The "bigger is better" corporate mentality has struck the video game industry recently. Activision is in the process of merging with the games division of Vivendi Universal, and just last month, and Electronic Arts made a less-than-stellar offer to purchase Take 2 Interactive. Simon Jeffrey, CEO of Sega of America, reassures us "That's not an area we want to play in right now. We have no interest in being acquired, we are very happy with our position right now."
Currently Sega is the sixth largest games publisher in the US. "There is plenty of room for smaller companies to be successful and profitable in this business. You don't have to be number one or number two. You can be number six very happily," Jeffrey said. Sega recently scored a hit on Nintendo's Wii and DS systems with
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games selling over 5 million copies in the first three months. Not many non-Nintendo published games have seen much success on the Wii. Compared to other "hardcore" games like
Halo 3 that gain a large burst early on, but soon fade in sales, Mario & Sonic have enjoyed a longer steadier sales period as perpetual word of mouth keeps consumers coming back for more.
Sega is offering a good mix of franchises this year including licenced games for "Iron Man" and "Hulk" movies, a Sonic RPG for the DS, and a remake of Sega classic "Golden Axe". "We really think this year we've hit our stride getting that portfolio mix just right," Jeffrey said.
Source: [
Reuters]
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But Sega sucks these days. Who would want to buy them?
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Sega already made an unpopular merging decision years ago, and it looks like they have suffered ever since as Tondog pointed out.
Plus unless something has changed dramatically I'm pretty sure Sega of America has very little say over their future, the final word has always come from Japan for better or worse.
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Sega definitely isn't what it used to be, but I've still managed to find a dozen or more games since the Dreamcast worth a purchase, a few of them really great standout games.
I find them similar to say THQ or Vivendi. Quite a few games come out every year putting them on the top 10 publisher list, but only 1 or 2 pique my interest. This year it happens to be Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood by BioWare, then we'll see what comes out in 2009. 
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The handheld Sonic Games have always been awesome. Also, Sonic Chronicles, while not developed by Sega, should be amazing.
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Sega is a sad shell of what it once was. Why would anyone want to buy them?
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