Sega Asks 650 Employees To 'Voluntarily Retire', Cuts Executive Salaries

It's time for Atlus, Sonic Team, and other subsidiaries from Sega to join the house that Mario built. A fevered dream of mine is a Sonic Adventure-style game with the typical polish of Nintendo.

Ok I know it's a hard time for every one
But how on earth keep doing it every year they have losses
From early years mega CD 32x Saturn dreamcast
publishing probleams and now it's happening again
I really love Sega but come on they need to do something about it.

Geez. What a bad plan.

Times are definitely tough in the global economy. Even before this Covid 19 pandemic crisis. But this kind of stuff is often due to extremely bad management AS WELL as all that. Feel sorry for the employees.

@JohnGrey Eh, I don't want Nintendo to turn into Disney.

It’s truly sad to see such a respected brand continue to decline.
Nintendo, jump in and buy them out and save Sega!

That sucks.....but don't mess up Atlus!

@JohnGrey more likely soon those studios will be bought by Microsoft.

@Teksetter buying a company that struggles to survive is most of the times not a good investment, however with how SEGA messes up their games it COULD be a good call.

Persona should have gone multiplatform by now, Sonic should have their games made by another studio.

Oh my gawd. That's awful news for Sega.

Hey Nintendo, get yer chequebook out!

Microsoft should buy them and make Sonic their official mascot. They should then Launch a “PS5-Don’t” marketing campaign and announce backwards compatibility with Dreamcast including physical media.

@BrintaPap Buying Atlus from Sega would probably be a good investment, though.

@milvus976578 Oh, I'm sure that's the case. Microsoft desperately wants to make inroads into the Japanese market and having one of the greatest RPG devs in business today would be an enormous boon. It would also mean that any subsequent Persona releases would be guaranteed release on PC, which suits me just fine. That said, Nintendo would actually make something of the IP, whereas Microsoft has a storied history, though not so storied as EA, of intellectual vampirism.

Right sega instead of making a mediocre sonic game every few years try making some quality titles with your older ips that everyone keeps asking for. Or to get started release some hd collections that aren't sonic.

I wonder if Microsoft buying Sega now can become a reality.

Back on 20 years ago, Dreamcast died.
Now SEGA is almost bankrupt.
Btw, Is MaiMai DX (Arcade rhythm from SEGA) not strong enough to save SEGA ?

@JohnGrey @RandomNerds @milvus976578 God I hope that doesn't happen after seeing the way Rareware went after Microsoft brought them.

Not good for the employees. Think it’s too soon for people to be talking about buying companies. Honestly don’t think Nintendo have the money anyway. They’re worth an absolute ton because Sega are more than just one company. Microsoft are the only company that would be able to afford them.

I’m not sure if sega would sell to Xbox/Microsoft because of the hate for that Company in Japan. But I also don’t think Nintendo would stump up the required monies or enter into a bidding war to buy sega either.
I mean they let Rare & Atlus get bought without lifting a finger.

Microsoft will not buy Sega.

@nessisonett I'm sure I read an article on this site explaining how Nintendo is insanely cash rich. Open to correction here, but I'm pretty sure they could afford it if they wanted.

Sega sucks! Aside from their brief popularity with the Genesis they have always sucked.

Very, very sad but alas it boils down to terrible top level management decisions.
Sega are sat on a absolute goldmine of back catalogue titles so why not just release them on Switch etc.

@HollowSpectre There hasn't been a main series Sonic game in 4 years. There has literally never been a HD Sonic collection, and Sega haven't made an exclusively Sonic compilation since Sonic Classic Collection in 2010. A new Streets of Rage came out this year and a new Alex Kidd is coming out next year.

@LEGEND_MARIOID But this kind of stuff is often due to extremely bad management AS WELL as all that.
There's more truth to this then alot of people think.

There's a chance for Microsoft to sell me their new Xbox. Just buy SEGA and I'll order an Xbox Series X. Apart from that, I'm ok with just Nintendo. Also, if Nintendo buys SEGA, well, it's even better. Ok, I'm just dreaming a little on this one. I highly doubt Nintendo will ever buy the Sonic house... unfortunately...

Well that is tough news. But misfortune in the video game industry is not uncommon. Sega had a glorious past. So did Konami and Hudson Soft. Many businesses just can’t keep a good thing going. Sega’s president made some comments a few years back about trying to get the good old days going again with their catalogue of properties, but I don’t feel that’s materialized. In fact it’s been Sega fan developers that have stepped up to bring those properties around. While that’s a lot better than nothing (lizard cube has worked wonders) it’s a long way from where the likes of Nintendo are today and their updates to IP.

@BrintaPap
They did that with Mania and 3 years later we still don’t have a clue if they’ve contracted them to make another game, if they haven’t then really that’s all you need to know about Segs and where it’s headed.

It’s happening across the tech sphere. I was laid off at the start of October. What always sticks in my craw, is that mass layoffs are not accompanied by mass executive sackings. It is rarely the fault of the workforce but always the result of bad decisions taken at the top.

