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This year sees the release of a sequel to a
record-breaking Hollywood movie and a Netflix series, along with
a title that Sega hopes will revive the fortunes of the
long-running Sonic game franchise after decades of malaise.
"Sonic is the face of Sega. If Sonic is doing well, then Sega is
doing well to an extent, too," Shuji Utsumi, co-chief operation
officer of Sega, told Reuters in an interview.
The blue blur became a household name in the West in a series of
side-scrolling games in the 1990s on the Sega Mega Drive
console, also known as the Sega Genesis in North America, which
outsold Nintendo's Super NES in many countries.
"Sonic was cool with humour and an attitude... that resonated in
the West," said Utsumi, who worked at Sony when it launched the
first PlayStation.
Unlike Nintendo's Mario, who starred in decades of acclaimed
titles, Sonic struggled to make the transition to 3D games as
Sega withdrew from the console business to become a game
publisher.
Now, after years of trial and error during which Sega merged
with pachinko gambling machine maker Sammy, Sonic revived his
career as a movie star as studios raided corporate larders for
underused characters with mass appeal.
Sonic-related sales, including from the movie, have quadrupled
in the five years to the financial year that ended March 2021.
The game series has a committed, and long-suffering, fanbase in
the West, in contrast with other Sega franchises such as
"Yakuza" and "Persona", which have a large audience in Japan.
"It's definitely a nostalgic love for him," said Jacob Mills,
31, a British game level designer, referring to the hedgehog.
Mills plays new Sonic releases and describes his enthusiasm as
"a shared experience of mutual disappointment."
Initial prospects for the first Sonic movie from Paramount,
which featured Jim Carrey, seemed in doubt when a trailer
showing the character with prominent white teeth was derided on
social media.
The studio tweaked the design, and the movie eventually raked in
more than $300 million worldwide - becoming one of the best
grossing video game adaptations - after its release in 2020
during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Sonic the Hedgehog 2" will be released in April. The
franchise's importance to Paramount was underscored in an
investor presentation earlier this month outlining the future of
the company and announcing a second Sonic sequel along with a
hybrid animated/live-action series about the Knuckles character
for its streaming service. A separate animated series is due to
launch on Netflix this year.
"It's another big franchise for us and for Sega," Paramount
Pictures chief Brian Robbins told Reuters. The Sonic investment
is part of a broader commitment to franchises spanning movies
and series, Paramount Chief Executive Bob Bakish said during the
presentation. Shares fell on scepticism over whether the content
could compete in an increasingly crowded streaming market.
OPEN WORLD
Sega has embraced the Sonic community, in 2017 releasing Sonic
Mania, a widely praised retro platformer that began life as a
fan-made game before being backed by firm.
An artist from the game later worked for Paramount on the Sonic
movie, and Sega interacts humorously with fans on via the Sonic
the Hedgehog Twitter account, which has 5.8 million followers.
Expectations are growing for "Sonic Frontiers", an open world
platformer due for release this year. The format is novel for
the franchise, whose other games have been bought or downloaded
1.38 billion times. Sega has not shown any gameplay for the
title, which was delayed for a year, and wary fans point to the
"Sonic cycle", in which excitement and talk of a comeback in the
build-up to a new release is dashed by disappointment on playing
the game.
The earnings impact of Sonic-related output "is going to be
tangible" in the financial year starting in April, Utsumi said,
without providing further details.
This month, the company upgraded its full year operating profit
forecast by a third to 31 billion yen ($268 million). The gaming
unit has been boosted by sales of titles such as role-playing
game "Shin Megami Tensei V" for the Nintendo Switch.
Utsumi, who returned to Sega two years ago after founding his
own gaming company and working at Disney and Warner Music, says
the company is a "treasure island" of content that could be
further commercialized.
Other Japanese characters joining the rush include a forthcoming
Super Mario movie from "Minions" studio Illumination and
Netflix's live action remake of cult 1990s anime Cowboy BeBop
released last year.
Sega has a close relationship with Xbox maker Microsoft and in
November said it was exploring an alliance to develop titles
using the Redmond, Washington-based firm's cloud technology.
Longer term, Sega aims to create a "super game" with global
appeal - that perhaps will be part of the "metaverse", a buzzy
term for a network of persistent simulated online environments.
Sega, whose shares have rise by 16% year-to-date, has long
experience across arcade and console gaming and different
genres, Utsumi said.
"There's no one better suited to do this than us," he said.
($1 = 115.5800 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey, Shinji Kitamura and Dawn Chmielewski;
Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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