SEGA Sammy Posts Profit

So, towing the industry's bullshit line now as well, are we, Spong?

Thsi was the once the only news site that actually reported the Sa**my takeover for what it is and was - a hostile takeover done behind closed doors after SEGA Enterprises rejected their numerous overtures, with a not-so-insignifiant dash of personal vendetta and plain bloodthiristiness on the part of Satan-ome. Thsi was the only news site that actually reported as if it gave a damn that SEGA was literally raped behind closed doors by CSK and Sa**y with NOTHING to say about it. While every single site and mag on the planet showed its true bias towards Nintendo, house of Miyamoto's boresome-to-tears kid-friendly repitition, when RARE left and acted as thoughit were the end of the world, they all ingored when SEGA was literally raped, castrated and dissolved to be part of a 'holding company' with nothign to say about it. Nobody else blinked an eye when SEGA's corporate board was with such hostility dumped and replaced by Sa**y Yakuza-tied thugs, nor when the mastermind that is Mizuguchi-san left among others.

All the ignorant f**katrded webistes and 'gamers' out there instead cooed - with zero basis - about how this was helping SEGA. How it was a good thing. How SEGA would be 'saved'. Zero consideration for the very creators who made the very company we loved so much and who so resented the new hostile environment. Zero consideration for the fact that Satan-ome himself stated, this was a hostile takeover with view only of - like a f**king leech - using the SEGA name to shift Sa**my s**t taht otherwise would not shift - and of course, to rape SEGA's considerable arcade floorspace landscape worldwide with pachinko .
'Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that it looked as if the legendary hard and software house might disappear altogether. '

What moronic, utterly sick-in-mind deviant wrote this inaccurate bullshit? Do you, Spong, forget so easily how just prior to SEGA being raped by CSK, how you yourself reported that SEGA had that very fiscal year of 2003 turned a massive ***PROFIT**? Home sales were at a loss as they still are under Satan-ome but were regardless gradually increasing - and SEGA Toys and SEGA's aracde sector mroe than made up for the shortfall and TURNED SEGA ITS FIRST ANNUAL PROFIT IN YEARS AND YEARS. This was prior to Satan-ome using the dirty trick of seducing CSK behind closed doors, of which he later boasted - ' They rejected us at first, but we knew one way or the other we would get them ' and buying out the majority stock option. This was prior to that f**king green logo having any place in SEGA's existence - and this was during SEGA's very REJECTION of Sa**my *NUMEROUS* times.

So Tell me, Spong, how the f**k is it you dare say that without Sa**y, SEGA was actually clsoe to disappearing off the face of the earth? It is my gebuine and true belief that whoever wrote that needs to literally be gagged and shot in the head. After all, f**kwitted journos like this who write up completel bullshit are the ones who go on to support bigger and bloodier lies for genocidal regimes like that of Bush and Balir.

SEGA knew Sa**y was nothing more than a leech looking to rape its resources, dissolve its studios and use its name as a badge to shift s**t. Never was SEGA - corporate board and game house heads and designers alike - so openly hostile of any merger offer. There was more than good reaosn for this. Yet you, Spong, along with the thousand sof other moronic and ignorant 'gamers; out there, actually believe yourself to be above them in understanding what is better for SEGA? Who the f**k do you people think you are?

The lone articale on the internet that actually stated the takeover for what it was - utterly hostile and in S**my's, not SEGA's interets of survival, was Idle Thumbs - http://www.idlethumbs.net/display.php?id=26. ALong with the honest news at Spong. But you morons have gone and f**ked that over now as well, haven't you?

'SEGA' now finding itself in a secure position? Do you catre at all to post the fact that SEGA no longer exists - and is only a badge and name/trademark used by a holding company fully owned by Satan-ome?


WHy I am so feverish to the point that I am so utterly furious about the opne lies and way in which Sa**y is being portrayed as SEGA's saviour when SEGA never needed one and was already well on its way to recovery? Because the kind of ignorant yet self-righteous people who ignore blatant fact - along with hostile open statements from Satan-ome himself, and make out a hostile takeover and rape of a legendary game house to be everything it is not - are the very same people who lie and deceice and are deceived on a garnder scale - those who will turn a blind eye to the open hostile comments of wiping out entire populations in Fallujah by their leaders - those who will actually act as if, despite its entire basis being a dirty lie, the invasion and very literal rape of Iraq's women, children and men was and is , regardless, a 'Good Thing' TM.

Ignorance is the most vile thing inthe entire world. Spong, you have disgusted me as I thought I never would be.

You're wrong Naouruki. Spong aren't saying they approve of the hostile takeover that might've killed off it's creative talent in the console videogames devision. No one that knows approves of it.

