Welcome! I'm SEGA Informant, also known as
@DeclanDowns
.
I'm your guide to facts and information regarding SEGA, it's staff, plans for the future, as well as reminders for any new SEGA content, and sharing any SEGA fan content along the way.
Hope you're having a fantastic day!
Sonic Frontiers - Internal SEGA Interview 2024
Today, I'll be providing a summery of the new Sonic Frontiers interview published by SEGA as apart of their recruitment page. First, we'll cover each member of the interview.
Thread Below 🧵
It's always good to keep up with dates, so here's this lil graphic to help keep you up the date.
The graphic includes the already announced major content drops by SEGA/ATLUS throughout 2024.
Recently, it was announced that a movie adaptation of the 1993 SEGA Mega Drive game, Eternal Champions is currently in development, so, I've compiled together a list of upcoming and confirmed movie and TV show projects.
There's some people wondering who the green alien is. That's Sammy's mascot, Aliyan!
This fella has appeared in various art alongside Sonic for years now.
Since this topic has shown up again, here is SEGA Corp. President, COO, and Rep Director, as well as CEO Of SEGA Europe & America's response on a possible acquisition by Microsoft.
Sonic Team has been established, split, and reshaped over the past 30+ years since its establishment.
However, many aren't aware of how much it's happened, so let me walk you through the shaping of a studio from three members to over 400.
Thread 🧵
Following on from my RGG Studio 2020's release graphic, here's the major releases by Sonic Team since 2020.
While Samba De Amigo: Party Central isn't credited as Sonic Team, it is made by enough members to be counted.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble was revealed today, so I wanted to provide a small timeline providing gaps in releases.
The gap in time between Banana Blitz HD to Banana Mania was 2 years, and the gap between Banana Mania to Banana Rumble will be 3 years.
Hi everyone, I'm working on a 3D game engine project, a environment based on a SEGA arcade, and one of the assets I want to make is a cardboard cut-out of Sonic's render from Frontiers, based on the real cut-out used during promotion.
However, I need some photos to use, so...
From the description on the Asia website, the Time Eater also sends Shadow into White Space.
"When a mysterious creature creates time holes in their universe, Sonic and Shadow each set out on a high-speed action adventure!"
This variant of the Time Eater appears early on.
SEGA was asked about the release schedule of Sonic, and if it could be damaging to the value of the IP.
SEGA confirms that "we are developing the titles with diversity in genres..."
The team was wrapped around the word "mystery solving", and felt that "This Isn't a Sonic game!" due to the lack of speed.
A young programmer suggested a gimmick called a "grind rail generator", which the team credits as the idea that helped join puzzles and speed together.
Also, with the reveal of this title, RGG Studios' mystery game was revealed. Here are the studio's major releases from 2020 to 2024.
They've released a total of 9 titles.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble was revealed today, so I wanted to provide a small timeline providing gaps in releases.
The gap in time between Banana Blitz HD to Banana Mania was 2 years, and the gap between Banana Mania to Banana Rumble will be 3 years.
Happy 33rd Birthday, Sonic!
From exploring vast lands to fighting gods and monsters, the guy's done a lot, more than one tweet could list off. To 33 years, and beyond!
Q&A for SEGA's Q3 2024 Results have been released, this thread will go into the Game side of questions and I'll try my best to summarise points brought up.
Info on Sonic Superstars, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload, and more.
Thread🧵
Today is the day Shuji Utsumi is appointed as COO and President of SEGA and CEO of SEGA of America and Europe.
I wish him the best in the role and look forward to what strategies he brings forward that can push SEGA forward.
As of 1st June, SEGA currently has 7 titles currently releasing in the second half of 2024, either internally, from European studios or licence partners.
P Studio also has P3 Reload: Episode AIGES due for release, and SEGA Hardlight have the third content update for Dream Team.
Shuji Utsumi just posted on his LinkedIn, including some pictures in his first day in the role.
He took a pic with Sonic and got alot of flowers from SEGA staff!
Today is the day Shuji Utsumi is appointed as COO and President of SEGA and CEO of SEGA of America and Europe.
I wish him the best in the role and look forward to what strategies he brings forward that can push SEGA forward.
