Sega's CEO and chairman Haruki Satomi has acknowledged that older fans of Sega no longer trust the brand and that in the future Sega needs to focus on the quality of their games, instead of when they release their games.
With the exception of Alien: Isolation, Sega hasn't done much in terms of releasing the quality of games that gamers are looking for. Speaking with the Japanese magazine Famitsu Satomi recognized that the games that Sega has released in the past few years were not the games that would keep a strong fan-base.
“We did our best to build a relationship of mutual trust with older fans of Sega, but looking back, there’ve been some titles that have partially betrayed that in the past 10 years.
Sega in the ‘90s was known for its brand, but after that, we’ve lost trust, and we were left with nothing but reputation. For this reason, we’d like to win back the customers’ trust, and become a brand, once again.”
According to Satomi, he has been in talks with staff on focusing on the quality of games – opposed to the schedules of the release of games. When it comes to North America and Europe, Satomi believes that if Sega "can’t maintain quality, it would be better to not release anything at all.”
When asked if fans could look forward to a high quality game release in the second half of this year, Satomi did not confirm that there would be a release, but did confirm a game announcement.
“Since we’re seriously considering quality, I can’t make that promise for the time being,” he said, “but I believe we will announce something for home console at Tokyo Game Show [in September]."
Sega has been restructuring the company since the beginning of the year, shifting their focus to mobile and PC games. It's no surprise that they have looked to refocus the company since some of their latest games have ultimately flopped, whether or not Sega will stick to their intentions of higher quality games is unknown.
We also got an updated quote from Haruki Satomi, responding to the responses of the Famitsu interview:
"Seeing our fans across the world respond to our recent interview with Famitsu, lets us know we've made the right first step in acknowledging who we are and where we want to be. SEGA is dedicated to bringing you quality gaming experiences and becoming a brand you love and trust again."
…but we can always hope for the old Sonic to come back — I'd buy remastered versions of the best Sonic games.
