Sonic Team Head to Quit SEGA?

[fitbabits]

Next Generation (http://www.next-gen.biz) has the news (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2515&Itemid=2).

Sources close to Sega say that the company's inspirational creative designer Yuji Naka may be set to quit the company.

Next Generation understands Yuji Naka is planning to set up his own studio. It is possible that the new company will be allied with Sega through some financial arrangement, but details are unknown.

Yuji Naka, 40, is the head of Sega's Sonic Team and was instrumental in creating the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. Throughout the last ten years his influence on Sega's output has been enormous, including Phantasy Star Online and Nights.
It will be interesting to see what happens at SEGA should this come to pass.

[Blade]

I wonder if this has anything to do with Sonic Team sucking for the past 3 years, or so.

[TrackZero]

I wonder if MS or Sony will swoop in to woo this new studio.

[fitbabits]

I simply wonder...

At how amazing my wife is.
At how lucky I am to have her by my side in my journey through life.
At how much I love my Xbox 360.
At how much I love our three cats (Bella, Biscuit and Winnie).
At how lucky I am to be part of the EvAv community.

(I'll get ma coat)

[Deadend]

I can see the future...

Sega continues to become like Nintendo in terms of software... but with worse games, jus t wait for Sonic Strikers, and Sonic Baseball.

Good luck to Yuji Naka, I think he could go and make some kickass games.

[camberiu]

It is sad to see how SEGA is now not even a shadow of what it was in the late 80s early 90s.

So many ground breaking games such as Zaxxon, Outrun, Afterburner, Shinobi, etc....

Now they are anything but a footnote on the game industry.

[Grimmjow]

would be nice to see a nights sequel

[superherotaco]

What'll happen to the high quality Sonic games we've come to expect from SEGA? Does this mean no further adventures of Shadow, the new up and comer? Say it ain't so!

[Ajguy]

Yeah, on one hand, I am sad to see Naka-san leaving Sega. He did after create my favorite videogame character. But ever since Sonic Adventure the series has gone downhill. Too much focus on secondary characters and non-Sonic gameplay. At least the next-gen Sonic game looks like a return to Sonic's old school roots. But guess what? If I'm going to play as Tails in a game, I expect it to play like a slightly slower version of Sonic that can fly. I do not want to slowly walk around in a clunky mech in a Sonic game.

[Blade]

Sega in general is... lacking. They were a force even after the DC died, but for the past 2 or 3 years I can't recall them having much that stood out like their earlier work.

Sega fans used to be an elite class of knowledgeable gamers.

Now, Sega is barely considered a contender as a 3rd-party AFAICS.

[Bydo_Empire]

I'm hoping this lets him create better stuff. The 2d sonics are awesome, and Phantasy Star Online is one of my favs of all time. Perhaps marketing had a little too much say in what games came out of that studio in the last few years, but who's to say.

>> Sega continues to become like Nintendo in terms of software...
What do you mean by this? Nintendo is a hugely successful software publisher, both critically and commercially. Seems like Sega has continued to drift further from Nintendo since the DC, not closer to it.

[emperordahc]

Sega has gone downhill since the Dreamcast died. Poor, poor games.

[Megalith]

Naka is reforming Smilebit/Andromeda.

[Sion]

Fun fact: He was going to quit after the first sonic game, but Sega made a deal with him staying, or of it was a lamborghini/ferrari.

He has also been notorious for his mood swings.

I hope he stays though. I like Sonic Team even though they have been a little off in the past 2-3 years.

[Sion]

I wonder if MS or Sony will swoop in to woo this new studio.

Nintendo would want them more than anyone to be honest.

[Heretic Machine]

I think what we really need to ask ourselves is, what does this mean for the next-gen Sonic game?

[Adam Blue]

It is possible that the new company will be allied with Sega through some financial arrangement, but details are unknown.

That's what is important to me, because if anything, Sega will have the rights to Sonic...

[Magnanimous Gnome]

I wonder if this has anything to do with Sonic Team sucking for the past 3 years, or so.


It's been longer than that I believe. The only good thing to come out of SEGA post-DC was Monkey Ball 1 & 2 on the Cube. Pretty much everything else has been generic trash. Sonic has especially taken a huge nosedive, but that started with Sonic Adventures 7 years ago. Even Sonic's attitude that made him so original in the 90s has grown REALLY stale.

[genocidalrobot]

It's been longer than that I believe. The only good thing to come out of SEGA post-DC was Monkey Ball 1 & 2 on the Cube. Pretty much everything else has been generic trash.

Virtua Fighter 4 is most definitely not generic trash. Neither is Panzer Dragoon Orta. There WERE more enjoyable games than just the Monkey Ball series. Now, on the other hand, it looks fairly dry.

[thecrazyd]

Also: Sonic Rush is awesome.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Virtua Fighter 4 is most definitely not generic trash. Neither is Panzer Dragoon Orta. There WERE more enjoyable games than just the Monkey Ball series. Now, on the other hand, it looks fairly dry.


I thought of those two after I posted. I'm not into fighters much at all, so Virtua Fighter never really stood out to me. Panzer was fun though, but very short. It didn't sell well either, unfortunately.

Everything else was pretty blah though. :p

[mister_slim]

What about all those cool early game for the Xbox: PDO (yeah, shhh), JSRF, Gunvalkyrie, and Otogi? They didn't sell well but they should have.