Editorial: SEGA Europe Closing Rumours

I’m literally on the verge of going out today but I have to quickly address the rumours flying about from multiple sources discussing SEGA Europe’s future. Apologies for the quickness of this article.

All I can say on the matter is restructuring is taking place yes, we’re at the end of a cycle of business and in an uncertain financial market. Job losses are hard, harsh but make sense in that regard. Could I see the downsizing taking out a smaller territory within SOE like Benalux maybe? Possibly. Those territories offices are so small. But SOE itself? You’re joking right.

A reason being bandied about is that SEGA have stated they aren’t attending Gamescom in 2012. This is because it doesn’t fit their release times…. annnnd it doesn’t. On that logic Bungie and Blizzard are doomed imminently as they aren’t even at E3. Blizzard even more so as they cancelled Blizzcon(!)

You’ve got Creative Assembly (Total War) and Sports Interactive (Football Manager) going from strength to strength. Whenever a new TW or FM comes out it OWNS the chart. Yes FF got hurt this year with piracy on Android, but lesson learnt on that.

You’ve got those going strong, SEGA have invested its Australian Studio not that long ago. Oh wait, Australia? That’s part of SEGA Europe! Europe deals with distribution in so many territories including the expanding market regions where gaming is growing. Russia and the Baltics for instance. SEGA is still investing in things, its not shrinking uncontrollably – another example is Three Rings’ purchase not that long ago.

Basically, gut feeling: its a focus change but the same overall impetus will remain as the industry plateau re-balances. SEGA is NOT going to stop making console games. Don’t even waste your time THINKING that. Will it reduce the number/frequency? Quite possibly. We’ve three new console platforms coming up in an unsure world with the two newest platforms (3DS and Vita) still rather shaky. They’d be fools not to!

Oh and one more thing SEGA Europe historically does best. Always has done.
You don’t shoot the Golden Goose, people.