Member Profile - Yuki Takahashi
Joining the company in 1998, she was a field artist on titles like Sonic Adventure and Sonic 06, Character/Item artist for PSO, and a sub-background leader for Lost World, Forces and Frontiers. She was also background leader for Sakura Wars 2018.
Reviews are in! Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is currently sitting at a 76 Metacritic score, based on 31 critic reviews.
Congratulations to SEGA, RGG Studio and everyone involved!
For today's final post, here's the updated SEGA / ATLUS release schedule for 2024.
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble have been included, and the date for the Knuckles Show has been added too.
This list includes 11 projects.
The biggest challenge for the team was the grasping of what an Open Zone would be, and how to create play within it.
Hedgehog Engine 2 was also being given additional features throughout development to accommodate the Open Zone game formula.
The top priority for the team was to "make Sonic a title that could once again compete on the world stage,'', raising the quality to transform the title into a new third-generation Sonic game, something Morio Kishimoto has mentioned multiple times.
SEGA has appointed Justin Scarpone as Managing Executive Officer and Head of Transmedia Business.
Justin Scarpone worked for Disney Interactive Asia, helping launch titles like Kingdom Hearts, Marvel Future Fight and Disney's Tsum Tsum.
He begin this position on 1st April.
SEGA and the BBC have just announced that they've come to a licence agreement on the development of titles based on the Doctor Who franchise.
Pre-Production on two titles have been announced.
During this time, there were many opinions saying the islands were boarding due to them being large and having similar landscapes.
Due to the difficulty of adding originality, this lead to the formation of several environment teams, to pursue and create reality.
☀️ Friday,
#SummerGameFest
begins 🎉
A look at what's next in video games!
Here's the trailer I edited to get us in the mood.
Celebrating great games so far in 24, and ones still to come. Thanks
@londongrammer
See you Friday, 2p PT/5p ET/11p CEST at
SEGA Sapporo is the newest established studio within the company, so I felt it'd be worth taking to time to provide some information of the studio to keep you informed.
Thread 🧵
Hi everyone, I'm working on a 3D game engine project, a environment based on a SEGA arcade, and one of the assets I want to make is a cardboard cut-out of Sonic's render from Frontiers, based on the real cut-out used during promotion.
However, I need some photos to use, so...
Member Profile - Masaya Hirano
Joining the company in 2014, he has been involved in the development as a planner of the Mario & Sonic title, including Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. He was sub-lead planner for Sonic Frontiers.
Takahashi felt that, while she knew the project of making a open world title would be daunting, she believed that since Sonic Team always try new things, she thought that they could do it through team work.
So, with the latest news from Japan, here's the current list of confirmed/speculation of developers for SEGA's first wave of Power Surge titles.
Jet Set Radio - SEGA Div. 3 (Confirmed)
Crazy Taxi - SEGA Sapporo (Either Main or 2nd Developer)
Shinobi - LizardCube (Speculation)
This post is spreading misinformation. I'd like to take the opportunity to clear this up. Please stop believing stuff at face value. Thank you.
You can find the original image here -
Been wondering where Shuji Utsumi has been lately? Well, he was watching Xbox Showcase and at Summer Game Fest Play Days!
Here's a pic of him and Geoff Keighley talking at the SEGA/ATLUS tent.
On the LinkedIn post, he mentioned how, without E3, game promotion has changed alot.
Game Informer has released an interview with Takashi lizuka about his career at SEGA, including his reaction to when he learned the SEGA Dreamcast would be SEGA'S last console.
Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka details his 32-year career at SEGA, including his early days placing enemies in Golden Axe 3, designing Nights Into Dreams and Sonic Adventure, and the day he learned the Dreamcast was shutting down.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW:
Member Profile - Yuki Mitsuishi
Joining the company in 2019, he was involved in the development of Sakura Wars 2018 and Tokyo 2020 as programmer. Sonic Frontiers saw him in charge as program leader for the puzzle solving content.
Just to clear some information. Yuji Naka never went to prison, he was just given probation.
As long as he respected that probation for the required amount of years, which is 4 years, he would not need to be put into prison.
He was arrested, but not imprisoned.
Sonic Mania Plus has been soft-launched in the Philippines in the past hour. A worldwide release could be very soon.
The title will be available for IOS and Android and will require a Netflix subscription.
