SEGA restructuring? And the future of Relic eSport

I was the first on this forum 5 months ago to highlight the important info about the new SEGA CEO and the ongoing restructuring of SEGA + development studios:
We Betrayed Fans And Want to Be a Brand Again, Says Sega CEO
https://www.coh2.org/topic/44037/we-betrayed-fans-and-want-to-be-a-brand-again-says-sega-ceo

So for those interested, here are some more news sources and old news to help see this ongoing restructuring in a new perspective and stay informed. Also, note Relic have recently hired a second DoW Community Manager, Katherine Hairfield and Benjamin Boudreau as the new Communications manager (see below).
Sega Europe hired a new "eSport" marketing manager (former Azubu marketing with one office less than one mile from Relic Studio), Alfonso Cubia (see below). This strongly hints COH2/DoW3 and CA eSport with Alfonso Cubia acting as the link (liaise) between Relic/CA and Sega Europe. The two other offices are in Seoul and LA.
How Azubu will use its €55m funding to take on Twitch
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-12/09/azubu-esports-game-streaming-40m-investment
Azubu grabs exclusive rights to ESL content
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/azubu-grabs-exclusive-rights-to-esl-content/0163927
Tricia Sugita, Director of eSports (former SC2 master and streamer)
https://twitter.com/megumixbear?lang=da
Alien: Isolation (creative assembly) Channel
http://oldschool.azubu.tv/games/alien-isolation
http://www.azubu.tv/games/alien-isolation (new beta version)

Haruki Satomi, new Sega CEO (grandson of Hajime Satomi, only 37 years old)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/haruki-satomi-2b84b65
Hajime Satomi, #38 Japan's 50 Richest (2015)
http://www.forbes.com/profile/hajime-satomi/
Tatsuyuki Miyazaki, CEO Sega of America
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatsuyuki-miyazaki-4150029
Jurgen Post, President / COO SEGA Europe
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jurgen-post-5150956

Nr.1 Sonic News Channel on youtube - Discussion and Opinions about restructuring

The new Sega CEO is the grandson of the Sega Sammy Holdings CEO Hajime Satomi which owns Sega, Atlus and Sammy Corp (pachinko/arcade). With the support from Hajime Satomi, this CEO Haruki Satomi have more free rein to restructure Sega OR sell it.
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/

Haruki Satomi left Japan to work at Sega West.

“As far as the Western market goes, we learned a lot from Atlus,” Satomi.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2015/07/07/sega-says-learning-from-atlus-will-help-it-restore-trust-with-fans.aspx
Sega acquires Atlus for 140 million dollars, 2013
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/18/sega-sammy-to-acquire-atlas-parent-company
http://atlus.com/company/

Relic News
Benjamin Boudreau (2016)
New Communications manager and PR
https://twitter.com/bboudreau?lang=da
Job Description (short highlight):

-SNIP-"Please note that occasional international travel will be required to attend and organize press, public and community events. You will be expected to coordinate the studio’s presence for the majority of these trips, ensuring flawless execution and a meaningful experience for all involved."
"Be our primary spokesperson, and lead studio-wide education around interacting with media
Liaise with Sega Europe’s PR and Marketing team to organize events, including press tours and trade shows"

Description posted on Relics own website, 2015

Casual Interview w/ Relic Entertainment - Necron Overlord, 10. mar. 2016
Forerunner for DoW3 Last stand?

Katherine Hairfield, Relic (joined 2 months ago)
Associate Community Manager (another hint Relic is making DoW3 MMO/"Last stand" MOBA)
Former Community Manager Whitebox Interactive/Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena
https://www.darknexusarena.com/ (Warhammer MOBA - cancelled)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/408330

Jonathan Falkowski CEO And Founder of Whitebox Games, former Development Manager for EA (2 years)

New Jobs for COH Campaign?
http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?k=Job&c=qds9Vfwt&j=olrQ2fwo (Campaign Designer)
http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?k=Job&c=qds9Vfwt&j=oDqQ2fwF
http://hire.jobvite.com/CompanyJobs/Careers.aspx?k=Job&c=qds9Vfwt&j=oeF61fwK (Campaign)

Is Microsoft About To Buy Sega? 31. Jan. 2015


Microsoft chose not to buy Sega because it didn't have the muscle, February 8, 2013
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/microsoft-chose-not-to-buy-sega-because-it-didnt-have-the-muscle/1100-6403661/

