SEGA to Cancel Games, Focus on Existing IP

April Fools came early.

I'm sad to hear it.
Hopefully everyone gets Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure and more Game Gear games.

What games are likely to get cancelled?

@Bass_X0 Sega hasn't stated which games will be cancelled.
@James Ok, sorry I need to change my language settings then.

@Bass_X0 Honestly I can't think of too many that we know about, but there's always behind the scenes stuff, some of which may never see the light of day now. For shame!

Nvm read it wrong, guess it's not an April Fools day post... yet...

@DrCruse the official line puts it down to "the severe economic environment in the U.S. and Europe and rapid change in market environment of home video game software".

Always a shame to see companies and fresh IP's getting hurt. Sadly this will most likely not be the last we hear of these huge problems.
Looks like this will make me buy the remaining two GG games earlier than i thought. Maybe even lots of SEGA's Wii VC releases _{though i won't be able to play them for months to come.}

Did Comix Zone 2 get cancelled?

Monkey Ball not a top selling Franchise? Well, I suppose they never really put as much effort in that series any more. I always hoped SEGA would revive some older franchises, but that looks unlikely now. A shame.

What about the return of Seaman on 3DS?? But srsly, this is sad news. Even if I'm not much of a Sega fan. (Sorry James.)

Sega don't give most of their IPs enough attention anyway.
I don't see how this will make any difference. All we get is Sonic game after Sonic game (at least they've been good recently though!)

Man.... U.S. economy is so bad that they had to do this?
It's a good thing I'm not on earth right now.

Though, I wish theres some sort of international mii plaza where people can do stuff in a virtual world and chat :3

UGH....I don't like how Rhythm Thief got delayed the same day as this. I hope it's still coming...

I hope Rodea the Sky Soldier for Wii/3DS is still alive, too.

I bet that means there's no chance of conduit 3D, I don't know if I'm happy about that or not.

I hope this dosen't mean The House of the Dead 4 will be cancelled for PS3. I've been waiting 7 years for it to come to consoles.

Playing through the Game Gear version of Shinobi last night reminded my why I was such a big SEGA fan back in the early 90s. The 3DS would be great for new versions of SEGA Rally or OutRun 2.

I’m hoping for continuing Game Gear VC support at least, I really like the emulator they have put together for 3DS.

@thedanman64 It's already finished so to cancel it at this point would be pointless. It's out next week as I recall!

@BalrogtheMaster Rodea's nothing to do with SEGA so should still be OK

While only the west is mentioned, this comes as a blow to anyone thinking we'll ever see Shenmue 3.

@LittleIrves . Nintendo are the ones interested in bringing back older IPs like that so it should be safe. Also, I think Yoot Saito (Sim Tower, Odama) is a more important player as SEGA is a legal rubber stamp (they published and distributed the game), effectively.

Sad days ahead if this continues..

@Ulala The US has been stabilizing, and has been steadily improving. It would have been more believable that the US economy is dragging them down if they said this even a year ago. More likely, Sega means either "Yen strong, Western currencies losing value", or "nobody is buying our games, but it's not our fault".

Did they try making Shenmue again? That game ruined things last time.

I hate to see Sega go down hill. I wish it was just them and Nintendo again.

I hope it doesn't mean they really aren't releasing Phantasy Star Online 2 in the west.

it's a shame what is happening to SEGA. though i hope they don't stop making bayonetta, virtua fighter, shenmue games to name. they're also my second favourite games developer behind nintendo, in spite of many of their IPs today which i have to say are no where of the calibre of streets of rage, outrun, shinobi.

the economy has been terrible recently but i think once everything is stabilised, they'll be ok. i hope they are that is.

This probably explains why SEGA have put a load of Dreamcast and Megadrive games on ONLIVE lately, very little outgoing cost to them and money for old rope so to speak. Its a shame they are struggling in the current climate but at least they are being pro-active about it. A shame about the cancelling of new IPs but I would rather that than SEGA taking chances and overall doing more damage to the companies finances...
...I hope this doesnt affect the Virtual Console though.

So what games have been cancelled?

Hopefully this doesn't destroy any hopes for Phantasy Star Online 2 coming here.

Yay more Sonic Games!

I hope Space Channel 5 Part 3 isn't one of the games.

The world needs more Alien games.

I guess my hopes for an Shenmue game for Wii U just died.

So does that mean no Monster World 4 for the VC?

If they've canceled an as yet unannounced Skies of Arcadia sequel, then I shall be very cross.

That's sad to hear. Sega is one of my favorite companies. Still hoping they would bring back Streets of Rage someday. I hope Sega is gonna be ok.

(less games)(higher quality) = extreme sales

@Alienfish in an ideal world yes, but lately most games published by Sega seem to only be good if they have a developer that never started off as part of Sega to begin with, mainly the football manager and total war series of games, while most sonic games turn out good a best these days rather than great like in their good days.

This is not great news. But, I do not like sugar coating. Hopefully they'll recover.

See. It just goes to show that if Nintendo were to buckle to the wishes of the talking heads and stop making consoles, they may end up like this former giant.

@Shworange and to a lesser extent SNK, who became SNK playmore although in truth as the neo geo was ridiculously expensive back then, they priced themselves out of the console market.

i just wonder what if nintendo did the unthinkable and bought SEGA out. what would happen then?

btw, i do think SEGA were naive not to put sonic generations on the wii, just because they said they wanted to make an HD game.
sonic colors sold well ,so i don't understand why they didn't take a chance with sonic generations.