That said, your statement is wrong, SEGA were running a loss for many many years, they still had a debt after the late Isao Okawa (former president of SEGA, RIP) donated $1.281 billion of his own assets to SEGA the year before he died in 2001.

If no one had reinforced SEGA's cashflow in the next 5 years they very likely would have gone under, even with small profits, simply because they have to pay rent over debts. I mean, jeez man chill, at least now you know they'll be around for a long long time.

As one of SEGA's most ardent fans, it's my duty to give you this message:

Shut the hell up.

Yes, SEGA developers left in a huff. Yes, it was a hostile takeover, and yes it was all doomed and blah blah blah. But those SEGA devs had issues with the company BEFORE the takeover. Sammy has pretty much added zero complications to SEGA, aside from riding the waves of their brand name to shift their own titles and pachinko, as you say.

Tell me exactly, how is SEGA being 'run' by Sammy any bloody different from SEGA being 'run' by CSK? Apart from the drama that has surrounded the takeover I mean - welcome to the Internet, where everyone's a f**king critic and think they can make better business decisions than the companies themselves.

Sammy's involvement - aside from the aforementioned releasing pachinkos under SEGA's name - amounts to funding SEGA projects. That's it. OMFG, destruction!!11!one! And without the cash, you have no games do you?

Now don't take this the wrong way - I was also of the opinion that Sammy's takeover would provide serious problems for SEGA. But unless you can prove somehow that Sammy had a direct influence on the development of Sonic Heroes, Spikeout and other recent 'tame' SEGA releases, Sammy have done nothing really but financial stability. And the odd cheeky pachinko release. You're less of a fan and more of a fecking idiot.

Naouruki, you need to chill. We know Sammy took over Sega but none of us agree with it, but Sega were in trouble. While I would have liked to see someone else take Sega over it wasn't to be.

True a lot of SS games have been lacking but I pray they'll bounce back to good form in time. Games like Feel The Magic it's upcoming sequel and Sonic DS seem to be looking good. As for their hom consoles effort what this space, but I hear more Outrun will be on the way besides more of their back catalogue.

The f**king idiot is none other than you, Svend.

The diference in CSK being a parent company and in Sa**y owning SEGA? Every possible one imaginable. One a mere parent company, the other a hostile leech that took over the company despite SEGA rejecting it so many times, going on to then dissolve SEGA forever and make it a mere brand name of their holding company - on whose board there are zero SEGA execs. Not to mention dissolving every single studio and treating studio heads and execs like dirt.

Mizuguchi-sdan et al left upon Sa**y's takeover - had they had issue with the studio mergers before within SEGA why not have left then? Don't try to play that bullshit, and for that matter, learn to spell f**king f**king correctly.

Sa**y's involvement and meddling with SEGA has already become apparent and will be moreso once the next gen hits. Already it is pushing SEGA towards becoming the next Take Two and towards Western bland and the brainless genre of games. Only proven money milking franchises have been given any real attention, budget and for that matetr release. Franchises whored otu to be what they are not - Shenmue Onlie - it all amounts to rape . Even the most f**king moronic of morons will be forced to admit that SEGA is now constricted in not being able to do what it as a company wants - everything must go through the exec board, headed solely - 100% - by the Sa**y Yakuza clan.

Ardent SEGA fans you lot? Full of bullshit more like it. 90% of the f**kers who make the claim have zero knowledge of the company or its history - let alone that, these are the very same people who dictehd the DC in droves along with its network in droves and don't even realise that Sonic Team has kept the servers for PSO alive even until now for its loyal fans - which clearly hacks like you lot are not. F**k off, and suck off - Satan-ome, that is.

Strongly diagreed Joji. it is well and clear that SEGA did not NEED to be taken over. They were courting offers for mergers - there is a HUGE, colossal, difference.

You make it look as though SEGA was shopping itself about. False, utterly. SEGA was not in 'trouble' the way of Acclaim, Atari et al before and after it - it may have had to cut down on some of its traditional ways but these were paying off and it was turnign a profit that would no doubt increase as time passed.

While I think Naouruki may have overdone it somewhat, he does have valid points. And as everyone knows, There were MANY developers interested in a partnership with Sega. hell, Sega even turned-down a handful of developers, so how bad do you think it really could've been if they could afford to casually dismiss massive gaming conglomerates? If things started going downhill again, Sega would've had plenty of options. Who would really turn down access to decades of hit franchises, legendary icons, and endless possibilities for sequels and remakes (most of which would be guaranteed sellers)? Moreover, the point is that SEGA would've been the one to choose.