The app is around 300MB on Android. Screenshot from
@sonicparadise
!
Here's our summary of the Year Of Shadow campaign. From the sound of it, it seems that we can expect yearly campaigns based on elements of the Sonic franchise. Last year, it was about Sonic and his friends, this year, it's all Shadow.
Mitsuishi joined the project mid-development, which meant he had less experience with Sonic than the others around him. He credits his other team members involvement with Sonic as the factor that made the environment easy to work in.
Want to provide some fantastic information today.
Today, it was announced by SEGA Of America union workers that they have secured raises, layoff protections, and more.
Union members have described this as a "watershed moment". Here's the full details (Thread Below)
I just realised this now, but SEGA describes Sonic X Shadow Generations as a key part of their transmedia strategy.
Might be worth paying attention to critic reviews and sales when this title drops.
SEGA was asked about the release schedule of Sonic, and if it could be damaging to the value of the IP.
SEGA confirms that "we are developing the titles with diversity in genres..."
Sonic The Hedgehog celebrates his 33rd Birthday this Sunday, with three days remaining! So here's a fun question.
For titles released in the 3rd anniversary (1994), the 13th anniversary (2004) and the 23rd anniversary (2014), what game did you have the most memories with?
In Japan, a Sonic The Hedgehog Collaboration created by Romero Britto was opened, and both newly appointed SEGA President Shiju Utsumi and Head Of Sonic Team Takashi Ilzuka both attended!
@Chaotixhero
Today is the first day of the new fiscal year, and because of that, alot of business changes take effect. Here, SEGA Toys has turned to SEGA Fave, which will work on everything except games, meaning SEGA itself is entirely game focused now.
2024 marks the 30th Anniversary of the SEGA Saturn, releasing on 22 November, 1994.
Birthing several franchises, like NiGHTS, Burning Rangers, Panzer Dragoon and more. While the legacy of the Saturn is overlooked, I hope to highlight it's titles throughout the year!
From the sounds of it, Black Doom merely takes advantage of the Time Eater's actions.
I assume that since the Time Eater focuses more on Sonic, Shadow will just need to focus on Black Doom.
Masayoshi Yokoyama, head of RGG Studio, has confirmed that RGG Studio is the developer of Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble.
Early this year, RGG teased that they had a surprise title due this year, SMB is that title.
Disappointed that Tails Channel, Sonic Stadium and several others are running with the claim that the new Character page for Sonic X Shadow Generations is teasing new characters when there is zero reason why that is the case.
On January 17th, user "みどり" posted that SEGA was working on another Sonic spin-off game for mobile devices, with this being said over a month since the release of SEGA Hardlight's Sonic Dream Team.
These are the featured details.
Thread 🧵
Well, we have our answer. Katie, on today's Sonic stream, has confirmed that we will not be getting a Sonic Central anytime soon.
It's best to forget about it for a while.
It's three days till Sonic's 33rd birthday, and yet, we've not heard a peep or chirp on a Sonic Central. Will there be a Sonic Central this year?
Small Round-Up of Dates and Announcements below 🧵
For 13 years, SEGA has published and developed several titles with the Olympic Games licence. With the final title releasing in 2020 for the Tokyo Olympic Games, here's a grid collage of the title released.
13 titles, from traditional, to crossover, and mobile.
SEGA Sapporo is collaborating with Creative Village in highlighting the jobs available at the studio, it's also allowed us a look inside the studio! Here's the featured video on the website!
Photos of the office will be available below.
Knock Knock, it's time to crack your knuckles!
Variety has revealed that our first look of the Knuckles Show, streaming on Paramount Plus, will be shown at the Super Bowl this sunday!
Paramount is expected to run Super Bowl spots for "A Quiet Place: Day One,” “Bob Marley: One Love,” “IF,” the “Sonic the Hedgehog” spinoff series “Knuckles” and more this Sunday.
SEGA is aware that Sonic Superstars has been received well by players, the timing of release did rival the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and fell short on forecast. Their focus now is to increase repeat sales of Superstars.
Every 4th of the month, the Shenmue community will rally together for the continuation of the series, aiming for the release of Shenmue 4.
I'd like to highlight this effort by providing a guide towards how you can get into the series.
