SEGA Confirmed to Attend Gamescom 2023

To the surprise of probably nobody, SEGA has been announced as attending the upcoming Gamescom convention taking place in Germany next month. Which is potentially great news for Europeans hoping to get some hands-on time with Sonic Superstars!

Of course, SEGA’s lineup at the Cologne-based games expo has yet to be confirmed, but with the new 2D Classic Sonic adventure hitting store shelves in the Fall, it would make sense for this game to make the cut.

No doubt some of SEGA’s other new and upcoming titles will be on show as well, including Creative Assembly’s loot shooter Hyenas (which also happens to feature Sonic… sort of).

SEGA has been a longtime partner of Gamescom, and last year we got to see some gameplay demos of Sonic Frontiers (and we had an exclusive chat with Takashi Iizuka about the game then too). The Sonic Stadium is also going to be at Gamescom this year, so we’ll hope to bring you all the latest info and details from the show floor!

Via Twitter

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AEGIS-CWA Wins Election, SEGA of America Has Officially Unionized

The results of an election that would determine whether or not SEGA of America workers will unionize are in, and it’s official: they are now unionized. This makes SoA’s union, AEGIS-CWA, the largest multi-department union in the game industry. The results weren’t especially close, at 91 for, 26 against. AEGIS must now go to the bargaining table with SEGA management to hammer out a union contract.

You can read all about what led to the union forming here. This election comes months after AEGIS announced its formation and requested voluntary recognition from SEGA management. When SEGA refused to grant it, an election date for the union was chosen near the end of May. A few weeks later AEGIS accused SEGA management of interfering with their right to organize ahead of the election. AEGIS said SEGA management “initiated an anti-union campaign.”

So, where do things go from here? Well, I’m no expert on unions, but I’ve followed unions enough that I think I can give you a broad idea. For one, SEGA and AEGIS representatives will need to meet to work out the details of a union contract. This contract will cover a certain number of years, and guarantee SEGA employees certain benefits. This tweet likely gives us an idea of what AEGIS will be trying to get.

Once union leaders have a tentative contract with SEGA management, they will take it to their union members for a vote. If a plurality of members vote for the contract, it becomes official. If SEGA and AEGIS are unable to agree on a contract that can win a vote from members, a strike becomes a possibility. A union may authorize a strike ahead of or during negotiations. If a contract can’t be agreed upon, AEGIS members will be able to strike, which will allow them to refuse to work until a contract is signed. We are a long way from a strike, however. AEGIS hasn’t given us any sort of time table for when a contract will be agreed to, but we’ll know more in the coming weeks and months.

via Twitter

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Yuji Naka Sentenced, Fined Millions, Likely to Avoid Jail Time

Yuji Naka, the man best known as the co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS into Dreams, and his work on Phantasy Star, has been been sentenced to two and a half years of prison, but that sentence has been suspended for four year, during which time he’ll be on probation. Provided he has no trouble with the law, he’ll never serve time in prison. He has also fined two separate times for ¥20 million and ¥170 million, or a total of roughly $1.25 million USD.

This comes after a seven-month-long legal battle where Naka attempted to, among other things, blame his secretary for giving him information he wasn’t supposed to have in an attempt to get a lighter sentence.

via Twitter

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Xbox’s Phil Spencer Did Previously Consider Buying SEGA in 2020

“Will Microsoft buy SEGA” is a question that has survived within the community since the death of the Dreamcast, but after years of speculation, we now have a concrete example of them trying to do just that… but very, very recently. As reported by The Verge, an e-mail from Xbox’s Phil Spencer shared during Microsoft’s FTC hearing shows that Spencer was seeking approval to approach SEGA Sammy in November of 2020.

Spencer touts SEGA’s portfolio and global appeal as big benefits for their Game Pass service; however, SEGA was among several companies being considered, including Supergiant Games, IO Interactive, and even Bungie. As history as borne out, none of these possible acquisitions were seen to completion, and Microsoft began pursuing Activision Blizzard following ABK’s repeated scandals.

