Sitting at number 6 on the publishing ladder has Sega of America president Simon Jeffery beaming in a recent interview with
Venture Beat .
“We doubled our market share from a year ago. There has always been quite a gap in the top 5 market share. We’re in the 5 percent range now. That’s been extremely positive for us. We have great hopes for the rest of the year with Sonic coming on the Nintendo DS and Samba de Amigo for the Wii, we’re improving with quality as well.” Jeffery said.
Another way forward for Sega is the burgeoning portable and casual market . Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone shifted enough units to top the application list for the Apple device.
“I think the iPhone and all of the ones that copy it will absolutely be a new platform. We’re investing in a forward-looking mobile games group. The point isn’t just to get Sonic on as many handsets as possible. Direct consumer delivery is where it’s going, as Apple has proven. We’re in a really good position and see it as a viable platform,” he said.
And Jeffery sees the future as tending towards bite size gaming, when asked about the changing gamer tastes Jeffery replied: “We are seeing a shift, even in hardcore games, to snackable gaming. “Call of Duty 4” had a shorter single-player campaign and really good multiplayer. Hardcore games don’t have to be 45 hours long anymore, unless it’s a role-playing game. Gamers are driven by getting achievements, finishing games, and they want to consume a lot of games. Disposable income isn’t a problem for them. If it takes a shooting game 20 hours to complete, that’s frustrating. It’s interesting it has taken 25 years to figure that out.”
On the other hand, Jeffery would like Sega to provide more hardcore gaming content for the Wii platform: “The Wii is a very cost effective platform to experiment with. There is a lot of crap coming out for the Wii in general. But if it’s not a good game, it doesn’t sell. That flood of crap will die down as publishers become more coherent. The Wii is a great opportunity for hitting hardcore gamers. No one is doing that. With “Mad World” from Platinum Games, we are trying to show that millions of Wii games want to move on to mature games. They don’t have to have an Xbox 360 to do that,” he said.
It seems Sega is flexible about the future of gaming, providing more content for the more pick-up-and-play platforms, whilst seeing a further market in the Wii install base.
Some upcoming games on the Sega Release Schedule include Space Siege, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Dinosaur King and Samba De Amigo.
