“If Sega was a movie character, it would be Rocky.” This sentence is the must Ethan Einhorn, director of operations of Sega America Online. Imagining his employer boxer revenge, the head of the branch in vogue among the video game publisher only highlights the renaissance saw Sega now. “Hard times have made us stronger,” he says. Indeed, the known for its blue hedgehog Sonic brand come a long way, and shift towards dematerialized games a year ago is no stranger to return to form. “It is a profitable business, which becomes even more each year,” explains the head of the Japanese society. “We have been successful in our transition, now we look forward to maintaining our leadership position.” If Sega smile today is that the former manufacturer, alter ego of Nintendo in the 1980s, managed to recover from his disastrous start to the millennium. Not without questioning and violent changes in policy. From In 2001, suppressed by the aggressive entry of Sony in the video game market with the PlayStation 1 and 2, Sega was forced to stop production of its Dreamcast. The previous year, the company announced that it was his last console. The new sounds like a disaster to the players. The company that launched the Master System and Mega Drive is obliged to decline if it wants to continue to exist. Become a simple video game publisher, Sega held ten years, never regain the momentum of good years. Worse, the sales of the games industry (Sega also specializes in slot machines and arcade machines in Japan) continues to sink into the red. Last year, management is therefore a surprising decision: Sega stopped, in part, physical play, to give priority to dematerialized. Traditional “boxes” games that you buy in stores Sega has retained the strong licenses such as Sonic, Football Manager, Total War and Alien. “The industry is changing rapidly, you are likely to challenge your knowledge regularly,” admits Ethan Einhorn. This strategic repositioning also lead to the closure of the firm’s European offices and some development studios. The time savings. While no editor more reluctant to diversify its publishing titles on platforms download, whether on console (XBLA, PSN, Nintendo eShop) or mobile (App Store, Google Play …), Sega goes much further by focusing on all the dematerialized. Proceed dared necessary especially well thought out. Present on the digital market since the creation of the App Store five years ago, the Japanese company has had time to acclimate to these players fond experiences relatively short and inexpensive. “This market has as wide as the Web itself public,” says the decision maker. Among the most important titles, brands have already proven themselves in traditional media, but also new faces that will attract players en masse, like Kingdom Conquest and 3.5 million downloads since 2010 is recognized. For Sega, the goal was to limit losses by giving a new impetus to the industry’s most experienced in Europe. The dematerialized games have an undeniable quality: they are much less expensive to produce than physical games. “The cost of developing mobile games increases with the marketing,” Ethan Einhorn shade. “You do not put $ 50 million budget to produce a mobile as you would do on a console game, but, however, you face a number of much larger competitors at launch.” Fortunately for her, the Sega brand may depend on the particular condition that he are the players. “We have built our success through the generation Mega Drive not come home after school to play video games, but to play the last Sega. This audience has children now, and we had to renew all our standard for this new generation. Sonic is also popular with 7-11 year olds as among thirties. We have real intergenerational brands and we are fortunate to have a base of passionate and committed fans, “said Ethan Einhorn. As an old friend from primary one is happy to see the eyes of the players, as a Sega has a special flavor. So, the Japanese brand is looking for a modernity in the new forms of distribution. For now, the firm has successfully completed its transformation, but Sega perhaps more than elsewhere, we know:. Everything can go very fast in the video game industry
featured manufacturer to publisher of mobile games
Cheaper games and big success
As an old friend from primary