Another point Naouruki mentioned was how the media destroyed Sega. And they DID. It didn't matter what game site or game mag you looked at...the underlying theme was always "just wait for PS2". This singlehandedly destroyed the DC. Sega had a massive, stylish marketing campaign that should've worked wonders had it not been for every game mag sticking in 18 f**king pages about the latest reasons why PS2 was better than DC. Fast forward to just prior to Sammy taking Sega hostage. New editorials were springing-up every 15 minutes about how the end is near for Sega. Do you know what a SINGLE negative outlook from an industry leader does to a company's STOCK VALUE? The plummeting stock of course lead to even more negative reports and it bacame a vicious cycle, a trap if you will.

Just prior and shortly after the takeover, there were Sammy reps shooting cocky quotes to media sources left and right about their little accomplishment. This also lead to the resignation of many irreplaceable veteran Sega staff members, out of pure disgust, no less. Sammy almost immediately made it clear that Shenmue III, hardcore fans' most anticipated game, was out of the question, because it was not likely to turn a profit (although to their credit, it seems as if they're allowing it for a future project now). Sammy DOES have control of Sega, there's no denying it.

Sadly, this is all in the past, and we can do nothing but hope for an increasingly profitable future and cross our fingers that Sammy will allow Sega to operate more independantly as time goes on...

Namco merger would have been ideal.Now with Sammy they,re at least secure from a financial standpoint and from fellas such as EA.See what's happening to Ubisoft,that'd be much worse i think.

Yes,forced mergers suck,cause control loss and execs departures are always associated with it but i doubt Sega's best development studios,well known franchises,and creativity will vanish because of this sad shift.3 yrs ago and now they said to aim to grow a major publisher and Sammy definitely wants that too.

Nobody, not even the article, is saying that Sammy's takeover was a good thing. It's happened though, and the only question now is, do you want to watch the company that SEGA now is dwindle and die or succeed?

Lots of people left, but as long as the likes of Nagoshi, Naka and Suzuki are still there, do you want to see it sink without a trace?

You know, you should pull that stick out of your butt, I wasn't handing you any malice. But blimey you don't half ramble.


You're a funny little boy.

September - October 2003: SEGA in talks with Namco and Sammy for mergers. Both fall through.

October 1st 2003: SEGA restructures its development studios. With no help from Sammy. No intervention. They do it on their own. They figure they can survive on their own, so to compensate for potential losses, they decide to fold most of their studios and merge them together - for example, UGA with SONICTEAM.

October 7th 2003: Tetsuya Mizuguchi leaves SEGA. The UGA/SONICTEAM merge is confirmed as the sole reason for his leaving.

May 18th 2004: Sammy finally ready to take over SEGA. Once they do some time later, they do a further restructuring of the development studios.

Here's a timeline for you to easily understand. Before you go preaching 'research' to a journalist and SEGA fan, I advise you not to trust everything that is written on WIKIPEDIA.

Pleb.


A. "Fecking" is a real word. Learn English (or Irish slang, if you will. Not that I'm Irish).

B. Again, if you're going to comment on my spelling (incorrectly), you should know how to spell yourself. You even mispelled "Shenmue Online", you turd.


Rape is a bit strong - I agree with you that the last thing I wanted was a "Matrix - I mean, Shenmue - Online", as Shenmue (and II) is one of my favourite games. But we don't even know if it will play any good. Not that I have high hopes or anything - as far as I'm aware, AM2 aren't even involved all that much in this one - and although I would rather they just left it at Shenmue II (seeings as they currently cannot afford a third instalment), there are some SEGA fans that would enjoy seeing Shenmue again. Of course, they'd have to be a little bit "weird" in the head, but hey.


If you're a company that is 100% funding the projects of another, of course you're going to know what it's going to be spent on. And whether it will get any return. Although to make myself sound less like a Sammy fan (ugh! A Sammy fan I am most indeed not), I remember an interview with Yuji Naka (I believe) a while ago mentioning that it's not too much hassle getting projects by Sammy. He said that it basically amounts to Sammy just knowing where the money is going - they apparently give the go ahead to all of SEGA's projects (except for Shenmue III it would appear, but with good reason; it'd kill both companies if it didn't sell). It's pissing me off, because I can't find the damn interview anywhere now (I believe it was on my website, but that's offline, which helps...)


Says the person who goes by Wikipedia as a SEGA history bible. =P


Yes, I probably knew better than you about the presence of PSO's servers, since if nothing else I'm a bigger Sonic Team fan than a SEGA one. And my Saturn, Dreamcast, Mega Drive/Mega CD and Game Gear are sitting pretty opposite the room from me, thanks. I do think you're right that some fans can be hypocritical though, in that they complain that SEGA no longer make consoles, yet they didn't buy any of their product when they had the chance. Ticks me off.