Is it bad that I have to say that they at least cut the executives salaries?

I've purchased two Sega games that I've enjoyed in the last five years: Sonic Mania and Puyo Puyo Tetris. Now, I may not be the target market for most of their games, even on Switch. For instance, I haven't bought one Sega Ages game. However, if most gamers are like me, then maybe they just don't sell enough games to turn a profit. Games are very expensive to make and market these days.

@LEGEND_MARIOID

Crazy enough:
Economy in Germany dropped early this Year by 4,2% and than increased by 8,2% because Companies buy Industrial Stuff and all the Craft Buisness is still running.
They dropped the VAST from 19 to 16%, maybe that pushed Companies to buy expansive Machines, even if Companies normally don't care about VAST.

Every Buisness with Cultural or Social Stuff is just suffering.

You don't fall as far from the top as fast as Sega did without some major bungling at the top, and sadly that largely hasn't improved since they ran themselves out of the hardware business. It's kind of fitting this is happening during their 60th Anniversary "celebration"; the past 25 of that has been a record of one screw-up after another, from meddling in the projects of in-house development teams (example: Team Camelot) to the alienation of vital third parties (Working Designs) to not even having copy protection on their software (Dreamcast).

No videogame company has done less with more over the past quarter century than Sega. If they could just get off their myopic focus on Sonic and the Genesis and give fans what they actually want...remakes or compilations from their Arcade, Saturn, and Dreamcast's excellent libraries as well as fresh, new installments of more of their beloved non-Sonic IPs (Skies of Arcadia, Shining Force, Dragon Force, Shinobi, Daytona USA, and LandStalker, just to name a few)...just maybe they could turn this mess around. But that would almost certainly require a complete house cleaning at the top of the company. One thing is certain: what they've been doing for the past quarter-century hasn't been working.

@HollowSpectre

SEGA literally released 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim and Yakuza 7 in the last month or so. Both games received critical acclaim.

We’re like a month away from Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 as well.

The narrative that SEGA only makes crappy Sonic games is and has always been false.

@JohnGrey in 2001 Sega President Isao Okawa donated $695.7 million as a bailout. Pretty amazing story tbh.

I don't care. I'm looking forward to their next Pachinko release.

I have a gut feeling that Apple may end up buying Sega for the Apple Arcade. Such sad news I hope all staff will be looked after.

Hopefully Microsoft buys them, it would make the pick between PS5 and Xbox series X a little easier. Plus modern day Nintendo would just sit on most of Segas IPs the same way Sega currently does.

Oof. Always feel for the employees losing jobs in situations like this.

I think Microsoft buying Sega will be bad for every one
Look what happened to Rare ,lion head studios
Sega will be dead in the water if Microsoft buy them.

Yes this is not so good , after Yesterdays news around the arcade sector. But this is very much like what Happened with Nintendo and the Wii U . Where execs took a pay cut to recoup losses. and i just done the math. 10bn Yen equates to 73 million Pounds in GBP . By today's standards for a big corporation it's probably not as much a tragic tale , remember back in the Dreamcast days that Shenmue 1 & 2 cost Sega GBP 53 million to make and that lost money.
One triple AAA game title costs more to make then Sega's losses this forthcoming fiscal year.
I just wish they would appoint a new President for Sega and that Sammy's president does not just let Sega carry on for the sake of his son having a job HE'S CLEARLY not good at.

Sega will survive , they will turn it around providing Top level management is sorted and if they can't then Sammy should sell Sega to someone who actually cares for the brand lock stock and barrel .
It's never going to sell to Microsoft ,it will only ever sell to A Japanese company i reckon.
But in the long run i do feel Sammy will retain Sega and maybe get there act together.
Long Live Sega.

The sound of nintendo buying Sega sounds really good.
But I don't think it would work if nintendo buys them out
nintendo are having trouble get there games out like f zero ,star fox, and others
I think more ips would be bad

Except that Microsoft can't buy them...

i like executives pay cut oh wait for 4 months lol. if you axing x amount of employes you should also be axing x amount of the board. but sega been missmanaged for decades now. especially a companysitting on so many ips. releasing cheap plastic gg aint going save your company even despite the ripp off cost of them

I don't know the feasibility of buying Sega as a whole. But I can see Nintendo buying specific IPs that they could do really great things with. Though, it would be nice to see them give some attention to their own that they've neglected.

I will say I think some franchises work best when there's a singular focus and not spread too thin. Maybe either Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony gaining exclusive control of Sonic would help in getting the franchise back on a more consistent track.

So you guys need to understand that this is just the "SEGA Entertainment" part of Sega which is in charge of running around 200 arcades and theme attractions in Japan. Those obviously haven't been making money as of late. Hopefully this means they will have to step up their game on packaged game sales.

Had every sega console. Loved them dearly but they were always pretty useless.

@JohnGrey There is no way in hell SEGA's getting bought out by anyone. Despite this recent event they've still got stuff coming down the pipeline that will probably shoot them back to where they were last year in terms of generating revenue from their games like Yakuza 7 and the SMT stuff. Plus franchises like Total War and Persona are still available to milk whenever they feel like capitalizing on their popularity.