Despite the will-they-won’t-they dogging Microsoft and SEGA over the years, buying SEGA comes with some complications, which Spencer acknowledges in the e-mail. Beyond the cultural barrier, SEGA is a major component of the larger SEGA Sammy group of animation studios, music labels, toy makers, travel resorts, pachinko machine makers, Japanese sports teams, and online-enabled arcade dart machine services. Even if Microsoft wasn’t able to buy SEGA outright, Like a Dragon and Persona fans can still find a hearty chunk of SEGA’s modern library on Game Pass.

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More Cities Revealed for Sonic Symphony World Tour

The Sonic Symphony World Tour’s larger touring schedule has finally been unveiled! In addition to the previously revealed cities of London and Los Angeles, which the tour will go to in September, the symphony will also go to Paris, Sao Paulo, Boston and Chicago by the end of October.

Beginning in February, the tour will also head to Asia, kicking off in Tokyo. For a full list of confirmed cities, check out the image below. More cities will be revealed in the future.

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Report: Yuji Naka Facing 2.5 Years Imprisonment for Insider Trading

Former Sonic Team leader and Balan Wonderworld director Yuji Naka has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for insider trading relating to his time at publisher Square Enix, according to a new Japanese report this morning.

The co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog concluded his third trial on the matter today, according to Denfaminicogamer.jp, with the courts and prosecution demanding that Naka serve the jail time, alongside two additional fines of ¥2.5 million and ¥170 million.

The fines likely relate to the two individual offences that the developer was alleged to have committed in relation to insider trading – on one count, a purchase of ¥2.8 million of stock in DRAGON QUEST TACT developer Aiming Inc, and another count of a ¥144.7 million stock investment in Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier developer ATeam.

The investments were made prior to the news of these games’ development becoming public knowledge, which Naka testified was a mistake on account of accidentally being privy to such insider information via an administration error. That defence evidently did not seem to be well received by the court.

In response, Naka’s defence team is seeking to reduce the fines levied against him, as well as a suspension of the sentence (whether this means a delayed start to the sentence or a full-blown cancellation remains to be seen).

Naka was previously employed by Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix from 2018 to 2021, working with Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima and his team at Arzest to produce Balan Wonderworld. Before that game’s launch, he was removed from the project, and since then the creative has been embroiled in a series of court cases and arrests relating to his time at the company.

Via TheGamer

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Sonic Symphony Goes on a World Adventure This Fall, Going into 2024

SEGA has revealed some dates for the Sonic Symphony’s upcoming world tour. The show will be debuting in London on September 16 at the Barbican Hall, followed by a showing in Los Angeles on September 30 at the Dolby Theatre. Further showtimes will be revealed in the future, and the world tour will continue to run into 2024.

As for ticket pre-orders, Sonic Symphony newsletter subscribers will get to pre-order their tickets at 10AM local time for the venue on May 25. The general public will get to pre-order a day later on May 26, at 10 AM local time for the venue. In order to buy tickets (and sign up for the newsletter), you’ll need to head over to the Sonic Symphony website.

The symphony will include a wide range of songs from across Sonic’s 30+ year history, including symphonic renditions of classic 8-bit/16-bit tracks, EDM and rock. The press release only confirms that the rock music will be played “by a rock band,” but certain shows will have special guest stars, to be confirmed at a later date. The exact songs to be featured at these shows have not been confirmed at this time, though it will presumably share many picks from the original streamed show from 2021.

Stay tuned to Sonic Stadium for future details!

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SEGA Interested in Making More Movie Adaptations of its IP

SEGA executives have expressed an interest in adapting other company IPs and brands into big-screen movies, following the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog Paramount films.

VGC reports that, during an investor Q&A that has just been translated into English, SEGA Sammy CEO Haruki Satomi and CFO Koichi Fukazawa were asked about the possibility of making non-Sonic movies to “improve their brand power”.

In response, the company said, “We would like to take on challenges outside of the Sonic IP should the opportunity arise.

“If we can match the timing of game launches to the release of movies, it would be extremely effective from a marketing perspective and there are also significant benefits, such as increasing awareness of our IP and increasing the number of touch points for customers, as we achieved with the Sonic movie.”

