We Betrayed Fans And Want to Be a Brand Again, Says Sega CEO

Following the realization from Sega Games president Haruki Satomi about how gaming quality is important, he’s apparently very happy that fans have responded positively about Sega rejoining the land of gaming once again.

In a recent follow-up comment Satomi said “Seeing our fans across the world respond to our recent interview with Famitsu, lets us know we’ve made the right first step in acknowledging who we are and where we want to be.”

“Sega is dedicated to bringing you quality gaming experiences and becoming a brand you love and trust again.”

If Satomi and his team are really onboard with tackling Sega’s appalling brand image then they have a suitably massive challenge ahead of them.

Sega has progressively ruined its reputation with gamers over the last ten years or so and did incredibly daft things to many of its core gaming properties as well.

In short, Sega is currently at the bottom of a very deep hole when it comes to consumer trust and that is something that won’t be resolved overnight.

Ask just about any gamer what the single worst problem there is at Sega and their answer will almost always be the same: management. No other game company has had such a tumultuous history when it comes to just who was running the show, and there have been four presidents in the last decade alone. It has been a problem that has plagued the legendary software developer since the mid 1990s, when then-president and CEO Tom Kalinske was forced out by a series of horrible business decisions by Sega of Japan. The events surrounding his departure started a domino effect from which the company never recovered, and eventually led to their exit from the hardware business in 2001.
It may sound odd to say that Sega’s misfortune over the last few years is directly related to their mistreatment of Kalinske, but it becomes quite obvious once you examine the facts. No other president before him ever gave Sega the level of success he did, and none since have ever equaled it. One could even go so far as to say that Sega lasted as long as it did as a hardware manufacturer thanks to Kalinske’s efforts during the 16-bit era.
It sure wasn’t because of Sega of Japan.*SNIP*

Jump back to quoted post1 Nov 2015, 19:18 PMAstarot

Interesting... the next few months will show if they take better route.

Thanks for the info.

Jump back to quoted post1 Nov 2015, 19:19 PMVon Kluge

Somehow I doubt corporate strategy changes will show in the course of the next few months.
It took Relic more than 2 years to improve on several important fronts.

Cross fingers and hope for the best I guess

Jump back to quoted post1 Nov 2015, 19:45 PMAstarot

I doubt that SEGA would have stopped Relic if they wanted to optimize the game more. Let's hope they might encourage them to do so now.