Sega Oguchi-san Interview a Strange Thing Indeed

High-level Sega interviews have traditionally gone wrong for some reason or other. SPOnG has no idea why (aside from the simple facts that the interviewers generally have little idea what they are discussing, the interviewee has been poorly briefed and the translation is managed by someone unfamiliar with both Sega and games in general) and the latest interview with recently-ousted Hisao Oguchi is another such disaster.

Speaking with DigiTimes, Oguchi-san makes some strange comments which, frustratingly enough, are impossible to make sense of, given the report is likely to have gotten lost in translation.

Of most interest is the discussion regarding a possible buy-out of Sega by Microsoft. High-ranking executives at both firms have, at least privately, spoken of such talks, which began around three years ago. According to some reputable sources, Sega was so affronted by certain proposals from Microsoft, discussions ended in a rather acrimonious way, with Sega walking from the negotiation table.

“Many people have spoken about the close relationship between Sega and Microsoft, but the two companies have never discussed an acquisition or merger,” asserts Oguchi-san. “However, there are many companies interested in Sega, and we also would be interested in other companies that have growth potential.” Interesting stuff. “Just recently we acquired the Japan-based Sammy Corporation, and we also have an interest in acquiring Taiwan software companies. During this trip to Taipei, we found that Xpec Entertainment and Interserv International both have good products and a talented staff.” Hold the phone! Sega acquires Sammy? That’s an interesting interpretation of Sammy’s complete acquisition of Sega…

Other segments of interest include Oguchi-san’s alarming stance on large-scale game development. In comments that will devastate fans, it looks as though the glory days of blind faith in ludicrous projects are gone, replaced with a cautious retrospectively-focused IP strategy that might have been plucked from the operating manual of any games firm. “Sega’s strategy is very clear, and we will not commit blindly to huge investment projects. Instead, we invest and develop new products gradually, based on our expertise and assessment of market trends. For instance, the Dragon Crest series online game has been developed steadily and is now in its eighth version. By developing our products in such a way, we have been able to build up an online userbase, while also supplying a reasonable income for operators. Halo was developed under the same model, and many enthusiasts are looking forward to Halo 3.”

And in what has to be seen as something of a catastrophic PR blunder, Oguchi-san goes on to answer the “Some have criticized Sega’s sports games as being too similar to those from Electronic Arts. Will this situation continue?” question thusly:

“We also noticed this problem and so decided to reorganise our research team in November of this year. We will focus our development on games that are different from EA games in style and features.”

It’s all going wrong!

Head over to DigiTimes for the full interview, ponder who translated Dragon Crest, and read the rather impressive latest Sega financial sheet. We did and can report that it was really rather nice.

Expect everything Sega, right here, as it breaks.