1. Where you pulled Wikipedia from can be nowhere else than your arse. What a laughably pathwtic comment, further pathetically tried to pass on as fact by saying ' so says'. Should you decide to accuse of inaccuracy and lack of research , you may not want to commit the absolute most pathetic and disgusting offense of making up pure and utter lies, further attempted to be cemented as fact.

Further to that ; your little 'timeline. Sa**y officially completed the takeover in 2004 - but set this in motion with its majority stock option with view of the buyout IN LATE 2003. It was AFTER THIS - and should you doubt this, fu**wit, refer to Spong's own archives and those of any other news source at the time - that Mizuguchi-san et al left and that an insider at SEGA reported to Reuters that it wa slikely most of the staff were nto comfortable in the new evironment.

Further to point out your utter lack of disregard for fact and contentness with making up utter BS whilst accusing of the very same - SEGA's merging of various studios well predated Mizuguchi-san's departure as well as that of other staff. he - and they - did not leave upon SEGA's restructuring in 2003. They left upon Sa**y's acquisition of the majority stock option later in the year. This, of course, you are unaware of and will chosoe to ignore, because you are, after all, an utter hack and a disgrace to someone who claims they have actually followed what has been happening to SEGA since then.


2. " If you're a company that is 100% funding the projects of another, of course you're going to know what it's going to be spent on. "

Again, this highlights your utter and complete lack of any real knowledge and awareness of SEGA's situation. Sa**y is not funding any projects of 'another company'. That 'other company ' - and be careful to get this through your bloody cranium this time - for every single intent and purpose - no longer exists. You try to spout BS as if Mizuguchi-san and the others left when SEGA restructured internally itself, but fail to mention or realise that it was Satan-ome who completely dissolved the studios save Sonikku Team - and far more importantly **DISSOLVED SEGA CORPORATION** itself and made it mere brand name of the newly formed holding company in which the only figment of SEGA that remained was its name and its assets.


You may indeed have your SEGE consoles and Naka-san's games sitting pretty and enjoyed as they should be, but you, Svend, are a rambling, uninformed, BS-spouting moronic fool.

Should my words be too strong for any fools like yourself, B-Lo puts it across just as well in a method that far more pities the fool like you.

1. Where you pulled Wikipedia from can be nowhere else than your arse. What a laughably pathetic comment, further pathetically tried to pass on as fact by saying ' so says'. Should you decide to accuse of inaccuracy and lack of research , you may not want to commit the absolute most pathetic and disgusting offense of making up pure and utter lies, further attempted to be cemented as fact.

Further to that ; your little 'timeline. Sa**y officially completed the takeover in 2004 - but set this in motion with its majority stock option with view of the buyout IN LATE 2003. It was AFTER THIS - and should you doubt this, fu**wit, refer to Spong's own archives and those of any other news source at the time - that Mizuguchi-san et al left and that an insider at SEGA reported to Reuters that it was likely most of the staff were not happy in the new evironment.

Further to point out your utter lack of disregard for fact and contentment with making up utter BS whilst accusing of the very same - SEGA's merging of various studios well predated Mizuguchi-san's departure as well as that of other staff. He - and they - did not leave upon SEGA's restructuring in 2003. They left upon Sa**y's acquisition of the majority stock option later in the year. This, of course, you are unaware of and will chosoe to ignore, because you are, after all, an utter hack and a disgrace to someone who claims they have actually followed what has been happening to SEGA since then.


2. " If you're a company that is 100% funding the projects of another, of course you're going to know what it's going to be spent on. "

Again, this highlights your utter and complete lack of any real knowledge and awareness of SEGA's situation. Sa**y is not funding any projects of 'another company'. That 'other company ' - and be careful to get this through your bloody cranium this time - for every single intent and purpose - no longer exists. You try to spout BS as if Mizuguchi-san and the others left when SEGA restructured internally itself, but fail to mention or realise that it was Satan-ome who completely dissolved the studios save Sonikku Team - and far more importantly **DISSOLVED SEGA CORPORATION** itself and made it mere brand name of the newly formed holding company in which the only figment of SEGA that remained was its name and its assets.


You may indeed have your SEGE consoles and Naka-san's games sitting pretty and enjoyed as they should be, but you, Svend, are a rambling, uninformed, BS-spouting moronic fool.



(Edit: edited post mistakenly posted as new minus grammatical errors courtesy of overnight shift nesring its end sans coffee)

I had to register just to tell you to get over yourself and what a t**t I think you are.