SEGA is nowhere close to a dire state that they have to sell off to an existing platform manufacturer. This is just as much a restructuring as the stuff that happened in 2012.

@Cormag

Sorry to hear about that, mate. I've lost jobs enough times to know how much that stings. And you're right; the masses at the bottom often have to suffer because of the poor decisions of the leadership at the top. I was one of many who was let go from a vendor in late February after it didn't get the big contract from a bank that it had been betting on for the better part of a year, but it's CEO and several members of upper management all still got their annual raises.

Thankfully, it turned out to be a blessing because I found work elsewhere, and I enjoy being here FAR more than there. I hope you're blessed with the same outcome.

@AtlanteanMan Honestly if you ask me I feel like they've already kind of been deemphasizing their focus on Sonic for a while. I believe they had no direct involvement in the movie and the last major console release was like two years ago.

It feels like post-Persona 5 and the Atlus acquisition, coupled with stuff like Yakuza and Total War, they haven't really cared enough to focus on that IP as much as they used to. It feels like he's just there nowadays because of mascot immunity.

If only they listened to their fan base more, and re-released their legacy content on modern consoles, like Taxman Sonic 1, 2 and CD, and all of their Dreamcast/GameCube era games. But no, let's make another bad Sonic game.

How businesses calculate losses is vastly different than what the everyman would calculate. With corporate you have “projected earnings” which is how much profit the company hopes to make at the end of the fiscal year. F they don’t make the projected amount it’s considered a loss which to me is the dumbest thing ever as it’s not technically a loss of anything.

Besides that though corporate also makes dumb decisions otherwise. A review of the Nocturne Remaster I saw on YouTube by Nyarly shows that didn’t remaster anything. The cutscenes are still in 4:3 format, no QoL improvements, sound is compressed PS2, and frame rate issues. Then we fill out surveys saying we want these games ported and they announce nothing.

@GameOtaku The cutscene and music stuff is as distracting as it is because they actually did clean up the game visually. Apparently it also runs like garbage on Switch as well although we don't know how well it fares on PS4.

Seems like they're always falling grossly short of projected earnings or recording straight up losses. Year after year. Even before C19.

That's what happens when you volunteer half your games as PS exclusives instead of capitalizing on multiplatform releases. Maybe one day they'll learn. Until then, better get used to that red ink.

@Dr_Corndog Yeah me either! Let's just let Microsoft or Sony buy them. That way we can kiss goodbye any future Sega/Atlus games from coming to Nintendo systems.

@LEGEND_MARIOID We are lucky where I live because we got back to almost normal fairly fast and our economy is mostly back to normal here.

It sucks that a lot of these people were let go but most of them have enough skill to make their own games now. This could create tons of indie studios with much better ideas than SEGA has.

@TheFrenchiestFry
This is a PS2 remaster. There’s no reason at all for these issues on a 20 year old give or take game. This is not because the switch is underpowered. Why are the cutscenes still in box format while the rest is full screen? Why not add QoL like manual skill inheritance than the default random skill?

@GameOtaku The FMVs being in a boxed format is actually something I can sort of understand given remasters like DMC HD Collection and the Final Fantasy VII-IX ports also did that, but the real problems for me are the compressed music and the apparently awful performance at least on Switch

Manual Skill Inheritance is a pretty cool feature I wish they would've added too, but I think Nocturne's battle system is fine as is. My biggest problem though is the paid DLC stuff. It's not nearly as awful and scummy as what they did with Persona 5 Royal but considering it's a remaster of a 17 year old PS2 game I'd 100% expect this stuff to be on the disc or cartridge. I already had a problem with locking out stuff like the Persona 3/4 protagonist fights in the extra Velvet Room Missions in Royal behind a paywall, and the excessive music DLC has been a thing since the original release of Persona 5. DLC practices like these have even popped up in the spinoff stuff like Persona Q2, the Arena games and Scramble

Lets hope none of the hardware makers try snap up studios. Last thing I want is someone getting a hold of Atlus. Especially Nintendo.

Live on Sega, please live on. Feel for the employees xx

@Menchi I've never been one for the whole Persona portbegging thing but I'd legitimately be pissed off if Sony bought SEGA in its entirety and got everything else that Nintendo had as exclusives in addition to Persona.

@nessisonett I dunno... Sony could probably make a play for them if they get a loan from Japan's banks to fund the purchase.

The more I heard about Sega's financial problem, the more I wonder how they survive after making bad decisions after bad decisions up til this day.

Jesus Christ... hope they pull through.

If they have to sell, please be to Microsoft/Sony. Nintendo would just place Sonic in the F-Zero dungeon and everyone else would butcher him beyond repair.

@Enyeto

@Alpha-2002 The most logical thing I can see happening considering Sony is already moneyhatting a crap ton of games from big name publishers, is that they take advantage of Persona's ties to PlayStation and make Persona 6 like a timed one year exclusive to PS4/PS5 before it can come to a platform like PC as was the case with Persona 4 Golden

Or they could pull a Street Fighter V and make it a PS5/PC only game.

