept somewhat separate or if it will be an outright merger." We'll have to keep an eye on things and wait to see if this news will change SEGA's current business strategy. More on this as we get it. -
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 -
Recent moves from SEGA's corporate team suggest that it may soon be parting ways with its parent company, CSK. According to a news story on IGN, the House of Sonic has plans to sell its majority stake in CSK by the end of the fiscal year, and there are analyst predictions that CSK will soon sell its SEGA shares in kind. IGN reports, via the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, that the "5.9% stake [in CSK held by SEGA] to be sold would amount to around 10 billion yen (around US $83 million) at current prices, and would be purchased entirely by CSK. Such a move would end cross-shareholding between the two companies." At the moment, there's no hint as to whether CSK will sell its shares in SEGA, but according to market analysts this might be a waiting game - at the moment SEGA's stock price is slumping, and it's possible that the company is waiting for SEGA's price to increase before selling out. "Relations between the two companies have been distant since the death of SEGA Chairman and CSK founder Isao Okawa, who was a strong supporter of SEGA's business," IGN adds. Indeed, with SEGA taking as many turbulent knocks as its had over the last couple of years, it will be interesting to see how this new change will affect the future of the company. Fingers crossed! -
Financials SEGA Financials: SEGA Sammy Foresees Bigger Budgets and Sets Higher Salaries
GX -The Spindash- posted a topic in SEGA
SEGA Sammy’s most recent Investor Q&A had a few choice tidbits about Sonic Frontiers’ performance and the broad future of the series. Though the game didn’t get the critical response that was expected, SEGA feels that the game connected with players and significantly beat sales expectations. "It's true that the Metacritic Score [for Sonic Frontiers] was slightly lower than we expected, but the user's score was very high," the company said (via translation courtesy of Twitter account Tails' Channel). "With that, we believe we have found a title that is widely accepted by a lot of people around the world." Responding to a question concerning sales promotions of the game shortly after release, the publisher said that, while it "conducted intensive promotions around the November release", and held a temporary sale on Black Friday, it was still able to achieve significant unit sales without reducing perception of the game's quality. "The number of units sold greatly exceeded our original estimation... we will continue to sell over the long term based on sales strategies such as pricing, promotions and the development of further DLC." As a consequence of this and the broader global financial situation, SEGA is expecting higher development costs for their major titles - which we imagine includes Sonic titles going forward. "We will strive to ensure solid quality in the development of major titles... however, development labour costs will rise... since it is necessary to take on these challenges for major titles, we are proceeding with a bigger budget, even from the basic research stage." SEGA also announced via their Investor Relations portal that they will be increasing employee salaries by about 30% “to further stabilize employee income and create a more comfortable working environment, as well as to further strengthen its global competitiveness.” SEGA is one of many companies increasing salaries in Japan following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s call to boost salaries across the board to combat rising costs. Original Post Content: View full story -
Financials SEGA Financials: SEGA Sammy Foresees Bigger Budgets and Sets Higher Salaries
GX -The Spindash- posted a story in SEGA
SEGA Sammy’s most recent Investor Q&A had a few choice tidbits about Sonic Frontiers’ performance and the broad future of the series. Though the game didn’t get the critical response that was expected, SEGA feels that the game connected with players and significantly beat sales expectations. "It's true that the Metacritic Score [for Sonic Frontiers] was slightly lower than we expected, but the user's score was very high," the company said (via translation courtesy of Twitter account Tails' Channel). "With that, we believe we have found a title that is widely accepted by a lot of people around the world." Responding to a question concerning sales promotions of the game shortly after release, the publisher said that, while it "conducted intensive promotions around the November release", and held a temporary sale on Black Friday, it was still able to achieve significant unit sales without reducing perception of the game's quality. "The number of units sold greatly exceeded our original estimation... we will continue to sell over the long term based on sales strategies such as pricing, promotions and the development of further DLC." As a consequence of this and the broader global financial situation, SEGA is expecting higher development costs for their major