Sega to license out massive IP to Western developers

honru

http://news.spong.com/detail/news.asp?prid=7708

We can reveal this morning that Sega is currently in the process of licensing out a massive range of its key intellectual properties, in some of the biggest news regarding the firm since the Sammy buy-out from earlier this year.

Sources at various development studios in the US and Europe have been privy to an invitation to tender for the rights to create updates to some of the biggest Sega franchises, though the full story is slightly more interesting.

One source told us, “Sega of America has pitched the concept of westernising these franchises. So the ITTs have been given solely to studios in the States and Europe. The idea is to broaden the appeal of some under-exploited IP or to achieve greater sales of certain franchises outside of Japan.”

The list of IP that has been designated for western third-party development reads as follows:

House of the Dead
NiGHTS
Golden Axe
Virtua Cop
Streets of Rage
Shinobi
Crazy Taxi
Altered Beast

Of the above, Sega designated House of the Dead as being the most important franchise. Golden Axe had the lowest priority. We can confirm that Travellers’ Tales is in talks with Sega right now concerning one of the firms franchises that is not listed above.

Retr0gamer

The western companies will ruin them! Most western companies have no imagination. I really don't want to see Nights bastardised after just finding out how good it is.

honru

Retr0gamer wrote:

The western companies will ruin them! Most western companies have no imagination.

That was the word out years before the release of Metroid Prime although it turned out very well. Shows that in the right hands, games don't always have to be screwed up, so perhaps everything will be alright.

Except when you see developers like Traveller's Tales make the cut (the guys who developed Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R). Then I feel doubtful. I'm just hoping Sega don't whore off their licenses to any team they can find.

Of course, I would much prefer for the above games to stay put in their homeland of Japan, this just seems like another of Sammy's ploys to turn Sega into some kind of gross abomination.

IrishMike

if someone ruins the golden axe franchise with a crap realase of some eye candy sequel with crap gameplay ill go nuts
could work out though
shinobi man there was a game