Very sad to hear about this.

Sonic Mania 2 needs to happen sooner. I have Yakuza like a dragon preordered. They still have a lot of potential.

It’s so sad to see corporations fall. Hundreds of people lose their jobs, while the CEO loses 10%. So classy.

@TheFrenchiestFry Pretty sure SFV is Capcom, not sure how much involvement Sega and Sony has in the decision making process of its exclusivity.

@TG16_IS_BAE Capcom said on multiple occassions it was a collaborative effort between SIE and Capcom, and Sony did fund part of the game's development in addition to assisting with integrating cross platform play between PlayStation 4 and PC.

@TheFrenchiestFry That’s great news, good for them. What does that have to do with Sega going out of business?

Man, this is really sad to hear. I grew up with Sega as I’m sure a lot of us here has. I feel for those employees.

@TheFrenchiestFry I typically don't like when anyone buys a studio (outside of the studio about to go bankrupt and this is the only way they can be saved) because it locks multiplatform IPs and series to specific hardware. Even though the Microsoft/Bethesda deal won't have any impact on me as the games will come to PC as well, it locks out others on other platforms.

The reason I especially don't want Nintendo getting them would be the significant downgrade of X title due to Switch hardware.

They have lasted a long time. I'm no expert, but I think they just went indigenous and focused on Japanese ventures. They should have released their entire backlog on to console or mobile and made more revenue. For Sega, Covid is just a smoke for bad management.

@TG16_IS_BAE I was literally just talking about how instead of Sony buying out SEGA like someone was commenting, I suggested the idea of them moneyhatting a game or funding it like they are with a lot of third party PS5 games like Final Fantasy XVI, and how something like Persona 6 being a PS5 exclusive or timed exclusive would probably be an attractive proposition as a result.

@Menchi Yeah. Impressions on SMT Nocturne HD are coming out right now and I'm legitimately concerned because I've heard nothing about performance problems on PS4 but the game has serious framerate problems on Switch to begin with.

@TheFrenchiestFry Never buy a multiplat on Switch, problem solved. Worked for me for the last 3 years

I think I hear Microsofts checkbook opening...

Nintendo buying Sega would be a terrible move. Most of their money these days come from the PC side, Total War, Football Manager etc. What would Nintendo do with that? Nintendo buying Sega subsidiaries like Atlus would be fine, but they seem quite self sufficient anyway so I don’t think it would really improve them from what they are now.

@Menchi Well yeah, that much is obvious with current gen games which I buy on either PS4 or PC, but like come on this is a remaster of a 17 year old PlayStation 2 title which is just embarassing as hell

@RPGamer Nintendo buying SEGA is a horrible idea considering these days a large majority of their revenue comes from PC games like the Yakuza ports, Total War (which is one of their top most successful IPs) and the Atlus content like Persona 4 Golden.

Nintendo buying them would severely limit their audience for those games which have either been tied to PlayStation or PC like Yakuza, Valkyria Chronicles and Football Manager, and I think Atlus is the only subsidary that would leave somewhat unscathed.

I could see Sonic Team going to Nintendo, as I don't think that their PC sales have been as good as the other studios. The other developers would definitely be more suited to go to other publishers and/or spinning off on their own. Nintendo likely has no interest in Total War.

@dkxcalibur Uh, are you OK?

@Dr_Corndog Yep, fine. Thank you for asking.

"This call for voluntary retirement"

Bit racist.

Yikes, first Sega sells most of their arcade and now this, this is really bad.
I know Sega can get back up on their feet. They've been heading in the right direction for the past 5 years, and I hope they continue on getting even better.
EDIT: Another question I have is, was Sega's arcade business doing fine before the pandemic, or was starting to struggle a bit before then? I always thought that their arcade was booming until the pandemic hit.

@JohnGrey they're literally recording record profit from their video games division. Only reason they're struggling is the closure of pachinki, pachislot and arcade centers. SEGA are in a pretty great place rn.

@Mirage-5x5 look what happened to Rare right, ok then let's look. They had there most successful game ever have grown substantially in size and are prepping for the release of Everwild.

@LEGEND_MARIOID except all parts of the business that could be doing well during in covid are doing well. It's literally only there business arms that require public attendance that are struggling (hotels, casinos, conema, arcade centers, pachislot and pachinki halls). Video game revenue is massively up

@Blizzia guessing you're not an economist

@Zeldafan79 completely true but too many Sega fanboys will disagree.

@Fudgeyman I see you forgot how to spell hellspawn, but that's ok.

@Fudgeyman That's great for the employees in that sector of the business. Not so great for employees asked to "voluntarily to retire" & who lose their jobs in other sectors. Especially when they know the video games division of the same company is posting enormous profits.

