“Sega’s Okamura commented about the recent changes in the company, he said Sammy’s investment has not caused major changes. Sega is working on a new RPG, which they intend to turn into a big franchise. In addition, a surprise title is under development in collaboration with another company”.
What could this RPG possibly be? If Sega is creating something new, then I imagine it will be an RPG developed for “younger gamers” a la Virtua Fighter Quest. Wouldn’t it be in Sega’s best interests to develop a game for an established franchise as opposed to something new and therefore relatively unknown?
Somehow I doubt Sega is collaborating with Camelot Software Planning to bring Sega fans a new Shining game but you’ll forgive me if I hold onto hope nonetheless.
Maybe it’s an all new franchise that they developing to rival the Final Fantasy series on PS2? That would be sort of thing Sega might do… we’ve seen it done with Sega GT (obviously made as Dreamcast’s answer to Gran Trismo) so that seems a likely possibility to me.
I personally hope it’s a new Shining, Panzer, or Skies of Arcadia game too, but given Sega’s current position I have some understandable doubts about the possibility of a sequel to one of these classic series’.
I hate being kept in suspense. Why can’t Sega officially announce what it is developing?
Hopefully, Sega is working on a new Panzer Dragoon RPG. I can’t imagine who Sega is collaborating with to make this other game, however. A “surprise title” seems to indicate something unexpected, such as Sega and Camelot working together again after their disagreement over the demise of the Saturn during the development cycle of Shining Force 3.
Also, Sega did officially announce the development of a new Shining Fore game and Sega registered the name “Shining Tears”. I’m not sure if this Shining Force remake for the Game Boy Advance is what Sega was referring to, or if it is Sega’s way of re-introducing the series to a new generation of gamers as a herald for something new (i.e. a console Shining Force game). Someone at Amusement Vision has all the answers…
Dont hang on to the past too much, just because the old games were good and we would all like sequels doesnt mean that new games are going to be crappy. I must admit Sammy’s owning the majority share in Sega does worry me, i dont want to see Sega turining into a pure arcade company. If they have already announced a shining force game its unlikely that their surprise title will be it, wouldnt be much of a surprise if they have already announced it! In the end all we can do is wait (hope) and see what they come up with.
Eh? The majority? As far as I know they got around 20%, that gives them a say in Sega’s doings but I’m sure Sega have held enough share for themselves so that they can’t be just bought out by just anyone and just like that…I’d be surprised to hear they have anything less than 51%…
I could be wrong mind you, things like that might be different in Japan and I only know how things work here…
As far as I can tell they do have the majority even though they only have 22%. This means that Sega issued far too many shares(as they must have retained less than 22%) although I suppose they needed the share money to keep them afloat a couple of years back.
This article video-fenky.com/archives/000141.html
says "the company bought CSK’s 22.4% of Sega stock and brought the company under its own control ".
This article( gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=465 ) also states that Sammy have the majority share however it doesnt directly say that Sammy have control of Sega however it does seem that way as Sammy’s president speaks for Sega.
It seems there isnt so much cause for concern though, as Geoffrey’s article says that there wont be major changes.
I’m not sure what I’d like more, a sequel to PDS or SOA, or a brand new RPG designed and built specifically to torpedo Final Fantasy. Square is getting way too complacent. Someone needs to take 'em down a peg, and it would be just glorious if it was Sega.