This probably isn't good news for my beloved Yakuza.

Sad to see that a former big three member is in rough tide.

I hope this does not effect Jet Set Radio from making it to PSN, and the rumoured Skies Of Arcadia port.

'The publisher hasn't stated which games will be cancelled '

for one, i do think SEGA needs to stop making those games based on hit super hero movies for example, because most of them aren't good and focus on their other titles, but also not put so much emphasis on sonic. i know he is their chief mascot, but their other franchises deserve as much respect as the blue hedgehog.

@44 We'd get the first truly classic Sonic game for years

@C-Olimar exactly.

Didn't know much was coming (that I cared about) outside of Sonic so... more time to catch up on other titles I guess.

They did have an unannounced Vita game which seems like a good candidate for cancellation considering the device's poor sales.

At least we can count on them to keep milking the olympics!

i have always been a nintendo geek so sega was the enemy but its still sad to see what has happend to them

@James Ah okay, I just saw Prope is an indie studio now! I just assumed they were with Sega since they did Let's Tap! with them.

If this means no more Rhythm Thief for NA, I swear to Jebus I'll start drinking.

So that means less experiments, and more focus on sure-hits. A pity!

I definitely have my eyes on Rhythm Thief. I sure hope I can wait long enough for the altered release date...

It doesn't suprise me that Sega has been doing poorly financially. They were doing really well on the Wii, with the biggest sales figures that they had got for quite a while, but then they wanted to be a big shot in the HD crowd and started to leave the Wii out of some games. The HD games didn't get huge sales though (even though they were mostly very good games) and given that PS3/360 development costs are higher than with the Wii it was obvious that their profits would drop.

@Oregano Sounds good, assuming they can get the next 3DS entry done right. I want a fully-fleshed out portable entry. It's not a time-consuming game like Mario Galaxy, so why not? The 3DS one this year had a weak demo. I was surprised they even bothered to release the mess. Winter '12 for the Wii was awesome. Port that to the 3DS, patch it, integrate DLC, patches, and Crosspass (Streetpass & Spotpass), update it, and we should be fine.

tip for sega: no more movie licenced games.

It's a shame that Sammy ruined Sega like Aruze did to SNK.

Crying shame. Really wanted some re-imaged classics to come to the 3DS and Wii U.

They could save some money by making more straight retro sequels for download services.
Streets of Rage 4, Golden Axe 4, etc. Use the same engine and graphics, just create new levels. I'm sure it would sell.

@CaPPa even though the wii is underpowered compared to the PS3, X-box 360, it would've been still nice to see some games from SEGA.

it's not that many of us nintendo fans hate SEGA completely, what with the whole Nintendo vs SEGA rivalry; i.e. SEGA does what Nintendon't tagline of the 90s.

it's just that ever since they became a 3rd party developer, we expected a lot from them for nintendo consoles, and wii, DS-wise, but SEGA just hasn't delivered. me personally, i'm a fan of SEGA's because they have some great franchises. however, decisions and business-wise with things such as their hardware and software titles, they're more naive and worse than nintendo.

it's a hard time to be a video game company, especially a 3rd party publisher like SEGA that has Sonic (which Nintendo fans and such love) and than there other games more suited for grown ups (PS3, 360 games).

I think SEGA should focus more efforts on making games for Nintendo, because SEGA and Nintendo are both classic-fused companies with rich histories, SEGA can easily take advantage of there past on Nintendo systems. PS3 and 360 on the other hand, they want eye-popping graphics, most likely a shooter and nothing childish, so currently they only want the new Aliens game coming

All in all, SEGA should be bought out by Nintendo. Come on, don't tell me you don't think SEGA being a 2nd party to Nintendo wouldn't make things THAT much more awesome!!

@hydeks definitely. i'd be in favour of that! if i was in iwata's shoes, i'd make it happen.

2 former arch rival video game companies working together for one another. and nintendo with their years of success can steer SEGA in the right direction. and even make some of their less successful franchises more successful and create even better games too!

people will say nintendo don't have enough money to buy out SEGA, but they do. they probably have billions in the bank, if you combine sales from japan, north america and europe of their consoles and games.

i am a bit worried now that the rumoured sonic and SEGA all-star racing 2, which might hit the 3DS and wii U may not go into production. i hope it hasn't been scrapped.

Worried for the safety of Sega All Stars Racing 2 and Seaman 3D.
@hydeks that'de be amazing. If nintendo got sega as 2nd party and Rare back, they'd be unstoppable.
This deflates my hopes of Sonic Heroes 3D or Wii U, also Sonic Battle 2.
My heart goes out to all the Sega fans.
Hey, mabye if we all support SEGA they can get back up from these dark ages.

Worried for the safety of Sega All Stars Racing 2 and Seaman 3D.
@hydeks that'de be amazing. If nintendo got sega as 2nd party and Rare back, they'd be unstoppable.
This deflates my hopes of Sonic Heroes 3D or Wii U, also Sonic Battle 2.
My heart goes out to all the Sega fans.
Hey, mabye if we all support SEGA they can get back up from these dark ages.

Sonic Battle 2 would be awesome. Hopefully when things pick up they can do stuff like that.

Or you know, have Emerl/G-Mel appear in a game.

Hope the Yakuza series doesn't stop coming over here. Otherwise I'll have to learn Japanese.....