titles - which we imagine includes Sonic titles going forward. "We will strive to ensure solid quality in the development of major titles... however, development labour costs will rise... since it is necessary to take on these challenges for major titles, we are proceeding with a bigger budget, even from the basic research stage." SEGA also announced via their Investor Relations portal that they will be increasing employee salaries by about 30% “to further stabilize employee income and create a more comfortable working environment, as well as to further strengthen its global competitiveness.” SEGA is one of many companies increasing salaries in Japan following Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s call to boost salaries across the board to combat rising costs. -
Now SEGA can prove that it is a great place to work - Yuji Naka and the Sonic Team recently won the 16th Nikkei 'New Office Promotion' Prize, an award that "recognizes excellent offices... that are full of originality and ingenuity." According to a SEGA press release, Sonic Team's concept of "the office is a game! All workers are characters!" was given high praise for providing a fun working environment where employees could feel comfortable and relax. Some examples of this concept in practice includes "a four-person cell system with an L-shaped desk that takes into account individual environments and just-in-time meetings," a casual 'chat corner' for impromptu one-to-ones, and a conference room with the names of Sonic Team characters and coloured in their respective colours. There is even a 'Chao Garden' which is described as "an open space where you can not only store materials, but also set up game software and monitors so you can work while playing. The lighting embedded in the storage shelves and the carpet patterns create a 'soft barrier' that is different from the office room." Yuji Naka is very happy with the award and said that he felt a good office environment stimulates a creative mind. Here is a quote from him about receiving the award (machine translated): You can see images of the Sonic Team office that helped win the studio the prestigious award by clicking this link to go to the SEGA Press Release. Original Post Content: View full story
-
It looks like SEGA is coming back! In its first publicly-released quarterly earnings report, the company announced that it had generated a profit of ¥1.89 billion ($15.8 million USD) across ¥42.4 billion ($353 million USD) in sales between April and June 2003. And it's all down to Sonic. According to SEGA, the surprise uplift to the publisher's fortunes has come thanks to the release of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut on the Gamecube, which sold above expectations. Another title, Let's Make A J-League Soccer Club 3 for PlayStation 2, is also credited with impressive sales. SEGA dropped out of the home console business back in 2001, in a move that made everyone feel like all was lost for the company that made Sonic. It's great to see the company doing so well today, with its third-party efforts starting to bear decent results. Certainly, it looks like the ports are selling well... so it makes you think, what the sales for Sonic Heroes will be... Via Planet Gamecube Original Post Content: View full story
-
We have some more details about SEGA's planned re-organisation of its studios, originally announced a few days ago. According to new reports, the paperwork for the mergers and other changes will be signed on August 18 and given approval in a stockholders meeting on August 19. If all is approved, things will move forward on October 1. Also, while it was already known that Sonic Team and United Game Artists (who created Space Channel 5 and Rez) would be merging as part of this restructure, it wasn't yet known until now what entity the resulting studio would be. Gamespot now confirms that United Game Artists will fold into Sonic Team, and Sonic Team will remain as the name of the unified studio. Similarly, Hitmaker will survive the merger between it and Sega Rosso, Wow Entertainment will survive the merger between it and Overworks (although that studio will be renamed to Wow Works), and Smilebit and Amusement Vision will in fact avoid merging after all - instead, some of Smilebit's operations will be transferred to Amusement Vision, but the two studios will remain intact. Sega-AM2 remains unaffected, and Yu Suzuki's new studio is tentatively called 'Cinematic Online Games', launching on October 1 with 50 employees. Apparently SEGA does not intend to lay off any employees as part of the restructure, meaning all who previously had roles within the studios will find a place in the new merged entities one way or another. Source: Gamespot Original Post Content: View full story
-
Sonic Team SEGA Announces Studio Restructure: Sonic Team to Merge With United Game Artists
Dreadknux posted a topic in SEGA