This is old news, but now Sega is getting involved again with Microsoft IPs (Halo "poster child" for Spencer's Windows 10/Xbox) and potential new partnerships are something that can have far reaching consequences for several development studios. Sega got a massive library of IPs through a vast array of genres that MS might want to buy. Unlike SEGA, MS don't necessary need to profit from all their video games. But rather use "exclusive games" attracting gamers to play on the unified windows 10 platform + MS owned devices.
2016 Xbox One and PC Exclusive Games Lineup
Microsoft uses a lot of second/third party game development studios to compete with the Playstation and upcoming virtual reality. Ensemble Studios now-defunct was the first party studio for Age of Empires series + Halo Wars. 343 Industries oversee Halo properties after Bungie left.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Studios

The biggest AoE2 Tournament in history featuring $120.000,00 Prize Pool, 2014-2015
10+ years old AoE2 continues to do well in eSport, top20 in eSport earnings last year
http://www.esportsearnings.com/games/179-age-of-empires-ii-the-age-of-kings


http://aoczone.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=104408

Microsoft acquires classic civilization game Rise of Nations, future games hinted by Xbox head, Jun 1, 2014
http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-acquires-rise-nations-ip-future-games-hinted-xbox-head

More Layoffs At Sega, This Time In Their Western Mobile Division, MAR 6, 2016
http://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2016/03/06/more-layoffs-at-sega-this-time-in-their-western-mobile-division/#521848cb486c
This layoff is somewhat linked to this survey below.

Sega to Fans: "Help Us Make Our Games Better, February 29, 2016
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/sega-to-fans-help-us-make-our-games-better/1100-6435190/

This survey comes after Sega management frankly admitted that the company had somewhat lost its way.

"Sega in the '90s was known for its brand, but after that, we've lost trust, and we're left with nothing but reputation," Sega games CEO Haruki Satomi said last summer. "We'd like to win back the trust and become a brand once again."

Forum discussion:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1191961
You can help by filling out the new Sega survey and provide non-biased feedback.
Without constructive feedback from gamers, Sega is truly lost. This pandering to children is another problem that is killing Sega. That primary fan base who remembers Sonic from the 90s is no longer kids.

This Game Designer explains how Sonic can be saved:


SEGA is Offering “Around 200” Employees Voluntary Retirement as Profit Targets Slip, October 02 2015
http://www.gamnesia.com/news/sega-sammy-is-offering-around-200-employees-voluntary-retirement-as-profit

Familiar Faces May Be Impacted By Restructure, January 30, 2015
http://www.tssznews.com/2015/01/30/familiar-faces-may-be-impacted-by-restructure/

SEGA Europe News & Background info
SEGA Recap of PC Gamer and Inside SEGA Europe

At the very first frames (0:23) of the SEGA PC gamer recap, we see CM Kyle with COH fans Helpinghans, Luvnest, Stormless etc. Later interview with Kellie, CM for DoW2.
Tails Channel visit SEGA Europe


SEGA Europe just launched a new campaign to hire new talent:

Alfonso Cubias, SEGA (joined January 2016)
Senior Marketing Manager
Former marketing manager for Atlus, Azubu, Digital Extremes
http://www.azubu.tv/company-profile
The Vancouver office is located less than 1 mile from Relic
Video with Alfonso Cubias, 2013 (intro 1:53)

Azubu is a global broadcast network, delivering premium live and on demand eSports action, programming, news and analysis.

Ben Harrison
Head of HR at SEGA Europe Limited
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benharrison3?trk=pub-pbmap

A bit about me:
Senior generalist HR professional specializing in video games/technology.

Huge passion for technology, the entertainment industry, video games and setting up and managing commercial HR and recruitment processes/work practices that attract and retain top talent.

My biggest passion in HR is fostering a creative environment with high engagement, high productivity and low employee turnover. My job is to get the most out of our staff and ensure that everyone reaches their potential through a unique culture and using the best HR strategies and technologies.
Specialties: Workforce culture, employee engagement, change management, performance management, reward & recognition, hard and soft benefits, employee relations, employer branding and recruitment.

David Delve, Sega
Recruiter
SEGA Europe hired David last year, which worked on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Former recruiter for Industrial Light & Magic
https://twitter.com/daviddelve
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ilm-london-hiring-2015-join-force-david-delve?articleId=5955674932179410944#comments-5955674932179410944&trk=prof-post
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daviddelve?trk=pub-pbmap

Sole recruiter for ILM’s new London office, working within our global operations team, I managed the day-to-day internal recruitment for all the studio’s hires, including artists, software engineers, production/senior management and also any administrative support staff. During my tenure at ILM I hired staff for the following shows: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Spectre and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.

