Sega’s most prominent franchise, Sonic, loses his gaming fun once puberty sets in. Sega knows this. But Marvel heroes Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, and Thor don’t… or Sega hopes they don’t since they accumulated the game licenses of the movies in consideration.
Sega doesn’t want to be in sixth place in the publishing gig anymore. Getting to the top may include Sonic in the portfolio, but he can’t be the dominant force. Sega’s acquisition of new licenses is part of a plan to diversify their production to a broader audience. Sega even got the license for games based on 20th Century Fox’s Alien movies.
To break into the Top 5, Sega needs to more than double their revenue. They plan to do most of that here in the West since the Japanese market is comparatively stale. However, don’t count the blue ball [Sonic] out. In fact, Sega is even teaming up with their long-time rival, Nintendo, to produce a game called Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.
“Sega is taking the right approach by not relying on just one or two potential blockbuster games. “You have to have a diversified portfolio right now,” says Billy Pidgeon, a program manager for the market intelligence firm IDC, “You can only get so much mileage out of Sonic and company.”