SEGA is taking some dramatic moves to slim down its operations this year, as it has announced that it will be 'reorganising' its entire games business. Only one of its studios (Sega-AM2) will remain unaffected as every other development unit will be merged into (and split off from) one another. Planet Gamecube writes that it was originally reported that some of SEGA's studios would be closing down as part of the reorganisation. But this doesn't seem to be the case anymore, now that we have a better idea of what exactly is happening. Sonic Team and United Game Artists (known for Space Channel 5 and Rez) will merge into one unified gaming studio. The same will happen for Hitmaker (Virtual On, Crazy Taxi) and Sega Rosso (Sega Rally, NASCAR). Overworks (Shinobi, Sakura Wars) will integrate into Wow Entertainment (House of the Dead). Parts of Amusement Vision (Super Monkey Ball) and Smilebit (Jet Set Radio) will integrate and split into new projects, such as Sega Sports titles. A brand new studio will also be set up, which will be run by Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki. From Planet Gamecube: No news yet on when the reorg is due to take place, but we'll let you know if there are any more updates. Source: Mainichi (Japanese) Original Post Content: View full story -
The crazy rollercoaster that is SEGA's love-triangle merger may well be coming to an end - and an end that nobody really saw coming at that. Is it going to be Sammy that SEGA merges with? Or Namco? Turns out, it's probably going to be neither of them! On the one side, it sounds like Namco got tired of waiting for an answer from SEGA about whether it wanted to merge with the company or not, and decided to withdraw its offer after all. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports that, because SEGA "wasn't able to give a specific answer to its offer, Namco has dropped its proposal and SEGA has announced that merger talks have concluded." On the other side, SEGA also announced that it had broken off merger talks with Sammy as well. So now it seems like SEGA won't be merging with any company at all and will continue to go it alone. An article on Gamers.com says, "SEGA would have continued to consider Namco's offer, but Namco, which had asked for an answer by the end of the week, apparently considered that response unsatisfactory. "Namco said that it may consider a merger in the future at Sega's instigation, but Sega responded that it will not pursue such a course. Thus, it appears that Sega will no longer merge with anyone, at least in the near term. At a press conference announcing Sega's current course, president Hideki Sato declined to comment on any other potential future deals -- including a rumored capital investment by Electronic Arts." So, after all of that... SEGA is going to make it on its own! Hooray! View full story
-
Merger SEGA Merger Update - Decision Between Sammy and Namco To Come Soon
Dreadknux posted a topic in SEGA
A recent article written by Japanese website Asahi details the current state of SEGA, Namco and Sammy, and a possible merger with the former hardware giant and house of Sonic. Quite interestingly, this is turning out to be some kind of love triangle, tiffs included and all. To catch you up: it was announced in February that SEGA would be merging with pachinko company Sammy, with the deal all due to be wrapped up in May. Then, it turned out Namco had been talking with SEGA about the same thing since last year, and had publicly come out about a merger in mid-April. In response, SEGA announced it was "carefully" considering its options, a statement that clearly took Sammy by surprise. A decision from SEGA is due early May, but things have become a little frosty from Sammy's perspective. According to Asahi (via interpretation from Cube-Europe), Sammy President Hajime Satomi and the late CSK founder and former SEGA chairman Isao Okawa were close friends, and had apparently made a handshake agreement on their partnership back in February. So, "when Sega officials announced last month they were considering a partnership proposal from Namco, Sammy officials were furious... [SEGA president Hideki] Sato met with Satomi shortly after Namco proposed a merger on April 14. When Sato told Satomi about the offer from a third party, it took him completely by surprise." For its part, Namco has urged SEGA to move into partnership with them instead of Sammy, claiming that the two companies share the same goals and work in the same industry. "We have to do something, or Sega will go under," a Namco official was on record as saying. "Namco is Sega's best partner because we are in the same industry." Apparently SEGA killed talks with Namco just before it announced its merger with Sammy in February, but a senior Namco official said, "Sega has apparently come back to the negotiation table after seeing its stocks fall. We are serious about this and we wouldn't even mind Sega acquiring us." Interesting times! We'll let you know when SEGA makes a decision, and which way it ends up going. View full story -
Merger Namco and SEGA Confirm Merger Talks, Proposal 'Being Examined Carefully'
Dreadknux posted a topic in SEGA
