Sega posts huges losses, joins the layoffs bandwagon.

[G-Boobie]

Recession proof, huh?

Yet another publisher and developer loses a huge pile of money for 2008, this time Sega.

Here's the link to the story on 1UP.

Apparently, they're looking to sell a huge number of their arcades in Japan, and are cutting R&D spending by twenty percent. They're asking employees to take voluntary layoffs as we speak. Involuntary layoffs to follow.

How long, O Lord, how long?

[MrSparkle]

punishment from god for misuse of the sonic the hedgehog license.

[kjmontana]

punishment from god for misuse of the sonic the hedgehog license.

And for not supporting the Dreamcast in America after the PS2 took the lead! Wussies!

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

So much for my hopes of a 32x Plus.

Seriously though, the Sega story is depressing.

[eskobar]

Not surprising...

Let's not forget that SEGA has been involved in financial problems since the launch of the 32X or the financial losses for 97 and 98 where SEGA reported losses for more than $ 500 million usd by SOA and SOE ... although those losses were supported by $250 million usd profit by SOJ

A few years ago SEGA was making money selling shitty games, it was just a matter of time to lost their well earned reputation; it's time to focus and i know SEGA will rise again ...

so sad, but i saw it coming :S

[MrSparkle]

sega needs to get some balls back into its company and release a new genesis add on because my 32x and sega cd attachments are getting lonely.

[MegaDrive20XX]

punishment from god for misuse of the sonic the hedgehog license.

Amen to that!

[jupitersj]

They should start the involuntary layoffs with Sonic Team.

[bangtango]

With this news, it is safe to say "the next great Sonic game" some of you have been waiting for ain't comin' out in the two or three installments ahead or ever for that matter. Time for the fanboys to consider ending their hunger strike.

[Slate]

Doesn't look good for Sega. I guess NiGHTS was too late but what about the Condemned games? Were they just the publisher for those?

[SegaAges]

With this news, it is safe to say "the next great Sonic game" some of you have been waiting for ain't comin' out in the two or three installments ahead or ever for that matter. Time for the fanboys to consider ending their hunger strike.

No way we will do that.

And that talk about Sonic sucking is utter blasphemy.

I had a feeling that this thread would turn into a "I hate Sega, and now I can talk trash even harder" type of thread.

This is a sad day for Sega. I find out about this today, and I am seriously going to buy a 4 foot tall sonic today, weak sauce.

I still love my little blue friend, and all you sonic haters can shut your lips.

[MrSparkle]

whoa whoa this isnt people hating sonic its people hating that recent sonic games (read everything after sonic adventure 2) was kind of lame. this is a franchise that hasnt had a strong presence in the 3d market. the reason we are unhappy about sonics recent performance is because we loved him so much for his awesome games back in the genesis days.

i personally have a genesis, a 32x, a sega cd, a saturn, a dreamcast, a game gear, and a nomad so im a pretty huge sega fan. Im just sad to see what they have been reduced to, namely a mediocre software house.

[Gameguy]

Sonic used to be the best character ever. After the Genesis years the quality of the games started to decline overall. I used to watch the Sonic cartoons back when they came out, I now have the DVD sets of them(except for Sonic Underground, I didn't like that one so much).

First Sonic was made with an attitude, but then it wasn't enough so they made Knuckles as the tough guy(Knuckles is still cool). Then that wasn't enough so they made Shadow and gave him a gun. It's really too much now.

[bangtango]

No way we will do that.

And that talk about Sonic sucking is utter blasphemy.

I had a feeling that this thread would turn into a "I hate Sega, and now I can talk trash even harder" type of thread.

This is a sad day for Sega. I find out about this today, and I am seriously going to buy a 4 foot tall sonic today, weak sauce.

I still love my little blue friend, and all you sonic haters can shut your lips.

Hey I like Sega and I like Sonic.

Just saying Sega was having a hard enough time getting a really good Sonic game in stores before these layoffs.

[SegaAges]

The thing is, I only get up in arms when people claim that the only good sonic games happened during the genesis. What about Sonic CD? Sonic CD is absolutely awesome.

