Sega has had a rough and tumble history, especially over the past few years. Sonic Boom for both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS failed to impress long-time fans of the series, compounded with the Aliens: Colonial Marines fiasco means Sega has lost a lot of goodwill with both console and PC gamers. Earlier this month, Sega’s new CEO Haruki Satomi issued a public apology during an interview in Famitsu magazine, stating that if his company can’t release quality products, they shouldn’t be releasing them at all.
I’ve been talking to the employees about how we should start putting serious consideration into quality from this point on,” responds Satomi. “Especially in North America and Europe, where it’s always been more of a focus on schedules, I believe that if we can’t maintain quality, it would be better to not release anything at all.
Satomi cited several instances of games that did not live up to gamer expectation and because of that, the internet embraced him with open arms. The acquisition of ATLUS has done a lot to teach Sega the error of its ways and Satomi later issued a statement to Destructoid thanking fans for bringing them to task on their previous failures.
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.
That’s a nice sentiment and it’s great that Sega has let ATLUS run relatively separate from its own business. Perhaps the acquisition will help turn Sega into a company that gamers can trust again. What do you think?