Namco and SEGA have made public statements confirming news that broke the other day that the two companies are in high-level negotiations to merge. SEGA stated that it had received Namco's proposal and will "begin examining the offer carefully". According to Namco's own statement on the matter, talks of a merger had apparently started last year, following a collaboration between the two companies in the arcade space (which likely included the 'Triforce' arcade board that has been co-developed with Nintendo). But SEGA "halted the talks", and recently Namco "requested a reopening" of those merger talks. SEGA said it would aim to come to a preliminary decision over Namco's proposal by April 23, noting that the company is already in late-stage talks with pachinko maker Sammy over a merger. For what it's worth, Sammy said that it was not aware of talks between Namco and SEGA, and hopes to close its deal in May so that the merge can happen in October. Gamespot reports that there is apparently more appetite for Namco to be SEGA's merging partner over Sammy. Since the news of talks broke, Namco's share price has reportedly risen 1.3 per cent while SEGA's has risen 15.72 per cent. In contrast, market reaction to SEGA and Sammy's merger in February actually resulted in a "rapid decline in stock value". We'll have to see what SEGA's decision is at the end of the month. View full story -
Just when we thought SEGA's corporate story could not get any more complicated, it appears that discussions surrounding a merger with pachinko maker Sammy have actually been put on hold as fellow video game maker Namco has publicly expressed an interest in joining forces with the House of Sonic instead. According to a story on Gamespot (which cites the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun), Namco has already engaged in merger talks with SEGA at the highest level. The Tekken publisher has stated that it feels the move would be beneficial to both parties, strengthening the power of both companies' IP catalogue and ensuring that they remain competitive internationally. "Sega is scheduled to hold a meeting to discuss mergers with three of its current suitors, including Sammy and Electronic Arts, which are reportedly interested in investing in Sega or at least doing some sort of tie-in with the company," reads the report. "Sega's board members are reportedly less interested in merging with Sammy due to its focus on pachinko machines, which has delayed talks with that particular company. Sega is expected to make an announcement as soon as the end of this month." Would you prefer that SEGA teams up with Sammy or Namco? View full story
-
No sooner has the ink dried on the deal between SEGA and Sammy to merge companies, has the House of Sonic had to issue a denial on several fronts of rumours that both Electronic Arts and Microsoft are planning a takeover. A XenGamers story (via TSSZ) says that a SEGA representative has had to release a public statement. This reads, "We have not received any formal proposal on a capital alliance and no such issue has been discussed at our board meetings or chief executives meetings. On the contrary, Sega continues to make preparations for a proposed merger with Japanese arcade manufacturer Sammy." Microsoft - which has been rumoured to buy SEGA since late 2002 - has apparently asked lenders in the US for ways it can finance a partial or complete buyout of the Japanese publisher. This is according to a report in the Asian Wall Street Journal (via CNET), which also said that Electronic Arts approached other game companies about launching a joint bid for control as well. Importantly, the report states that, while all this chat is going on, no formal talks have been held between either company and SEGA, and no deal was actually imminent. So, basically, just a lot of nonsense. But, shortly after the Asian Wall Street Journal story was published (via Gamespot), a new report from the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper announced that EA was in fact in discussions with SEGA over a potential sale. This, we should mention, is all taking into account that everyone knows already that SEGA is merging with Sammy! What a weird, weird, WEIRD month this has been for SEGA and corporate buyouts! Can things get back to normal now, please? View full story
-
Things have just been a rollercoaster for SEGA lately, haven't they? After rumours of buyouts, following a split from its parent company, it's being reported that it will fully merge with Japanese pachinko company Sammy from October 1. A report on Gamespot says that the new merged company will be led by current Sammy president, Hajime Satomi. The value of the new company will be around $3.1 billion - so, plenty of reasons for the two to join forces! "Sega recently announced that it would be cutting its profit forecast for 2002-2003 by 90 percent, while Sammy's sales have tripled over the last three years," Gamespot writes. "The added financial stability provided by Sammy will help Sega focus more on its arcade business and general software development. "Details of the merger have yet to be finalized, so it's not currently known if the companies will be kept somewhat separate or if it will be an outright merger." We'll have to keep an eye on things and wait to see if this news will change SEGA's current business strategy. More on this as we get it. View full story