It’s no wonder that SEGA is keen to explore this. Sonic the Hedgehog was produced by Paramount Pictures, released in 2020 and grossed around $320 million at the box office – while its sequel premiered last year and generated over $400 million. As a result, a third movie is planned for release in December 2024 and a Knuckles TV show is in production for streaming service Paramount Plus.

Back in August, SEGA even announced that it was exploring movie adaptations of Space Channel 5 and Comix Zone in partnership with Picture Start. So there could yet be more to come on that front.

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SEGA Considering Higher Game Prices

Will they soon be part of the $70 club?

Continue reading SEGA Considering Higher Game Prices
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SEGA Taking Part in Summer Game Fest 2023

SEGA may be showing something new next month, as the publisher has been announced as a participating partner for the upcoming Summer Game Fest showcase on June 8th.

The live event, which has grown in recent years and has seemingly replaced the cancelled E3 2023 convention originally planned for this year, will feature over 40 game companies “that plan to update fans” on current and new projects.

Last year, SEGA was in full attendance of Summer Game Fest where it used the event to reveal more about Sonic Frontiers. The company also offered demos of the game to press at SGF’s associated ‘Play Days’ hands-on event.

It’s not clear what kind of “updates” SEGA will bring this year – the showcase will run close to the release of Sonic Origins Plus, so there may be some last-minute reveals relating to that (although it is unlikely as we probably know everything there is to know about that DLC pack now). Sonic Frontiers is also due some additional expansion content, so we could get an update on that (Sonic’s Birthday DLC will be coming soon).

Of course, there’s every chance that SEGA may just be revealing non-Sonic projects and updates too – or, if we were to cross our fingers really tightly, maybe a new Sonic project announcement of some kind?

Whatever is announced, we will be there to update you as always. Summer Game Fest showcase takes place on June 8th at 12noon Pacific Time (that’s 8pm in the UK).

What are you hoping for?

Source: Twitter

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SEGA America President Responds to ‘AEGIS’ Union

SEGA of America president and COO Ian Curran has published an initial reaction to the recent forming of worker’s union ‘Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA’ in the form of a letter to employees of the entire regional operation.

While a formal corporate response is still forthcoming, Curran’s words in the letter could be interpreted as positive. The exec stated that “Union matters are new to me and SOA and we are investigating and considering the options available to the company” – however, he later made clear that “No SOA employee will be treated any differently whether they support or do not support unionization.”

The letter, published by Axios journalist Stephen Totilo on social media, added: “Some of you may support unionization and some not. That is your legal right… We have a wonderful culture at SOA with a strong commitment to working together as a team. In my mind, it is the SOA employee culture that makes us such a successful company.”

Next steps, as Curran is said to understand it, is for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to conduct a secret ballot of employees – in job positions selected by the NLRB – to determine if unionization will go ahead in a special vote.

Meanwhile, the AEGIS Union has been gaining support on social media from fellow union organisations and regional political figures. More on this story as it happens.

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Sonic Frontiers Sales Surpasses 3.2 Million, Total Sonic Sales Pass 8 Million For FY 2023

It’s that time of year again! SEGA has released their report for fiscal year 2023, and with that, lots of juicy numbers and info. We’ll have a more in-depth look at the report later, but for now we’re going to focus on some of the bigger, Sonic-related numbers!

Like the headline says, Sonic Frontiers has sold 3.2 million units as of the end of March, meaning the same’s sales are still going strong. This puts it ever closer to surpassing Sonic Heroes’ 3.41 million units sold, which would make Frontiers the best selling Sonic game of all time. Given that Sonic Frontiers was at 2.9 million at the end of December, it certainly seems plausible that it will surpass Sonic Heroes by SEGA’s next fiscal report in July.

The Sonic franchise as a whole moved 8.15 million units this fiscal year. That an increase of 1.45 million units from what was reported back in December, eaning that way more than just Sonic Frontiers is selling right now. This is also a significant increase over the 5.8 million units Sonic sold last fiscal year.

In addition to all this, SEGA also outlines their efforts to expand Sonic’s mixed media presence and increase the franchise’s brand awareness. For 2024, SEGA forecasts that the Sonic IP will receive record licensing revenue.