@LEGEND_MARIOID yeah it sucks but they're still getting severance packages and assistance in finding new work. These comments are full of people saying SEGA's done and I'm just trying to point out that's simply not true

I have no idea why you guys are using Sega in the title instead of Sega Sammy, Nintendo Life. Can one of your editors come here and explain to me this reasoning? Sega isn't cutting the jobs, Sega Sammy overall is. Just reading their documents shows that it's not about video games, it's about their Amusement business. If I was in your place, I would never even report this news because it has nothing to do with video games, which it's very profitable for them on this quarter.

@Ninjalaislit It's not Sega doing it, it's Sega Sammy. Sega itself have no problem because they are on the video game industry. It's amusement (Arcade+resorts+Pachinko) which are on loss because much less people were out on the period due to covid.

Find it odd the top people aren't being axed for poor management instead it's the workers paying the price for their mismanagements.

So many companies are facing economic pressure because of the pandemic but apparently there are lots of financial management experts here in these parts who can instantly recognize BaD MaNaGeMeNt.

Gimme a break. Sega manages a lot of public entertainment outlets and machines that have been closed due to covid-19, unlike many other pure videos game dev / publisher studios. That's why they've been harder hit.

Frankly we should all be thankful that they have cultivated and preserved so many of their owned studios and IPs, unlike companies like EA who thrive by destroying the talents they have and bleeding players dry with their micro-transaction saturated "games as service". Really ignorant some of the comments here are.

Microsoft: Hey.

@JohnGrey Nintendo have more than 9 billion dollar in the bank.... just saying

@Fudgeyman yeah look it's not good is it
from releasing Great games after great game
then Microsoft comes along and hardly nothing in years .
All the talent left and now all that is left is not even a hand full of games.
They on the verge of collapse.
Yeah it's not good to look at is it.

@milvus976578 I hope not
Nintendo will be a great place for them

But they didn’t buy any studios since monolith soft back in 2007

It will be a great opportunity for them to take some Addison to their team, especially now....

But Nintendo have a special connection to those studios so I really hope they will take them

Well this is terrible news. Now would be a great time for Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo, or similar, to sweep in a buy all of Sega's IPs and patents and so on while they're likely available for a very cheap price.

Seriously, I don't get why there's no one at Nintendo who has seen the huge potential in buying up all of the important parts of Sega at this point, such as its IPs and maybe any patents and the like.

With Sega in Nintendo's camp exclusively--what a moment for gaming that would be!

@Mirage-5x5 you're in denial

@Nemesis666
I know that they are 2 separate divisions and that it's Sega Sammy doing the cuts, however this affects Sega as much as Sega Sammy, because develops the arcade and cabinets.
It also affects Sega as much as Sega Sammy because some of Sega arcade dev teams will be moving to the gaming side of Sega, while Sega will still making the arcade games and cabinets with the remaining arcade teams.

@RushDawg True, that saidd, what do you take from this? I'm not going to say that they'll get aquired by another studio or something of the sorts, but we know that it could happen after what happened with Zenimax. So it's something to keep thinking about.

Slowly Looks at Nintendo

@mlj11 Are you a business expert by the same stroke then?

This is terrible news. I guess we won't be getting Panzer Dragoon Saga and Daytona USA on the Nintendo Switch.

@SwitchForce None of this has anything to do with poor management. It's covid.

@LEGEND_MARIOID To answer your question: I have a degree in finance and also owned my own business before. But that's not really the point of you asking, is it? Could it be that you're displeased that I pointed out an undisputable fact to explain how Sega's misfortune could be due to other factors other than bad business management?

Release a Skies of Arcadia remake or sequel, we'll buy enough to save your staff.
Seriously, only a 30% cut for the big boss, 20% for the mid-bosses? Come on guys, step up and take it on the chin for your employees. (World leaders take note as well.)

Sigh Sega! It all started when the Japanese arm battled with Sega of America in the decision making to make the Genesis a success in America. All downhill from there through today with the stupid ass decision like pulling the plug on the Sega ages line and limiting those games to just the switch. They missed out on a ton of money not having those games on PS4! Somebody like Microsoft should snap up Sega quick and grab all those precious IP’s before they go down for good. I’ll always be a big Sega fan no matter what happens just like i still am a fan of the old Atari. I wish Sega well. They brought me countless hours of joy gaming on their consoles!

@WaveWitch Totally agree. The best thing to come from Sega in generations is the Genesis Mini, and really only because everything it does comes from the Sega of like 30 years ago. Oh, and the Sonic movie was actually good too.

@Anti-Matter You are a fount of information, showering us with information on obscure, Asia-oriented titles I'd never hear about from anyone else.

Please, don't change.

This is the harsh reality of what bad things are happening to video game companies these days.

That being said, I'm seeing a lot of comments about Nintendo acquiring all of Sega. I'm in full support of that, because the two always had a unique relationship, from the classic bit wars to the Olympics and from collaborations and even IP acquisitions, Nintendo should be the one to take in Sega, if it ever goes out.

@COVIDberry
Last time i played MaiMai Milk Plus Arcade at my local Game Arcade before pandemic.
It has Online feature so i can unlock Master difficulty if my scores above 97% on Expert difficulty.
I still haven't tried MaiMai DX yet.