Make sure to tweet
#LetsGetShenmue4
.
SEGA Sapporo Studio is either the main/or supporting developer for the new Crazy Taxi title!
It's being described as a AAA title, in line with the current SEGA plan of creating high budget revivals of their IPs.
New Crazy Taxi is a “Triple-A” title according SEGA Sapporo Studio
The recently formed studio in Hokkaido is also participating on the development of the game!
Good afternoon, everyone! Today, Sony will be holding a 40+ minute State Of Play presentation featuring several titles.
If you've been keeping up with the rumours and care about SEGA, it might be worth checking it out live.
A certain hedgehog might be in attendance.
SEGA has released several new interviews of employees at the company on their recruitment page, including interviews regarding Sonic Frontiers and Like A Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth.
I'll go through these and share any interesting facts later today.
I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this.
When you hear the name SEGA, what does it mean to you? Not specifically games or characters, more so the vibe or identity of the company you think off.
Breaking News: The 'Persona' series surpasses 22 million copies sold worldwide! 🎉🌍
ジュブナイルRPG『ペルソナ』シリーズの全世界累計販売本数(パッケージ版出荷数+ダウンロード版販売数)が「2,200万本」を突破しました!
SEGA Saturn Sonic is full of healthy nutritions, but made of what exactly?
- 32-Bit Next Generation Graphics
- Three Processors
- Ultra Blast Processing
- High Quality FMV Video
- Ability To Play CD Quality Music
- & Tons Of Games
So...wanna take a bite?
Reviews are in! Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is currently sitting at a 76 Metacritic score, based on 31 critic reviews.
Congratulations to SEGA, RGG Studio and everyone involved!
4Gamer has released some new photos of the Romero X Sonic collaboration. Mr. Ilzuka also did a short interview, including that it was his Idea to reach out to Romero to expand Sonic into non-game related spaces, and that Romero's son is a big Sonic fan.
Since then, Sonic Team has remained the same, however has been seeing significant growth.
After the release and success of Sonic Frontiers, SEGA has been mass hiring new members for Sonic Team, with the current estimate being over 400+.
But the future is for another thread.
A remake of the original Jet Set Radio is in the works at SEGA, it is a full remake of the Dreamcast game and it is not related to the F2P reboot.
Source: Midori
Also, this is a perfect opportunity to share that the final Sonic Olympic Games title features a remix of This Is Our World from Sonic Forces...for fencing!
The article provides some bonus info on the Studio.
- A Second branch was open in 2023 due to the amount of applications provided by graduates.
- Sapporo has amass a group of employees who originally applied for SEGA but unfortanly couldn't get a position then.
SEGA Sapporo Studio is either the main/or supporting developer for the new Crazy Taxi title!
It's being described as a AAA title, in line with the current SEGA plan of creating high budget revivals of their IPs.
Shun Nakamura is a member of Sonic Team, starting his time at the studio with Sonic R as a game designer in 1997.
His first major role would be director and main planner for Samba De Amigo for the SEGA Dreamcast, which established Sonic Team's 6th original IP.
In March, I planned on launching my YouTube channel this month, however, I am on the final stretch of Uni, and I feel it's important for me to focus on that.
So, I'll be pushing the launch into May, and the script for this weeks news round-up will be released as a script.
He will take on expanding advancements in SEGA's portfolio, including Like A Dragon, Persona and Angry Birds.
The transmedia strategy began due to the success of the first Sonic Movie, and SEGA is fully invested in replicating this for their major IP. Justin has commented...
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania came out in 2021. It'll be 3 years since this year.
RGG Studio have stated that they have one more suprise left for 2024.
SEGA AND RGG STUDIO HAVE JUST ANNONCED THAT LIKE A DRAGON WILL BE GETTING A AMAZON PRIME SERIES. THIS OCTOBER.
I'M IN WORK TODAY BUT WHEN I GET BACK I'LL UPDATE EVERYONE 0EFOWUNBUVOVBWERF
Sonic Team is a listed partner for IGN Live. We know for certain that Ilzuka might be here, but as for Sonic X Shadow Generations? Maybe a trailer replay.
FYI!
Takashi Ilzuka will be on IGN Live today with a brand new interview. Not sure what it'll be about but it should be shown live sometime in the next hour or so.