Sega Done with Sports, Take-Two Launches Label

Gamespot has the news that Take-Two Interactive's MLB deal has already had repercussions. Sega has gotten out of the sports business, selling their internal sports studio Visual Concepts to Take-Two for a bargain price. This newest addition in hand, Take-Two has turned around and launched a new game label entitled 2K games. From the article: "2K Games will incorporate Take-Two's internally owned development studios Visual Concepts, Kush Games, Indie Built, Venom Games, PopTop Software, and Frog City Software, as well as the team at Take-Two Licensing..." This new label will have a subsidiary specifically tuned for sports titles. As expected, it appears the sports game market is now going to fall to only a few companies. Commentary on Greg Costikyan's Blog

Comments

Good luck to them

[squidsoup]

Hopefully Take2 will continue to develop and challenge EA's near monopoly of the sports genre.

Oh yeah, Sega

[EggMan2000]

They got pwned in the console market (despite better games and platform) And now they are getting pwned in the software market as well? (despite very good games)

Is Sega the new Apple?

Re:Oh yeah, Sega

[badasscat]

Is Sega the new Apple?

They're not the "new" Apple, they're more comparable to the Apple of the mid 1980's. You know, a company without a clear direction, (hopefully) approaching the bottom end of their inverse market share bell curve. I still say that getting out of the hardware market is the worst thing Sega ever did - the effect it had was to completely demoralize the company. Many of their top creative minds left the company, and those that remained just haven't seemed to be putting their hearts into the games they've been creating lately.

I guess my main argument with your statement (part of which I didn't quote, but it's there) is that Sega still makes "very good games". Visual Concepts, their sports studio, made some decent sports sims (though NFL 2K5 was buggy as all hell), but Sega themselves haven't made anything I've been excited about since Super Monkey Ball on the GameCube.

As for this deal, don't forget that part of the deal is that Visual Concepts make games for Sega's arcade business. So to Sega's mind, this probably puts them back where they were in the early 80's only without having to do any of the actual work. Not sure it's actually going to play out that way, though; it doesn't seem like Sega has much of a future to me. Wouldn't be surprised if they get bought themselves at some point (something I argued would never happen 10 years ago, but times change and the mighty have fallen and fallen hard).

btw, I do believe Sega is actually profitable, but at the cost of, to quote George Costanza, "significant shrinkage." They seem to contract further and further every year and it's the only way they've kept their head above water. This is not how you succeed in business - to succeed in business requires both profitability and growth. Sega is in no position to grow and at this rate will eventually implode; they will cease to exist even as an IP holding company, as they will have sold off everything worthwhile to other publishers.

Sega Done with Sports?

[Castaa]

I can see it now at EA's corporate offices:

<mr. burns> Excellent... </mr. burns>

Its a real shame too...

[angst7]

I was very pleasently suprised by the great job Sega did with NFL 2K5, and with a $20 price tag it was an unbeatable choice. Unbeatable unless you are EA games protecting your Madden franchise. When I heard they bought exclusive rights I was pretty annoyed. This sort of practice is completely understandable from the prospective of the company seeking to keep market share. But as a customer it still pisses me off. I'm thinking I'll not be buying any sports games for quite a few years.

Oh, the irony...

[physicsphairy]

...the irony of computer geeks staying at home playing physical sports on their computers.

Well, I'm not really one to talk: the only 'sport' I play is chess. (I wonder what the odds are of 2K making a killer chess engine?)

Re:Oh, the irony...

[Jerf]

Computer geeks don't play sports games. They play FPS, strategy, and CRPGames. Believe it or not, its jocks and jock wannabes that play sports games.

As jock and jock wannabes outnumber us about 6 or 7 : 1, this is also why "our" hobby of computer gaming is becoming less and less about geeks.

#include <std_generalization_disclaimer>

Re:Oh, the irony...

[Cryptnotic]

What the hell are you talking about; Football is just chess with real people.

Not really. Football is more like a real-time strategy game. All of the pieces can move at once and for both sides. In chess, you are limited to one move per player per turn. In chess, both players can see the entire field and the positions of all of the opposing team's pieces. In football, the players (because they are human) only see out of the front 180 degrees of their head and other players are sometimes obscured from their vision. Also, players will disobey orders sometimes. Not so in chess. Of course, with all these limitations, you would think that chess would be simple.

What's that leave from Sega?

[the_skywise]

Super Monkey Ball?
Feel the Magic?