Star Wars feels the force of Britain's visual effects talent - Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/11312123/Star-Wars-feels-the-force-of-Britains-visual-effects-talent.html

Dan Sheridan, Sega
Community & Social Marketing Manager
https://www.linkedin.com/in/videomonkeys
https://twitter.com/thisisactionman

Jason Rice, Sega (former BBC and Turner licensing job)
Director of Brand Licensing
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-rice-88741b14

Jon Rooke secures new role as SEGA Europe marketing director, 05 FEB 2015
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-02-05-jon-rooke-secures-new-role-as-sega-europe-marketing-director
Former Global Brand Director Alien: Isolation (the dev team now working on Halo Wars 2), former THQ European Marketing Director (Relics former publisher) and Microsoft marketing manager
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-rooke-60868436
As another recent hint, the SEGA marketing team (confirmed he was a former THQ employee that did PR for COH) was viewing Helpinghans twitch stream and looking for popular COH/Dawn Of War steamers.

https://secure.twitch.tv/helpinghans/v/47827252?t=03h36m18s
Date Recorded Feb 19, 2016 (SEGA in chat 3:36:18)

After the closure of THQ, Rebecca Attard also joined CA along with Jon Rooke. So both of these european marketing people probably know Relic pretty well.
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaattard
https://twitter.com/rebeccaattard

The SEGA Europe owned Studio, Sports Interactive led by Miles Jacobson recently won the MCV Awards 2016 – Person of the Year

Sales of this game have raised over 700.000£ for charity.

More info on SEGA Europe
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sega-europe-limited

Halo Wars 2 and Virtuality Reality
Old News, Creative Assembly confirms they are experimenting with VR for Alien Isolation
http://www.vrfocus.com/2015/06/vr-theories-and-predictions/
http://www.vrfocus.com/2014/07/creative-assembly-wont-commit-alien-isolation-vr-can-deliver-best-experience/
Microsoft’s Oculus partnership is a very clever move, June 11, 2015
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/11/8768275/microsoft-oculus-partnership-is-clever
Microsoft HoloLens
https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us
Oculus founder on Rift, 'Eve: Valkyrie' and VR's next steps
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/17/oculus-palmer-luckey-interview-gdc-2016/
Actress Katee Sackhoff, featured in Battlestar Galactica, Riddick, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars
starter package with Oculus Rift + Xbox One controller etc.


PewDiePie big fan of Alien Isolation with 13 gameplay walkthrough videos. 42 Million YouTube Subscribers. Over 7.088.146 likes on facebook. The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet. Making over $7 million every year. PewDiePie is the king of YouTube.
http://time.com/3732203/the-30-most-influential-people-on-the-internet/
Sega gave up Alien Isolation 2 for the Halo IP. Halo's lore is great and MS clearly want to use that expanding to new game genres.

Tim Heaton, Creative Assembly's studio director, says much the same thing when we meet a few hours later. Microsoft approached Sega about Creative Assembly working on a Halo Wars game, and Sega allowed the conversation to take place. He calls it a "natural fit" - Microsoft benefiting from the studio's experience and "credibility," Creative Assembly getting the chance to flex its creative muscle with a brand the size of Halo.
-SNIP-
With Halo Wars, the risk of the AAA console market will be Microsoft's to bear, and Sega will have, "a team to make an action-RTS for console," when it's over.

Interview with Sega Europe and Tim Heaton, Studio Director, Creative Assembly (former Senior Development Director for EA, 7 years)
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-09-30-sega-europe-were-definitely-on-the-right-track

Microsofts vision for Age of Empires:

Company of Heroes dev reckons it's solved the RTS on console problem
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-02-company-of-heroes-dev-reckons-its-solved-the-rts-on-console-problem

http://segmentnext.com/2016/03/02/halo-wars-2-update-given-by-phil-spencer/

While talking to IGN Phil Spencer was discussing the Xbox One and all of the news that has been released around the console and PC. One thing he brought up in the discussion was Halo 2 as an example of games he’s looking forward to:

“Spencer feels “really good about our core games,” and cited Halo Wars 2 as something he’s particularly interested in. “I love that we have Halo Wars 2 coming this year, I really think strategy is an underserved category on consoles. I love the first Halo Wars, I love the team we’re working with, this time, Creative Assembly is great.”

All Halo games can now be played on Xbox One.
Halo Wars Backwards Compatibility Available to Xbox One Preview Members Today, March 18, 2016
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/halo-wars-backwards-compatibility-available-to-xbo/1100-6435777/

For older news and forum discussion about Halo Wars 2 this is a good place to start:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1089909

More Sonic News 2015-Present
Another interesting thing, look what happen with the Sonic Twitter account which was supervised by the new Sega CEO. It went from boring to a big rise in popularity with the new PR person, Aaron Webber
https://twitter.com/rubyeclipse
Sonic the HedgehogTwitter Stats
Can a savvy Twitter account save Sonic the Hedgehog?
http://www.dailydot.com/geek/sonic-the-hedgehog-twitter/
Official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter Continues to be Amazing, Posts Shia
http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/official-sonic-the-hedgehog-twitter-continues-to-be-amazing-posts-shia/
Aaron Webber unveiled an edited version of Sonic Generations + Shia LaBeouf (Don't let your dreams be dreams. DO IT)

Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary SXSW Panel - Tails' Channel LIVE (moderating the panel is Aaron Webber)


Old news, CA Community Coordinators that have shown interest in COH2
CA_Dogbert (James Given) Community Coordinator/ESL Caster for TW: ARENA
https://twitter.com/ca_dogbert?lang=da
A big fan of COH and former pro-gamer
Over 3 years ago CA_Dogbert/Team Dignitas said this about COH2 eSport;

“Company of Heroes, amazing if it comes back and it got any eSports potential. I’ll literally live on that game.”

Go to youtube at 30:30 to hear CA_Dogbert positive comments on COH2s
DarrenTotalWar, Community Coordinator for Creative posting COH guides and reviews on youtube


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If Sega is sold to MS this is not necessary a bad thing as they seems interested in Relic/CA strategy game development. Close Combat (former MS IP), MechCommander (MS owned IP) and Bungie with Myth were the 90s forerunners for Real-time tactics that later evolved into the Total War series, Ground Control, Men of War, Wargame and World in Conflict. Several Relic games are also inspired by the RTT genre as RTT/RTS hybrids.

Mate I hope you get some sort of compensation for all this homework you've done

^+1

I remember that 'vision' of AoE4 being an WOII based RTS hehe .
Would be awesome.

Anyway, still yeaaaars to come.

You're good... very good.

A very interesting read SturmtigerCobra. Thanks for putting this together.

To follow up on the SEGA visit to my channel, that representative asked me if I had any recommendations to improve the game he would 'forward' them on to the right people. However I don't know if that said representative actually did do that and I haven't heard from him/her since.

Imagine coh3/dow3 with microsofts big-ass-moneycannon in the back

Aren't SEGA and Microsoft both publishers? So a publisher buying a publisher? Sounds interesting at the very least, never heard of such a thing before, nice find there. And I'm not saying it's not possible or anything, I'm just surprised, that's all.

Imagine coh3/dow3 with microsofts big-ass-moneycannon in the back

Imagine "Games for Windows Life", Windows10 only Compability and Relic sharing its fate with Ensemble Studios (devs of Age of Empires, closed in 2008) and RareWare (devs of Goldeneye64, Conker or Perfect Dark, now doing Kinect crap)


you guys clearly don't think this through thoroughly...

Aren't SEGA and Microsoft both publishers? So a publisher buying a publisher? Sounds interesting at the very least, never heard of such a thing before, nice find there. And I'm not saying it's not possible or anything, I'm just surprised, that's all.

These things happen.

If one publisher has a game in its portfolio, which another publisher would want and that another publisher can afford it, they could buy it out and merge.

Doesn't really happen with "world level" publishers though as they are wealthy enough on their own.

Microsoft better suits the #PCMASTERRACE anyways...

Interesting read.

Microsoft better suits the #PCMASTERRACE anyways...

You mean the same bastards that made Halo (and more importantly Halo wars, a game I really wanted to play on the PC) Xbox exclusive just so they can force people to buy their console? Yeah sure Combat Evolved and 2 were on the PC but still, I want to play Wars as well, this is just a dick move in my book.

Also those same people that greenlit the remastered editions of their classic games (AoE II, AoM and Rise of Nations), yeah, those turned out to be horrible, I own AoM and you should just have a look at it's Steam forums, nothing to pride themselves in what the old game left in it's legacy.

Hello, i just noticed that Relic Content seems to be active on steam, they have commented on some skins / mods and stuff. So they seem to be some what active on their game

https://www.vg247.com/2016/02/15/quantum-break-windows-store-exclusive-not-coming-to-steam/

Now that PC players are done celebrating the announcement of Quantum Break coming to PC, Microsoft has confirmed what many feared, that the game will not be coming to Steam.

The company’s Aaron Greenberg said on the Major Nelson podcast that Quantum Break will be a Windows Store exclusive.

Company of Heroes, Dawn of War and Total War - Windows Store exclusives? No, tnx.

Nice article Cobra.


About RELIC FUTURE: Relic are using UNITY engine for DoW3.


https://unity3d.com

The question the thread starter is asking, is the most obnoxious thing ever I cannot help but call him an asshole.

Why not ask simply if Sega should sell Relic to Microsoft instead?

The question the thread starter is asking, is the most obnoxious thing ever I cannot help but call him an asshole.

Why not ask simply if Sega should sell Relic to Microsoft instead?

you are a worthy addition to the community, ironically i am saying that tho