Exclusive: Sega to license out massive IP to Western developers

whoa !! That's a bit of a bombshell for a monday morning.

I'm sure Nintendo's success at farming out some of it's top franchises has had some influence on this decision, what with F-Zero GX and Metroid Prime being hugely successful.

There's sure to be some interesting choices with regards to who ends up with what IP, with Nights probably being the most careful decision SEGA has to make here.

Thats mad news. Sega will surelt have to be very careful when it comes to choosing who works on what. Nintendo had a direct say on the development of MP and F-Zero though so hopefully Sega will do the same.

Crazy Taxi though? Ive had enough of it to do me a lifetime.

Actually, they should let Nintendo develop any new Nights game. :D

You could be right there, but it's also the fact that Outrun on Xbox has done so well and was another east and west effort.

I suppose this is a sensible approach to getting more of their back catalogue out their but only a man power issue stoopping these games from becoming reality. Sega have other stuff to deal with.

Whatever happens I'm sure there will be a scramble of potential proposal from smaller fish trying to make their in the industry, who would give their right arm to work with an world established company such as Sega. We'll also get some interesting new takes on different games. If it's possible for games like Outrun and Metroid to be made, and still keep the license owners japanese house style and feel, then it would be a good for everyone. It would also give western deveopers more of an insight into the japanese development mind, and maybe help them with their own efforts to get noticed in japan.

I think EA would do a good job on Virtua Cop or HotD, and put the Burnout crew on Crazy Taxi. As for the beat em ups though I'd have to leave them in japanese hands like SNK or Capcom for Street of Rage. Ubisoft would be great for Shinobi after PoP. Altered Beast I'm not sure about though, perhaps I'd really love to see Nintendo do Nights and Altered Beast.

Well at least a sequel to NiGHTS will finally be released. Considering the amount of love shown for the game over the years, it seems a bit silly it's taken this long for Sega to get off their fannies.

Wooo somebody make a new Streets of Rage!

Eagerly awaiting more Streets of Rage. The thing is though the game would most likely be better staying 2D, and we all know the beat em up outside of japan is a very weak area, even more so non existent in the form of 2D.

After terrible efforts like Rise of the Robots, Fighting Force, and SW Teras Karsi, there is no one in the west that could really do it justice I can think of. The thought of Midway handling it scares me, but could work. Treasure, SNK (2D version) or Namco (3D verison) would be great though.

I thought Spike Out was the Streets of Rage successor though, which is soon to be on Xbox?

As long as they are faithful developemtns then i would look forward to any of those titles entering the market. GoldenAxe is probably the only one out of that batch that really seems weak though.

They want to redo these brands, but they never release Virtua Cop 3 in the west. I heard the announcement and bought one of the berettas, and was then immensely disappointed.

Interesting. There's something slightly awry with this though...

Of the eight listed franchises, only three have not seen new titles recently (Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and NiGHTS). Sega Wow's revival of the Shinobi series was reasonably decent, and they're also behind the current Altered Beast game. Why would they remove those titles from the grasp of an already comptent development team?

I can understand why they'd farm out titles such as House of the Dead and Crazy Taxi - the original developers appear to have taken these ideas as far as they can go, and I'm looking forward to seeing what new ideas the new developers will bring. I can even see why Virtua Cop would be outsourced (if a team could port Virtua Cop 3 to the Xbox, I'd want Sumo Digital behind it).

What most surprises me is that Nights has been allowed to be sent to a Western developer. It's a strikingly Japanese-flavoured game, and I'd always been led to believe that Yuji Naka had a great fondness for that particular series. Perhaps it's simply that the team doesn't have time for it...

It's a surprising move (though perhaps not in light of Sega Europe's publishing strategy - bring the best of the East and attain extra content suitable for Europe). I can't wait to see how it all turns out, and I hope for the best - optimism reigns supreme.

And finally, an open suggestion for whoever is behind the Streets of Rage game: even if it ends up on Gamecube, please make it an online title. Thanks.

This doesn't mean Nights will go to a non-Japanese developer, just a non-SEGA one.
In fact, I'd be surprised if it did go to a western developer.

The article says...

"One source told us, “Sega of America has pitched the concept of westernising these franchises. So the ITTs have been given solely to studios in the States and Europe. The idea is to broaden the appeal of some under-exploited IP or to achieve greater sales of certain franchises outside of Japan.”"

"The list of IP that has been designated for western third-party development reads as follows:

House of the Dead
NiGHTS
Golden Axe
Virtua Cop
Streets of Rage
Shinobi
Crazy Taxi
Altered Beast"

Sounds pretty clear to me.

d'oh :)

Heh, I just wonder which developer they've got lined up for NiGHTS. It could be a massive boost for any UK development team, both financially and in terms of public standing.

Nintendo is busy enough as it is...

But watch EA come in and take every single franchise for themselves.