No, I won't say that every single Sonic game is golden, but they are not as bad as everybody makes them out to be.

Yes, many games Sega puts out are dissappointing, but I will never blame Sonic Team for that.

A perfect example is NiGHTS on the Wii. I see the direction they were going for. I see it. They just did not execute it fully.

Some games had great potential, but some small things messed them up. Sonic Riders is a good example. That game could have been complete gold, but unfortunately, the difficulty is just insane.

I could sit here and justify many hated games (Sonic 06 is a good example of me justifying it), but there is no point.

It is incredibly sad that Sega has to do this, but I see many of the faults being in the lack of first party titles.

Sonic unleashed, I don't care what people say, that game is awesome. Sonic 06, man, whether you like it or not, it made Platinum hits for 360, so that has to say something.

Yes, they have made some mistakes, but I don't care (Iron Man, I am looking at you).

I do not think that Sega deserves all of the flack that they get (no pun intended towards you flack).

[Gameguy]

The thing is, I only get up in arms when people claim that the only good sonic games happened during the genesis. What about Sonic CD? Sonic CD is absolutely awesome.

I love Sonic CD, and that came out during the time of the Genesis.

[G-Boobie]

Doesn't look good for Sega. I guess NiGHTS was too late but what about the Condemned games? Were they just the publisher for those?

Yup. They were developed by Monolith.

And despite Condemned 2 being fantastic, it sold like garbage, which is unfortunate.

Maybe Madworld, Bayonetta, and F.E.A.R. 2 will pull them out of the shitter this year.

[The 1 2 P]

Sega now joins EA, Sony, Koei-Tecmo, Microsoft, Midway and the majority of US businesses these days. We are all screwed. It's the end of the world as we know it. But atleast we'll get the annual madden game with slight graphical upgrade and updated rosters.

[bangtango]

The thing is, I only get up in arms when people claim that the only good sonic games happened during the genesis. What about Sonic CD? Sonic CD is absolutely awesome.

No, I won't say that every single Sonic game is golden, but they are not as bad as everybody makes them out to be.

Yes, many games Sega puts out are dissappointing, but I will never blame Sonic Team for that.

A perfect example is NiGHTS on the Wii. I see the direction they were going for. I see it. They just did not execute it fully.

Some games had great potential, but some small things messed them up. Sonic Riders is a good example. That game could have been complete gold, but unfortunately, the difficulty is just insane.

I could sit here and justify many hated games (Sonic 06 is a good example of me justifying it), but there is no point.

It is incredibly sad that Sega has to do this, but I see many of the faults being in the lack of first party titles.

Sonic unleashed, I don't care what people say, that game is awesome. Sonic 06, man, whether you like it or not, it made Platinum hits for 360, so that has to say something.

Yes, they have made some mistakes, but I don't care (Iron Man, I am looking at you).

I do not think that Sega deserves all of the flack that they get (no pun intended towards you flack).

Do allow me to get this off my chest.

From when I was a kid, I was a bigger fan of Sega than Nintendo until the Dreamcast petered out. What has happened with Sega the past 7-8 years has felt like a huge punch to the gut.

I liked Sonic Adventure 1, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic CD and Sonic Heroes.

I reviewed Sonic Adventure (DC) for this web site and made the claim that it was better than Mario 64. I still believe that today and will openly state this.

You can see that review right here.

http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/sonicadventure.htm

So I want to see Sega prosper just as much as the next person but seeing them lay off anybody is just disturbing, if you worry about the quality of their future releases.

[swlovinist]

I do think that sonic does become a punching bag sometimes. I personally agree that the sonic games are not as bad as some say they are, but I think it comes down to this....people prefer the older sonic titles, and want a full blown 2D sonic to be made. I agree that Sonic Adventure was awsome, but I dont think they have hit that "magic" with a sonic 3D title since. I really liked the DS titles(not the RPG but I hear that one was good), and also liked the GBA titles as well. I guess I will just have to settle for the sonic games that we do have, At least they fairly cheap now to buy.