After years of struggle and disappointment following their forced retreat from the console game, Sega has clawed their way back to solid ground in recent years, with the Yakuza and Total War series and Atlus’ RPGs providing a solid foundation for the company. Heck, even that blue hedgehog of theirs has had some success in recent years with Sonic Mania and a hit Hollywood movie. So, what’s next for Sega? The company provided details as part of their most recent earnings report.
Going forward, it seems Sega plans to revive more of their classic franchises, as well as create a new AAA “super game” that will sell worldwide and can be spun off into different forms of media. On the classic IP front, Sega specifically mentions Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, Panzer Dragoon, Nights, Shinobi, Virtual Fighter, Altered Beast, House of the Dead, Streets of Rage, and Souls Hackers as franchises they’d be interested in reviving.
Of course, Sega has already dabbled with some of those series – Streets of Rage 4 and a VR version of Space Channel 5 came out last year, and a House of the Dead remake for Switch has been announced. That said, there are still a lot of series on that list I’d like to see get a revival – Virtua Fighter! Crazy Taxi! Shinobi! Bring on the remasters, remakes, and reboots.
As for that super game, it doesn’t seem to refer to a specific title, but rather Sega’s general goal of getting into the modern AAA publishing game. Interestingly, Sega’s slide mentions an “FPS title at a European studio” as a potential super game – it seems likely that they’re talking about Creative Assembly’s new FPS IP here. Very little is known about the game at this point, but it’s good to see Sega has confidence in it.
What do you think, Sega fans? What kind of classic franchise revivals would you like to see? Do you think the company will succeed in its super game ambitions?
