What Do You Think About SEGA's Business Model?

[Red Ring]

I'm a former EVE Online player. The game came out in 2003 and CCP has supported the game and players with free expansions ever since always making the game better. This was something that made me wish SEGA would do the same with Phantasy Star. I mean, is the PSU game engine really that bad that they had to let it die and no doubt start over again forcing everyone to buy another game and start over as well? EVE Online had a bumpy start way back as well but they didn't trash it and start over. I know the games are a little different because Phantasy Star uses a leveling system that has a limit but I don't think a level limit should matter in a MMO. There should be enough endgame content to keep people coming back. Do you think SEGA is doing it wrong by dumping their games after a short life cycle and starting over? I mean that's cool and all to have a fresh start but by letting the games die from neglect... I don't know if that's a good business model to continue...

Phantasy Star Portable 2 shows the game can be done better with little effort.

[Tek[+]Lok]

What business model?

[Red Ring]

selling a phantasy star game, coming out with an expansion, and then barley supporting it in the states until it dies, lol.

[Danny_Dark]

Business ? Like This ?

SEGAC:"Because Business Is An Oximoron For Us".

[Para]

Terrible. JP has control over everything almost.

[Gen2000]

Yeah I loved PSO, stop playing for a while then got heavily into PSU when I heard it's announced but then looking back on what just happen here and the history of PSO, makes me really cautious about any future PS online title if they plan to come out with another one (or just ignore it entirely). Seems to be a bad trend in how Sega handles their online games.

[Yusaku_Kudou]

One of the biggest problems with the game was that it was on the PS2. This held the game back considerably due to download restrictions.

[Sinue_v2]

Sega's "Business Model"? That's rather generous. I'd describe it more as "Shitting their pants." We all do it from time to time; that's life, but it's no way to make a living in a competitive market.

[Pillan]

I'd actually say it's very good centering on a Japanese niche market after the failure of every system following the Genisis/Mega Drive. Or, specifically on this game, an inability to reliably compete with World of Warcraft's dominance over the market in the US.

[Powder Keg]

Let's just say I hope another company gets the rights to Phantasy Star.

Their time should be over.

[Ranji]

If I'm not mistaken Sonic Team has been doing the work on PS since Genesis. My question is, WTF happened to making such a high quality game?? I mean, PSO was great and all, groundbreaking in my opinion, but when you compare the story and character depth to the original PS games??? That's like comparing Megan Fox with Kathy Bates....

[stinkyfish97]

buisness plan?!!! they had one, that is news to me. They had both the entire ps2 and xbox servers seriously compete with WoW.. I mean it this game really had that potential, with constant updates and all. I am affraid they will have been to late, I am really shocked that WoW isnt trying to move to the xbox actually, if they did that'd be the end to PSU. PSU really had the entire market if they wanted but they chose to not even to compete with themselves. Now almost more people play on private servers, PSO BB, than they do PSU, who's fault is that, I dunno where the blame should be held Sega developed such an awe inspiring game truely revolutionary, no game is truely like it in any regards, but they went and threw it all away. From a business point of view doing a psp and ds game was a great idea but they had the entire xbox an ps2 community if they so chose to but they chose not to. They chose the psp and ds over that. Hope it doesnt work for them in the long run, I hope they burn for it and as soon as WoW comes to xbox itll be over for them.

[Shou]

If SEGAC cared about money at all they would have came out with GC on our side long ago and would give us many tiny updates. There are a TON of things they could have done to dragged money out of its players. Truthfully, a 10 year old could have come up with better ideas than what SEGAC came up with. I guess they really just did not care because the game wasn't popular enough.

[Red Ring]

PSP2 on the PSP is free to play like PSODC servers and guild wars. Really makes you wonder if they even need the money to maintain the servers. lulz.

[Powder Keg]

If I'm not mistaken Sonic Team has been doing the work on PS since Genesis. My question is, WTF happened to making such a high quality game?? I mean, PSO was great and all, groundbreaking in my opinion, but when you compare the story and character depth to the original PS games??? That's like comparing Megan Fox with Kathy Bates....

lol.