If you want to see the report for yourself, you can find it here. It’s 75 pages and goes into a lot of detail on a lot of things, including multiple pages explaining why SEGA’s buying Rovio (spoiler: they want to increase their foothold in the western mobile gaming space, use Rovio’s mobile expertise on SEGA IP, and also Angry Birds is still very popular).

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SEGA of America Workers Unionize

144 employees at SEGA of America’s Irving, California office about to form what is will be the largest multi-department games industry union in the United States. They filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with a supermajority of support within SEGA of America, meaning the union will almost certainly be certified. The new union, which will be called the “Allied Employees Guild Improving SEGA” or “AEGIS,” will partner with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in representing the employees of SEGA of America’s various departments incuding QA, localization, product development, live services, and marketing.

The official logo for AEGIS

According to reporting from The Verge, work on the union began more than a year ago. Torie Winkler, senior community manager, told The Verge that a mutual love of the games they worked on fueled the unionization effort. Communication between departments over games eventually led to discussions of how unionization works. Over the course of the last year, employees haven’t experienced any anti-union sentiments from SEGA management. They’re hopeful that management in SEGA of America and Japan will voluntarily recognize the union once it is certified.

AEGIS explained why they were unionizing in a statement on their new Twitter account, saying “We are unionizing because we love the games that we work on, we love our coworkers, and we love working at SEGA. But unfortunately for many this job is not sustainable. Our goal is to make SEGA someplace where we feel employees can thrive for many years to come.”

The tweet goes into further detail, explaining various issues employees face, including below-industry-average pay, weak benefits, a lack of paths for promotion, and a third of long-time employees lacking full-time status and all the benefits that come with that. The union hopes to correct these issues by attaining a higher base pay, improved and stable benefits (such as healthcare and retirement), increased and clearly outlined opportunities for promotion, balanced workloads and schedules, and ensuring adequately staffed departments to end overwork.

You can read the full statement here. AEGIS also has a petition, where you can show SEGA management you support the union, here. AEGIS also encouraged the tweeting of #UnionizeSEGA and #AEGISAlly as another way of showing your support.

Now it’s up to the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency responsible for enforcing US labor laws, to set a date and ensure the election is appropriately run. Once the election is certified, the union will be official. The Communications Workers of America, which AEGIS will be partnered with, is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing more than 700,000 employees. They will go by the local union number “CWA Local 9510,” which is used to identify a union’s location.

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SEGA Sammy Reportedly Set to Acquire ‘Angry Birds’ Maker Rovio Entertainment

SEGA Sammy looks set to expand its mobile gaming business very soon, as a fresh report from the Wall Street Journal has revealed that the House of Sonic is nearing a deal to buy ‘Angry Birds’ developer Rovio Entertainment for around $1 billion.

According to the WSJ, assuming the talks “don’t break down or drag out”, the Finland-based mobile game maker could find itself a part of SEGA Sammy’s portfolio as early as next week, citing people familiar with the deal.

Rovio is best known for its fowl-flinging, pig-smashing hit game, Angry Birds, originally released for mobile devices in 2009 and is largely credited as one of the first breakout games for the iPhone and the then-nascent smartphone market. The company has built on the initial game’s success as much as it could over the years, turning the name into a multimedia franchise spanning TV spinoffs and movies.

It seems that, despite Rovio’s best efforts, it reportedly could not replicate the same success as it did with Angry Birds for any of its new IP, which is cited as a reason for the company putting itself on sale and becoming available for acquisition.

Of course, in today’s gaming landscape acquisitions are starting to become commonplace, with Microsoft and Sony getting headlines for its increasing third-party studio buyouts. It seems only natural that SEGA Sammy would join in on the action – and adding an existing beloved IP to its portfolio could perhaps revitalise the Japanese corporation’s performance in the mobile space.

All that said, don’t hold your breath for any Sonic x Angry Birds crossover events just yet. You could probably expect a silly art piece from the official Sonic social media team though.

via WSJ (paywall)

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Jupiter Probe Carrying Sonic the Hedgehog Lifting Off April 14

After years of development plus a 24-hour delay due to bad weather, the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (aka JUICE) is just hours away from launching and starting its eight-year journey to Jupiter. JUICE will explore the Jovian system, particularly the icy moons of Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, before eventually settling into an orbit around Ganymede in 2034. If successful, JUICE will be the first spacecraft to orbit a moon other than our own.