Sonic Team should just be sold to Square Enix since their spiritual director Naka is there

Wanna make money sega put the damn persona games on the switch wtf is wrong with you people its gonna net you a tidy sum

Okay but honestly this could be a good thing for them. They need fresh blood, could reinvigorate them.

Or it could turn out like Konami. One or the other. I have more faith in SEGA than that.

I’ve seen rumors of SEGA being bought by Microsoft, If the situation was that dire and were given the option between Microsoft, SONY, and Nintendo, I’d see them be either acquired by, or being a second-party for Nintendo, because I feel they could have a lot more creative freedom then what the other two would offer.

@mlj11 "A degree in finance" , you could have mentioned that before and I own my own business myself in a sense which involves working with big corporations. I have worked with them for 20 years. As kind of stated already in my original reply it most certainly CAN be due to bad management AS WELL as the pandemic crisis factors that people lose their jobs in these difficult times. For example, healthcare corps and supermarkets in the UK have seen unprecendent increases in revenue due to the pandemic but are still cutting jobs now. These jobs involve middle or higher management jobs as well as lower paid, "frontline" jobs. These higher management ppl closer to the information about profit will tell you the same. "Combination of factors", including bad management lead to loss of jobs. It has virtually always been the case even prior to the pandemic crisis. I'm "disappointed" when ppl lose their jobs, yes. I'm sure you would be too over being seemingly defensive about "business management"

@LEGEND_MARIOID Your position has "argument from authority" written all over it, but you don't seem to be aware that it is a fallacious form of argumentation. Thing is, my degree or your ownership of a business should have no bearing on who's more correct about the perception of Sega's fortunes.

If someone wants to allege bad management, they should be providing evidence rather than pointing the finger at an easy but unverifiable target as a scapegoat.

Has there been any Jason Schreier-style article exposing poor working conditions at Sega? No. Any medium.com posts by anonymous Sega developers that accuse bosses of being inept or supervisors of being sleazy? No. Any lawsuits by disgruntled ex-Sega employees who were forced out by office politics? No, no, and no.

It's very easy - and extremely in vogue nowadays - to point the finger at bad management when a company is suffering. But where's the proof?

A big part of Sega Sammy's business is the operation of entertainment outlets like arcades and pachinko parlors; they also have a resort management arm - I should not need to tell you that these were all big earners pre-2020. Konami and Disney prove that.

But these are also are business types that have been disastrously impacted by the pandemic. I guess Sega should be thankful they're not big in the F&B industry too, otherwise they might have already declared bankruptcy by now!

So, therefore, unless you have specific proof that Sega is guilty of bad management, I'm going to chalk up their chance in fortunes to bad luck - just like so many other businesses big and small that were doing well before covid-19 but are so unfortunate that a global pandemic has caused their businesses to grind to a halt. And I only need to be a rational, logical person to say that. Not a guy with a finance degree.

When your company posts those kinds of losses, it's the people at the very top who should be forced to "voluntarily retire". Sadly, we live in a corporate world where the low-level employees take the brunt of every job loss and wage/benefits cutback, while the CEOs can fiddle with their six, seven, or eight-figure severance as their own companies burn to the ground.

@mlj11 I don't have a horse in this race, but I just wanted to mention that the bungling at the top of Sega's corporate ladder has been VERY well documented dating back to the 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast. In fact, entire books on the subject are readily available at places like Amazon. As for the past two decades and 2020, they've carried a well-earned reputation for ignoring consumer requests for fresh installments of their beloved IPs and putting out "safe" but largely mediocre products (such as Sonic) ad nauseam. Granted there have been some rare exceptions such as the outstanding Valkyria Chronicles and VC4, but they were way too few and far between.

The company that plays it safe is already in danger, especially in an industry where innovation and variety are as critical as with videogames. Sega has been an afterthought, just treading water while the rest of the industry zoomed past ever since they left making consoles. That's not just my opinion; that's history.

@mlj11 Certainly a lot of what you said is fair enough but really, "rationally & logically" there is "no proof" that so many HAVE to take voluntary retirements or lose their jobs altogether either. This reply section is littered with opinions like yours and mine. And certainly before the covid-19 pandemic lockdown started in Spring 2020, there was a worry in the actual business community that the pandemic could be used as a pre-text to undermine worker's rights and for letting go of staff altogether in large numbers where businesses were doing badly previously due to mismanagement. (Certainly not "anti-authorative" as I do a high responsibility, highly litigational job which involves management of staff and is answerable to a Gov regulatory body. Though I work actually "alongside" staff in the same area of a workplace, not a seperate office). Also, no news of higher management re-structuring and letting go of higher management jobs. Legally confidential employment disputes are going through lawyers or even courtrooms at the best of times within big companies without the public knowing. Absence of such news doesn't mean anything.

Just an opinion that, yes, the pandemic crisis is one huge, obvious factor but NOT the only one.

@Dr_Corndog kind of past that point aren’t we? With a theme park, and movie on the way Nintendo is already on the path of acquiring licenses.