You put online, story, and character depth in the same sentence.

Basically, they saw it as a huge profit opportunity. Hey, it only took them three tries with PSO, and try #1 (or 2 if you count AOI) isn't looking so hot. With the final product of both games, it was more than enough for it to be a success, despite what some may say about the horrible balance of the game. The problem is how it was taken care of. (See: Billing issues, cheating, lack of advertisement and/or availability) Those are the types of poor decisions or mistakes that people should lose their job over.

[JCGamer]

dude don't bring WoW to this. WoW stay for the PC

[magichands]

I dont know about that wow, im a fan of it, but it will not make it to 360, ive heard and seen things about it at E3 before but microsoft had no interest for it to hit 360 srry wow fans .lol

[Sinue_v2]

If I'm not mistaken Sonic Team has been doing the work on PS since Genesis. My question is, WTF happened to making such a high quality game?? I mean, PSO was great and all, groundbreaking in my opinion, but when you compare the story and character depth to the original PS games??? That's like comparing Megan Fox with Kathy Bates....

Sonic Team "split" during the 16 bit Generation because of the resource demands that PSIV's development required. Rieko Kodama & Tohru Yoshida, as well as a lot of the core PSIV development team then got transitioned to OverWorks going into the 32bit generation. Phantasy Star didn't go with them. But they did go on to create....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fl3ZwERMgE

[Boxblaster]

1. Release Game
2. ???
3. Profit!

[Ranji]

Ahh had my wires crossed then...

Regardless, if these asshats can't at least allow a download of character info (extra mode slot?? Who really gives a damn?), along with releasing Episode 3 for offline play, I can honestly say I will never buy, try, or play ANY Sega game again.... even the original Phantasy Stars (I still have my SMS with PS1 and that will be sold.)

[Meyfei]

1. Release Game
2. ???
3. Profit!
lol i think #2 would be "Kill servers"


Let's just say I hope another company gets the rights to Phantasy Star.

Their time should be over.

Question: What would you think if nintendo managed to get the rights?

D: Sega with Bussiness is like armeggadon being stopped by a single jar of peanut butter :/

[Red Ring]

Question: What would you think if nintendo managed to get the rights?


Pokemon Hunter Online

[landman]

I like playing new content, if the content is not enough, I like playing new games, thanks :)

[LP_Phoenix]

1. Release Game
2. ???
3. Profit!

too much south park heh? XD

[Sinue_v2]

1. Release Game
2. ???
3. Profit!

http://socsci2.ucsd.edu/~aronatas/project/cartoon.math.gif

[BahnKnakyu]

Lok;2435144']What business model?

THIIIIIIIIIS.

[Para]

Pokemon Hunter Online

More like no more skimpy outfits and poor character customization.

[pinkace]

Well, sega is doing much better now than they have in the past 10 years. They have been operating at a profit for like 5 years now. They scored big wins early this generation, and aside from supporting M-rated games for the Wii that did not sell (Madworld, HotD:O, Conduit) they have made no major mistakes.

In spite of our personal opinions on how they handled PSU, Sega did very well with it financially. The game sold pretty well, especially considering that it is the only console game this generation that got away with charging a monthly fee for what other games give for free. And all that extra revenue has certainly helped too.

I have all of Sega's balance sheets from 1998 until 2004. I became interested in how they would spin all of their IPs into third-party powerhouse. Of course, they failed at that, but something else came about since then that only in the last 5 years has been generating modest profits.

They also have a very sharp and strict budget that they strongly stick to.

purely business-wise, they are doing much , much better.

[PepperCat]

Well, sega is doing much better now than they have in the past 10 years. They have been operating at a profit for like 5 years now. They scored big wins early this generation, and aside from supporting M-rated games for the Wii that did not sell (Madworld, HotD:O, Conduit) they have made no major mistakes.

In spite of our personal opinions on how they handled PSU, Sega did very well with it financially. The game sold pretty well, especially considering that it is the only console game this generation that got away with charging a monthly fee for what other games give for free. And all that extra revenue has certainly helped too.