And Sonic will be along for the ride!

As we reported back in 2019, Sonic adorns the spacecraft as part of the logo for one of its instruments, the Radio & Plasma Wave detector (RPWI):

SEGA was nice enough to grant the team permission to use Sonic in their logo after the RPWI team leader, Dr. Jan-Erik Wahlund, requested it. According to Dr. Wahlund, Sonic was chosen due to his many adventures in space, as well as Wahlund and his team’s deep affection for the character. That the spacecraft is called “Juice,” a commonly used word by SatAM Sonic and his assumed name during the show’s Blast to the Past two-parter is purely coincidental.

The launch will occur at 8:15 AM EST and will be livestreamed from the ESA’s website here, or on their Youtube channel here.

The Sonic-adorned space craft will be launching from Guiana Space Center using an Ariane 5 rocket. It’ll be going on a little tour of the solar system over the next few years, using Earth, the Moon and Venus for various gravity assist maneuvers, before eventually passing through the asteroid belt (where it may do a fly-by of an asteroid) and reaching the Jovian system in July 2031. In July 2032, it will do a flyby of Europa before settling into a high-inclination orbit around Jupiter in order to study its polar regions and magnetosphere.

In December 2034, it will begin the aforementioned orbit around Ganymede, before crashing into the moon at some point the following year. That final maneuver may be changed if scientists conclude it may contaminate a liquid ocean.

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SEGA Is Metacritic’s 7th Best Publisher Of 2022

Yes, Sonic had a great 2022. That said, although the Sonic franchise played a large part of SEGA’s 2022, it wasn’t the only one. Remember, SEGA is more than just Sonic. The SEGA Genesis Mini 2 launched, for example. There were also games released for Total War, Football Manager, and Hatsune Miku. Meanwhile, Two-Point Campus also released. It’s a lot of games, and yet, SEGA did so well that Metacritic even acknowledged them as the 7th best publisher of the year!

Continue reading SEGA Is Metacritic’s 7th Best Publisher Of 2022
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SEGA Will Not Have a Booth at E3 2023

Following several other major publishers, IGN is reporting that SEGA too will not be exhibiting at E3 this year. It has been a trying year for the ESA and partner ReedPop as the two attempt to revitalize E3 following several years of cancelled and online-only shows. With this announcement, all three console platform holders, as well as Ubisoft and Tencent, have bowed out of the expo. With so few companies willing or able to commit to the event, it’s unclear if the show has a present, much less a future.

While SEGA may not be at E3, there is still the possibility for other announcements this Summer. Both SEGA and Atlus have previously been a part of Summer Games Fest, and there are already a number of known SEGA and Atlus projects looking to launch this year and beyond: Hyenas, Endless Dungeon, Samba de Amigo, and Like a Dragon Gaiden (plus multiple updates to existing Sonic games).

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SEGA Loot-Shooter Hyenas Introduces A Sonic-Cosplaying Character

Shoot Shoot Sonic Warrior!

Continue reading SEGA Loot-Shooter Hyenas Introduces A Sonic-Cosplaying Character
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Japanese Exclusive Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 Gets English Fan Patch

It is turning into a surprisingly active year for Samba de Amigo. In addition to the brand new game announced last month, the ever-impressive Dreamcast community has released an English conversion for the system’s Japanese-exclusive expanded version, Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000. This conversion was put together and released on Github by dukeblooder. You can find the patch over at Romhacking.net, and find instructions and additional information on the conversion here.

This conversion isn’t a translation, per se. Instead, dukeblooder has simply replaced the Japanese original’s text images with their English equivalents from the US/PAL versions of the 2008 Wii release. This method was able to convert most of the game into English, though it is constrained by some limitations. The internet page is still in Japanese, the results screen for the “Love Love” mini game is still in Japanese, and the Volleyball mini game voiced instructions were removed. Despite that, this game is now fully playable to English speakers for the first time ever. The game is playable on an emulator, and should be playable on Dreamcast hardware, though we haven’t tried that out yet.