Good games in their own right, but is it enough to keep the once great Sega empire afloat?

Duke Nukem Forever

[lateralus_1024]

Will this have a negative impact on the Duke Nukem Forever ship date?

Years too late

[halcyon1234]

Why couldn't have Sega gotten out of the sports market YEARS ago? If they had, there'd be better Genesis selections in the Rummage Bin than the standard "50000 copies of Madden '94"

EA sucks...just ask Sega

[vyke4lyfe]

It's bad now because when you want to purchase a football game, your only choice will be a overpriced over-rated game that comes out every year just so you can have your football team on it. EA will contend it's not a monopoly, but lets be honest with ourselves, who's really going to buy any other title than Madden?

RIP Sega

[B00yah]

Long live the KING! Loved sega sports, since the days of mutant league football and hockey. It's definitely a sad day, and leaves the question, what's left?

Sure they have a few franchises, but that really can only carry them so far as a independant developer. Frankly, I'll keep praying for the DC portable, which would smash face on DS and PSP (and runs off a single chip, so it is plausible)

Good

[Lord_Dweomer]

You know what? I'm glad. I know this is entirely inevitable, as the companies seek to dominate the market as best they can. This is bad. However, this also means that there will inevitably be a company that is smaller, more agile, and more creative who will eventually shatter any stranglehold they have on the market. Remember guys, people looked past the fact that Grand Theft Auto didn't license car names. It was the gameplay that was revolutionary. Sports games are the same way. The names are important, but anybody can spoof them without needing a license (parody law?).

But now I can't think why I honestly care about this. I don't like sports games at all. I don't play physical sports outside, why would I want to be subjected to them on the computer as well?

Re:Good

[Chibi]

[some thoughts on GTA snipped]

But now I can't think why I honestly care about this. I don't like sports games at all. I don't play physical sports outside, why would I want to be subjected to them on the computer as well?

I kind of find it amusing that you point out that since you don't engage in an activity in real life, you wouldn't enjoy it on a computer. But prior to that, you talk about Grand Theft Auto! We can assume some combination of the following:

1. It's only a matter of time before you are featured in a Slashdot article where you blame GTA for your criminal activity.
2. You overlooked something.
3. I'm an ass.

Let's assume number 2 (and ignore number 3 ;). Some people like video games as an escape tool/disconnect from reality. This can range from experiences that are fairly realistic to far fantasy/sci-fi. For example, I really like basketball games, but it's been years since I played basketball in real life. I haven't played because I stink, none of my close friends really like it, and I stink. Pop in a video game, and all of the sudden, I can dunk the ball from the free throw line. In another game, I can be a space marine fighting the minions of hell. I'm sure there are plenty of games out there that involve activity we wouldn't be too interested in real life, but somehow work in a video game (dancing, playing bongos, doing favors for whiny strangers, etc).

I agree to an extent about this being an opportunity for a developer with a unique vision on various sports to step in, but will this actually happen? We've got to consider certain things. Some sports nuts are just that - sports nuts. They play these games to run their teams, and they are huge stat trackers. Besides the yearly roster updates, some of these sports games have periodic in-season updates on players, stats, and rosters. So, there is a demand for real info out there. And I'd wager it's pretty big.

The other issue is that, IMO, a lot of these "unique-takes-on-sports" games will probably be niche titles, unless something phenomenal comes along. Niche to me says that it won't make a lot of money. So, that'll make companies less likely to experiment. And, as much as we might want to deny it, companies exist to make money. These yearly sports titles are nice for companies because there's a steady demand for them, and they are pretty dependable revenue generators. Now, these dependable revenue streams are being snatched up by the biggest companies. I think these developments are pretty sad, and overall bad for the industry.

Hope an NBA deal won't push through...

[Regnard]

The NBA was wise not to sign EA's initial offer for exclusivity, but I hear a sweeter deal is in the works...

In my opinion, Sega's 2K basketball series is deeper and more intelligent than EA's Live franchise and it's rather sad if no more future versions of it won't ever get released.

Re:Ahhh, i got it !!!!

[randallpowell]

What about the new features like NFL cards, decorating a crib, and even playing against celbs. It's all about the bling and the homies, yo.

Great News

[PhotoBoy]

Now Sega will have to start making games like the ones that made the Dreamcast such and undervalued classic.

Maybe we'll even get that Shenmue 3 I've been despertate to play for years.