@nessisonett Nintendo are the most cash rich company in Japan. I don’t think they will buy Sega, however they very much could. They could buy the entirety of Sega Sammy Holdings out right and still have $5bn+ in actual money sitting in the bank.

@AtlanteanMan You're still holding Sega accountable for gambles they took in the console market - an industry with such a high bar to clear that only the biggest mega corporations can survive - more than 20 years ago? C'mon.

Have you considered what they've done more recently? No studio that Sega has invested in has had to sell their IPs or close their doors - that's more than what we can say for a lots of higher profile companies who have utterly ravished marquee developers. Do you not think that's a sign of good responsible management?

Also it's very easy to blame Sega for not updating many of their legacy franchises but have you done any market research into whether they will actually sell today? I'm an 80's kid so I'm no stranger to romanticizing the past, but the tepid consumer response to IP-refreshing projects like Sega Ages despite stellar dev work on it by studios like M2 (which again, is an example of good management) shows that maybe it isn't financially prudent to push out products unless there's a big enough market to sell to.

On the flip side when Sega have updated their franchises, they've worked with good devs to ensure the final product lives up to its legacy; an outstanding example of this is Streets of Rage 4, which was a critical and commercial success. If you took the time to look up what DotEmu, Lizard Cube and Guard Crush say about working with Sega, you'll find it's all positive. In fact with the reputations of everybody involved in SOR4 having been enchanced, I'm cautiously optimistic about some hints DotEmu said about Sega possibly allowing them to work on other classic franchises. As a fan this sounds great to me. As a rational person, this sounds very wise.

Be fair dude.

@Nintendoforlife Well, they don't yet own everything, haha.

So does this only affect the Arcade / Amusement division or is this also affecting the software / home market divisions?

sega is dead for me since the dreamcast era.
always hanging-on to those lame sonic games, or classic, not daring new project.

their games have always maintained an arcade style, with awfull rock based sound tracks, full of glitches and no product feels finished.
the only great sonic game is actualy sonic aniversary, and its not even on all platforms.

the world changed, gamers changed but sega never changed with it in a positive way.
the brand is for people who like nostalgic and have youth sentiment, while such a big name should be trying to look at the industry, even indie developers surpassed them.

@nessisonett Apple, Google or Amazon could also afford them

Real shame to hear!! I remember getting my Mega Drive back in 92, Saturn in 95 and Dreamcast in 99 and loving each console..... Where did it all go so terribly wrong ???

@TheFrenchiestFry well we all tired to know Switch is very underpowered compared to PS4 and Xbox One, Switch can't even handle Pikmin 3 Deluxe a port of a 7 year old game in it previous console before Nintendo released the Switch.

This has little to do with their videogame sales and everything to do with Covid's impact on the pachinko market.

@Zacattack99 but did Nintendo have enought Money to buy Sega if both companies agreed to do this?is not better/wise Nintendo to use it money to buy Platinum Games, Next Level Games and Grezzo istead of Sega?Sega seens to be too expensive for Nintendo to buy it,Nintendo is very conservative in how it spent it money, you rarely see news of Nintendo buying a development studios or something similar, even with the sucess of Switch, Nintendo can't be crazy and by a lot of companies, they don't have enough money for this, Sony or Microsoft is more likely to buy companies such as Sega/Square Enix or Capcom not Nintendo.

Sega on Switch:

17,6 GB Alien: Isolation (Sega)
16,6 GB [SET] Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix - Mega Pack (Sega)
14,2 GB Catherine: Full Body (Sega)
13,8 GB Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix (Sega)
11,9 GB [SET] Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Complete Edition (Sega)
10,6 GB Valkyria Chronicles 4 (Sega)
7,4 GB Valkyria Chronicles (Sega)
7,0 GB Team Sonic Racing (Sega)
6,6 GB Sonic Forces (Sega)
6,5 GB Shining Resonance Refrain (Sega)
6,4 GB Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (Sega)
4,9 GB Football Manager 2020 Touch (Sega)
4,1 GB Citizens of Space (Sega)
2,6 GB Football Manager 2019 Touch (Sega)
2,3 GB Rock of Ages II: Bigger & Boulder (Sega)
1,6 GB Puyo Puyo Champions (Sega)
1,6 GB SolSeraph (Sega)
1,6 GB Two Point Hospital (Sega)
1,4 GB Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD (Sega)
1,1 GB Sega Mega Drive Classics (Sega)
1,0 GB Puyo Puyo Tetris (Sega)
372 MB Sonic Mania (Sega)
213 MB [SEGA AGES] G-LOC Air Battle - Loss Of Consciousness By G Force (Sega)
196 MB [SEGA AGES] Virtua Racing (Sega)
180 MB [SEGA AGES] Herzog zwei (Sega)
162 MB [SEGA AGES] Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega)
110 MB [SEGA AGES] Out Run (Sega)
106 MB [SEGA AGES] Columns II: The Voyage Through Time (Sega)
106 MB [SEGA AGES] Phantasy Star (Sega)
97 MB [SEGA AGES] Ichidant-R - Puzzle & Action (Sega)
97 MB [SEGA AGES] Puyo Puyo 2 (Sega)
96 MB [SEGA AGES] Gain Ground (Sega)
96 MB [SEGA AGES] Puyo Puyo (Sega)
87 MB [SEGA AGES] Wonder Boy: Monster Land (Sega)
86 MB [SEGA AGES] Space Harrier (Sega)
81 MB [SEGA AGES] Fantasy Zone (Sega)
76 MB [SEGA AGES] Thunder Force AC (Sega)
72 MB [SEGA AGES] Shinobi (Sega)
62 MB [SEGA AGES] Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Sega)
57 MB [SEGA AGES] Thunder Force IV (Sega)
52 MB [SEGA AGES] Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega)