CD Romance posted a tweet showing off the patch in action:

https://twitter.com/cdromance_spike/status/1634889479088635904?s=61&t=xRJvL12FPraF_kAoE_F24w

Check out some images from the conversion below:

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HD Offscreen Sonic ‘06 Alpha Footage From TGS 2005 Presentation Released

As bad as Sonic 2006 ended up being, I still have fond memories of the lead-up to the game’s release. Among them, I remember sitting at my desktop computer, watching a poor quality video of a “real time day night system” from the game’s TGS 2005 tech demo, recorded off-screen by the now-defunct game website Kikizo. While the feature wouldn’t make it into the final game, seventeen years later we’ve finally been afforded a better look at the game’s alpha footage.

Kikizo founder Adam Doree uploaded the footage, as part of a wider effort to release the website’s footage at a level of quality the internet wasn’t capable of in 2005. The footage give us our best look yet at Sonic 2006’s 2005 build, including the epic E3 2005 trailer.

Unfortunately, as noted earlier, this footage is still offscreen, but this is likely the best we’ll get until the TGS footage is either leaked to the internet or released officially by SEGA.

You can find the footage for Sonic 2006, and for the “SEGA the Future” presentation it was a part of, at Adam Doree’s channel here, or embedded below:

In addition to the Sonic 2006 footage, he also has footage for Fifth Phantom Saga, a canceled Sonic Team first person shooter. We reported on that here.

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High Quality Footage for Canceled Sonic Team Game “Fifth Phantom Saga” Resurfaces

The mid-2000s were a wild time for games. Technology was advancing at an amazing pace, developers were playing with unprecedented HD visuals and motion controls, and the idea of Sonic Team making a first person shooter wasn’t absurd, but simple reality. Said FPS, “Fifth Phantom Saga,” was initially shown at Sony’s big PS3 reveal at E3 2005, before eventually getting a more in-depth showing later that year at the Tokyo Game Show.

The game would never see the light of day, and very little media from it has ever been released. That is what makes today’s piece of news so cool: high quality off-screen footage of the game’s TGS trailer and Yuji Naka-presented tech demo has been uploaded by Adam Doree, founder of the now-defunct video game website Kikizo. The footage, which was recorded by Kikizo, has only ever been available in low quality until now, due to the limitations of the internet at the time.

You can check out the footage over at Adam Doree’s Youtube channel, or in the embed below:

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Yuji Naka Admits Insider Knowledge in Square Enix Insider Trading Case

Today in his first trial, former Sonic Team head Yuji Naka admits to having knowledge of unannounced games prior to buying stock in Square Enix partners.

Continue reading Yuji Naka Admits Insider Knowledge in Square Enix Insider Trading Case
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Takashi Iizuka Promoted With New Title in SEGA Sammy Executive Shake-Up

“I’ll have to give myself a Promotion!”

Continue reading Takashi Iizuka Promoted With New Title in SEGA Sammy Executive Shake-Up
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SEGA Financials: SEGA Sammy Foresees Bigger Budgets and Sets Higher Salaries

Sonic is business, and business is booming.

Continue reading SEGA Financials: SEGA Sammy Foresees Bigger Budgets and Sets Higher Salaries
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Sonic Socials: @SonicOfficialJP Sends You Digital Chocolate for Valentine’s Day

Will you be their player 2?

Continue reading Sonic Socials: @SonicOfficialJP Sends You Digital Chocolate for Valentine’s Day
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SEGA Financials: Sonic Frontiers Nears 3m Units Sold, Annual Series Sales Tops 6.7m

Sonic Frontiers has proven to be a standout release for SEGA, as the company disclosed in its latest quarterly investor call that the free-roaming adventure sold over 2.9 million units worldwide by the end of December 2022.

Annual Sonic series sales has also exploded year on year, with 4.12m unit sales sold during this third fiscal quarter, adding to a current FY total of 6.75 million units – already surpassing the previous FY 2022 total of 5.8 million units.

SEGA Sammy has attributed a lot of its sales fortunes over the last quarter to the “strong” performance of its newly-released titles, such as Sonic Frontiers and Persona 5 The Royal (which sold 1.3 million units in the same timeframe).

