Almost a year ago, SEGA announced a five-year “Super Game” plan, titles that could be expanded globally through online functionality and other media. This would also turn some of their existing IPs into global brands, including those that had been dormant for quite a while. In a new interview, SEGA has now explained the super game plan will include several AAA games that are already in development, but there are no plans to include NFTs just yet.
What is SEGA’s Super Game Plan?
SEGA’s Super Games will have four distinct features. They will be AAA games, they will be multiplatform, they will have support for several languages, and they will receive a simultaneous worldwide release. In an interview for SEGA’s recruitment site, SEGA’s executive vice-president Shuji Utsumi explained how these factors create the scale of development needed for global blockbusters. According to SEGA’s general manager Katsuya Hisai, the team already has multiple super game projects in development, most of which will be built on Unreal Engine 5. There are 50 people included in the initial stages and this will increase to “hundreds of people” once development gets fully underway.
As well as creating super games, the aim is to “revive the value of SEGA’s numerous IPs and create new game content” said Utsumi. Some of their brands are already becoming more familiar with gamers, such as Sonic, Phantasy Star, Persona, Total War, and Yakuza. House of the Dead and Soul Hackers are also getting revivals. According to SEGA’s producer Masayoshi Kikuchi, one of SEGA’s main beliefs is that “Japaneseness” is one of their strengths. He explained further:
We believe that the key to challenging the global market is “Japaneseness.” A Japanese-style game created by people who live in Japan or who love Japanese content. I think that this does not mean that it is developed only by Japanese people, but rather that it requires diverse values cultivated through overseas experience. In fact, many foreign development members are active in the company, and we will continue to actively promote diversity in the future. I would like to create a game for the global market with people who like Japanese content.
Another factor SEGA will be including in their five-year plan is the influence of streaming. Utsumi recognises there is “great potential in the relationship between the people who play the game and the people who watch it” to the point where he’s considering “creating new entertainment“. This could allow viewers to intervene with a player’s game and Hisai said they are “experimenting with new experience possibilities to broaden the range of players“. Kikuchi also briefly mentioned NFTs and cloud gaming, but these don’t seem to be factors SEGA is thinking about for the immediate future.
In other news, Sony has invested another $1 billion in Epic Games “to build the metaverse and supports its continued growth”. Elsewhere, psychological horror game Madison will feature “disturbing gameplay, and an unsettling and compelling narrative.”