Bottom line is, if there were enough loyal fans and SEGA new how to run a business properly, a takeover, hostile or otherwise wouldn't have been required.

So stop going on like your the only SEGA fan (although if they are all like you, no wonder they got themselves in to trouble) and just be happy Sammy saved their sorry arse.

Hello Rumpy (It's okay to call you Rumpy, isn't it?), and welcome to SPOnG. Thanks for registering. You and all the other participants in the thread have so far confirmed that Naouruki is in fact a cretinous t**t.

Hello config,

Yes you can call me Rumpy. I was meaning to sign up for a while and I won't just be flaming people on the forums for the sake of it. (i do that on eurogamer - clicky bunch of gits)

Have a good day as some people say.

Shenmue Online is indeed a franchise name exploited for cash. But on the other hand, since Sega has lost it's full autonomy, it has produced (or contracted people to produce):

- Project Rub: Not only a creative game that looks as distinctive as it plays, but the best showcase for the Nintendo DS on launch. Under EA, Sonic Team's DS launch title would have been a Sonic platformer. Again.

- Gunstar Super Heroes: Sure, this is being developed by Treasure, but the original Gunstar Heroes bears Sega copyright and a sequel couldn't happen without Sega's say-so. Treasure games are rarely commercially successful.

- Virtua Tennis World Tour: Sumo Digital is developing this one, but after OutRun 2's stunning Xbox conversion I trust them. Games in this series are usually awesome, and I expect no less from this.

- Sonic Gems Collection: Commercially sound and the addition of certain harder to get Sonic games will please many. The addition of the Streets of Rage series, Vectorman games and Bonanza Bros seriously increases the value and quality of the package.

- The E3 games: I don't think anything else shows Sega's commitment to maintaining it's heritage more. After Burner, brought back after a long stretch. Virtua Fighter 5, another solid commercial prospect with a high chance of being fantastic. House of the Dead 4, looking better than ever and adding a new dynamic to the gameplay. Yes, they're all sequels, but then they all had sequels prior to Sammy's involvement.

Anyway, do you know what I think really signifies Sammy's intention not to interfere greatly? Sammy's game development operations have almost totally halted. Control of the Atomiswave has been turned over to Sega (though it doesn't appear to have long to live), the US Sammy development team was let go and became High Moon Studios, in fact the only previously Sammy franchise that seems to have survived is Guilty Gear, a series that I'd have no worries about carrying the Sega branding.

I'm as big a Sega fan as they come. From my first console being a Master System through to my continued purchase of the new Dreamcast games that appear in Japan, I've supported the company and continue to do so. I know about the pre-console days of David Rosen and Gulf & Western. But look at those latest figures and you'll see some alarming trends.

During those three months reported, the company's consumer business operations lost nearly twice as much as was gained through arcade business (ownership and machine sales). That's not a sustainable situation. The previous year's figures show that whilst Sega made considerable profit on it's arcade business, it lost about two thirds of that money in consumer business. Sega still wouldn't be financially stable alone.

I don't know, you seem fairly set in your ways. There's little else I can say.

I do apologise, I forgot to mention Sammy chipping away at SEGA in late 2003. But as I said before, this was still after Mizuguchi left.

Like Nik, I have a long history with SEGA games, hardware and the history also. However, I never once stated that developers NEVER left once Sammy started biting into SEGA from December 2003 (Rikiya Nakagawa, formerly of WoW for example in that same month). Of course developers left, and arms were up in the air. But you also call me a liar, when I make my statements based on fact - hell, three different news sources couldn't all be wrong about Mizuguchi's reasons for leaving. Oh sorry they must be, because you said otherwise.

And yes, I DID get my sources from various news websites, but not SPOnG. But seeings as you asked me to do so, why not check SPOnG's news archives and have a little look shall we?

SPOnG: Vibrator Man leaves Sega!
Mizuguchi leaves SEGA. The reason? According to my sources and knowledge? UGA/Sonic Team's studio merger. According to you? Sammy's takeover. According to SPOnG as told by you? Sammy's takeover. According to SPOnG, _really_?


No mention of Sammy. Sorry.

SPOnG: Sega Merger Canned, but Sammy Splashes the Cash
The beginning of "the end". Well, it was "the end" for many fans, but once they all got over it and realised that, as Nik pointed out, there's been some good out of this (shock mo-fo'ing horror), it's now just "your end". This article is the first time Sammy starts chipping in at SEGA, with controlling shares. The date? 8th December 2003.

But hang on a minute, didn't you say Mizuguchi left AFTER Sammy bothered to take controlling shares of SEGA? After calling me a hack and a disgrace, I'm the one who actually ends up correct?

Erm, whoops?