However, it noted that “repeat sales” of older games “went weak”, which has led SEGA Sammy to revise its forecasted FY total game sales from 34.2m units by year’s end to 28.2m units. Still, while the YOY Q3 full game unit sales comparison is a downward trend (20.7m units sold in Q3 2023 compared to 21.9m units in Q3 2022), SEGA’s revenue from those sales have been stronger this past quarter (142.5 billion yen in Q3 2023 compared to 119.6 billion yen in Q3 2022).

SEGA’s strategy for the near-term, according to its reported forecast, is to launch several major IP titles (one of which we can assume involves Samba de Amigo which was recently announced for Nintendo Switch) as well as a “revaluation of asset quality of some titles.” Guess we’ll have to wait and see what that means.

Check out SEGA Sammy’s full Q3 2023 fiscal report right here.

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Sonic Prime Toys and Merchandise coming this summer

The wait is almost over for those looking for some Sonic Prime merch to go with their favorite, new Sonic series. PMI will soon bring out Sonic Prime figurines (pictured below), action figures, plushes, and more! The merchandise based on the popular Netflix series will be coming out this summer. You can read the announcement and see the first images of some of the toys below.



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Sonic & Tails Have Been Hiding in Fighting Vipers Since 1995

Some rediscovered techniques have rooted out hidden characters in the AM2 arcade fighter!

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Yuji Naka Has Been Arrested For Insider Trading – Updated Dec. 7

Fuji News Network is reporting that Yuji Naka, former Sonic Team head, has been arrested for insider trading in relation to his time working at Square Enix.

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SEGA Hiring For Sonic Game Development

Just a week after the release of Sonic Frontiers, SEGA’s looking to hire new developers to work on future games in the franchise.

SEGA of Japan’s Twitter account made the announcement yesterday, saying it was “looking for people to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog series,” before linking to a job listing.

Whether this is an expansion of existing development capability, or filling in existing positions, is currently unknown.

via Twitter

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Sonic’s Moved 1.51 Billion Game Sales and Downloads (If You Include Mobile)

How many hedgehogs does it take to maintain a 30-year-old multimedia franchise? At least 1.51 billion according to SEGA Sammy’s latest 2022 Integrated investor report, spread across physical and digital game units and mobile downloads.

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Sonic Team Reveals New Animated Studio Logo

Alongside the latest TGS Trailer for Sonic Frontiers last week, Sonic Team revealed a new animated logo bump. The 5-second clip shows the titular blue streak collecting rings as the trail forms the Sonic Team logo.

In an official blog post on Sonic Channel, producer and creative director Kazuyuki Hoshino optimistically touts the studio’s staff and legacy:

The Sonic Team is full of energy and motivation, consisting of veteran team members, who have been here for a long, long time, and newcomers bringing in their own fresh take on things. These talented groups of people are able to come together to make this team even stronger. We want our fans to know that when they see this logo, they are guaranteed to get a good game from Sonic Team.

This follows Sonic Frontiers’ director Morio Kishimoto hoping that the upcoming game bolsters the reputation of the studio. Confidence in Sonic Team has long been shaky within the fan community and especially outside of it. With Kishimoto approaching Frontiers as a generational shift in Sonic games, there is no time more pivotal for the studio to prove that its internal confidence is justified.

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Dreamcast Modder Launches Crowdfunder for Next-Gen ‘Visual Memory Unit 2’

If you have fond memories of playing Chao Adventure on your little Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit while on the go, then you might be interested in a little product that’s being crowdfunded right now – a modern-day VMU system with microSD support, a sharper screen and multi-memory card capabilities.

Continue reading Dreamcast Modder Launches Crowdfunder for Next-Gen ‘Visual Memory Unit 2’
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SEGA Mega Drive Mini II Finally Gets A Europe Edition, Pre-Orders Open

Ever since SEGA Japan announced the Mega Drive Mini II, we have been eagerly awaiting news of a Western version of the new microconsole. The US got theirs – the Genesis Mini II – and now finally fans in Europe can get their nostalgia fix with a region-specific branded version of the console that just… reminds us of simpler days, you know?

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Japan Getting Mega Drive Mini 2, Will Include Sonic CD

If you’ve never seen the FMV on original hardware, you’re in for a surprise.

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