SEGA has gone on record to clarify the meaning behind the delisting of low-scoring Sonic the Hedgehog titles. The US vice president of sales and marketing, Alan Pritchard, explained that previous comments were taken out of context.
We thought the comments were fine actually, but clearly there was some desire to detail exactly what the publisher is doing. "We want consumers and retailers to defocus from the back catalogue, the older titles, and focus more on the new-release titles," Pritchard said.
"We've probably been guilty of bringing too many Sonic games to market too quickly. Certainly if you look at Nintendo as a comparison, they have been a little bit more strategic with the way they bring their Mario titles to market."
The executive said that the de-listing strategy is a way of allowing its internal studios to focus on creating quality product. "If you look at all of the Sonic releases over the last four or five years, there's a real mixed bag out there. There are some 70s; there are some 60s; there are some 50s. We are upping the bar in terms of internal focus, investment, resource; and we plan to target 80 per cent plus."
But what SEGA isn't doing, according to Pritchard, is sweeping mistakes under the rug. "A Sonic game can sell if it's a 60-percent Metacritic game, that's not an issue. But is that really what the consumer wants? Is that what we should be doing as a publisher and a developer? We should be bringing much higher quality products to market to deliver a better experience for the consumer."
Source: Joystiq
We thought the comments were fine actually, but clearly there was some desire to detail exactly what the publisher is doing. "We want consumers and retailers to defocus from the back catalogue, the older titles, and focus more on the new-release titles," Pritchard said.
"We've probably been guilty of bringing too many Sonic games to market too quickly. Certainly if you look at Nintendo as a comparison, they have been a little bit more strategic with the way they bring their Mario titles to market."
The executive said that the de-listing strategy is a way of allowing its internal studios to focus on creating quality product. "If you look at all of the Sonic releases over the last four or five years, there's a real mixed bag out there. There are some 70s; there are some 60s; there are some 50s. We are upping the bar in terms of internal focus, investment, resource; and we plan to target 80 per cent plus."
But what SEGA isn't doing, according to Pritchard, is sweeping mistakes under the rug. "A Sonic game can sell if it's a 60-percent Metacritic game, that's not an issue. But is that really what the consumer wants? Is that what we should be doing as a publisher and a developer? We should be bringing much higher quality products to market to deliver a better experience for the consumer."
Source: Joystiq
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SEGA
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Comments
realvictory 14 Oct 2010 12:28
1/1
It's all about statistics or money. What is the best Sonic game? "The one with the highest review score", "The one that sold most", "The one that makes the most people buy the sequel". No, it's not. Terms like those show you have no passion, and lack understanding of what your game was intended on being and what really makes your game good.
People have to enjoy it - it may sound complex, but is it really impossible to do? The key is, if you are passionate about the game enough, it will be a good game. "What if it gets low scores?" Who cares? You are pleased with what you made - and that seems to be the goal anyway.
If you ask everyone what they want, and try to implement all of those things, the game will be derivative and dull. In my opinion, you have to make people want your game; whereas making a game that people think they want is doing the opposite.
People have to enjoy it - it may sound complex, but is it really impossible to do? The key is, if you are passionate about the game enough, it will be a good game. "What if it gets low scores?" Who cares? You are pleased with what you made - and that seems to be the goal anyway.
If you ask everyone what they want, and try to implement all of those things, the game will be derivative and dull. In my opinion, you have to make people want your game; whereas making a game that people think they want is doing the opposite.