Also Vice: Project Doom (NES Online), and Super Puyo Puyo 2 (SNES Online)

It's weird to me that Streets of Rage 4 and the Wonder Boy sequels and remakes are not published by Sega.

But hey, there's more on the way with Bayonetta 3, Shin Megami Tensei V, Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 5 Scramble, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, etc.

I get the feeling Nintendo should just purchase the company and introduce the concept of quality releases to their devs. They wouldn't be struggling quite this much if every game was an instant classic... I just hope they find their feet, because Sonic the Hedgehog for the mega drive was my first game, and it would be a shame to see them go. Buy them Nintendo, for the love of God, don't let this become another Rare situation!

@SKTTR WOW that way more games that i expected Sega released on Switch, isn't Nintendo that is going to publish Bayonetta 3?(if the game is still in development?since i believe sadly the game is cancelled,almost 4 years since it anouncemt and still not a single screenshot or a gameplay trailer for the game, if Bayonetta 3 is not released on Switch in the Halloween of 2021, that means game is sadly cancelled).

Personally I would rather see Nintendo (or anybody, that are not MS or Sony, who would actually use them properly) buy IP's instead of the company division itself. Sega has a deep list they are sitting on that deserve to be brought forth into today's generation to some extent.

My god, how much misinformation this place can have? Sega isn't struggling! Sega just posted on their financials that they have been up YoY on their revenue and profit! The PROBLEM IS SEGA SAMMY OTHER BUSINESS! PACHINKO, ARCADE, RESORTS. THINGS THAT NEED PEOPLE! For ***** sake, read the ***** report where they detail every ***** aspect of their business. Don't just read the stuff from Nintendo Life which talks as if the Sega you know is affected when they aren't at all. NO ONE from Sega is affected as their company is on software and their digital sales are all up due to covid. Only the Sammy side is affected. Only places where physical stuff is needed is affected, and video games ISN'T one of them.

It's amazing how much misinformation can be spread when sites like Nintendo Life, Kotaku and others report on financials without understanding what those financials means. And by amazing, I mean insanely stupid.

@Giancarlothomaz, I think SEGA being a second-party developer let alone being acquired by Nintendo is just a better fit more so than the Microsoft or SONY. If Nintendo does end up buying them outright, both sides have a lot to gain. Nintendo could utilize SEGA SAMMY Holdings other departments and expertise as a diving board to expand into other industries (Animation, Hotels, Toys, Amusement centers, Resorts etc.) and SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS would be able to utilize Nintendo’s I.P., receive secure funding, and take advantage of interesting Hardware or aid in the development of Nintendo’s future hardware.

Sega has had management problems since the Saturn days. Hell, a lot of their IP's are treated better when outsourced by Sega themselves.

@Nemesis666 None of this has anything to do with poor management. It's covid.
They all find excuses. Covid just shows how poorly they ran the business. If that was true they why is Nintendo still doing better. So that Covid is just a lame excuse.

@SwitchForce You have no idea what you're talking about. Nintendo don't have problems because they are a VIDEO GAME COMPANY, with most of their revenue from Switch and software sales. Sega Sammy isn't Sega, Sega itself just reported +YoY revenue and profit. Sega Sammy is reporting problems on Resort, Arcade and Pachinko, which are all industries that NEED people to be physically on those places to pay for them, so Covid will ***** them over for subsidiaries like Sammy, Sega Entertainment (which was the arcade management company sold), among other subsidiaries on that industry.

Here's a part of Sega itself

"During the six months, the company sold over 19 million games — up from 12 million during the first half of the previous fiscal year. This was driven by a mix of back catalogue sales and new titles like A Total War Saga: Troy."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-11-06-sega-sammy-raises-forecasts-despite-losses-driven-by-covid-19

I fear this is a bad sign for things to come for Sega... and that's saying something!

Sega Sammy - 9000 staff

They're retiring 650 people from the arcade and leisure part of the business. Like Nemesis666 says, no big issue here....

At this point, Nintendo should just buy Sega to keep it going and put Sonic in good hands.

@Nemesis666 agree... but hey, they need something for the clicks! and to get users discussing and arguing about "who buys who" (depending on their own preferences of course)

Also, anyone thinking SEGA video game division will be up to sell after reading this is just delusional. But hey! keep it up, delusions are always fun to read.