I have all of Sega's balance sheets from 1998 until 2004. I became interested in how they would spin all of their IPs into third-party powerhouse. Of course, they failed at that, but something else came about since then that only in the last 5 years has been generating modest profits.

They also have a very sharp and strict budget that they strongly stick to.

purely business-wise, they are doing much , much better.

Too bad they still suck-azz at customer service and client management.

[pinkace]

They do? aside from PSU, have you ever leveraged Sega for any post-purchase issues?

.

[stinkyfish97]

Yeah hopefully some of that profit goes into making the people who give them that profit something back, you know like the updates that we deserve, i dare not say we were promised them because we were not, but I do think 10 bucks a month does mean that we are showing we want to support this game still and that they should really try to keep it that way.

[Kion]

The title of this thread is misleading. it should be "What do you think of Sega`s complete lack of a business model?".

[pinkace]

Yeah hopefully some of that profit goes into making the people who give them that profit something back, you know like the updates that we deserve, i dare not say we were promised them because we were not, but I do think 10 bucks a month does mean that we are showing we want to support this game still and that they should really try to keep it that way.

Well, I was responding to the 'business model' question for the whole company, which publishes many games, not just PSU. Sega has a very solid one, finally, and they are doing well. Whether or not the users feel taken advantage of is irrelevant if they maintain themselves on the black. On top of that, if the feeling was more prevalent among consumers, the company would not be doing as well as it is, would it?

PSU is just one game. Support-wise, they are doing well. So far PSZ has not had any downtime, for example, and their online games perform better than many.

[roardova lengths]

I honestly never think of Sega's business model. They have lost their console franchise, when Sonic went 3D with that lame voice over (it went to shreds), PS was a dibacle & I haven't heard anything good come out of them since Billy Hatcher... That's right, Billy Hatcher is one of the gems of video game history. Which was done right from beginning to end; Sega doesn't have the Element of Consistency. So trying to start all over on a franchise is never a good idea, when we all saw it coming again. I've been playing Mabinogi for months now & I spend more money on it than I have ever spent on PSU. But it's worth it; cause the updates just come & come. Their business model is more solid & more likely to suck ppl into spending money on it. Although it's a pocket pusher, Nexon's business model is more successful than Sega's. Even though it's on a complete different platform. Then again, opinions are opinions...

[Kent]

One of the biggest problems with the game was that it was on the PS2. This held the game back considerably due to download restrictions.
This...

PSP2 on the PSP is free to play like PSODC servers and guild wars.
...And this.

What they really should do, is release Phantasy Star Online, alongside the Episode 2 and Episode 4 content, on the Xbox Live Arcade as one big package (or even one base package with expansions) with online play available for people with Xbox Live Gold.

It may be an older game, but hell, they could throw up a Coke ad on the Pioneer 2, and it'd generate enough revenue to keep the servers alive and probably make a profit. I can't honestly say that putting up a couple billboards (in a city, no less) would really be that intrusive on the game experience - sure, people who don't understand what I mean are going to complain, but it could work.

The businesspeople at Sega and the developers at Sonic Team need to look past the subscription model (and the Guild Wars design model, as opposed to the tried-and-true Diablo model), but not necessarily look at a microtransaction model.

They also need to go back to gameplay and progression designs that, you know, work out well.

[Zeek123]

PSU is just one game. Support-wise, they are doing well. So far PSZ has not had any downtime, for example, and their online games perform better than many.

But doesn't PSZ use Nintendo's own server, NFC or whatever it's called? I haven't played it any, I just assume it does. And IF it does, than there's no up-keep on Sega's part. Especially since it's an unpatchable DS game. I don't think Sega developed it anyway, did they?

Anyway, I think that as far as publishing goes, Sega's doing fine. Better than fine really. I personally feel like they've gotten lazy with their own in-house stuff. Namely Sonic Team (see PSU).

Sega's fine as a business. There's just no love. :no:

[ShinMaruku]

Sega is better at this than you guys realize the whole issue is they had a Japanese approach to doling out this game and failed on that regard, MMOs are all kind of crap shoot to look at from a business angle.
But a company the size of Sega with this little overhead appearing smaller than they are, no Only Nintendo out does Sega with the deception.