SegaSammy has released the slides for its Management Meeting 2023 Presentation, which reveal a few major details about the company’s plans to resurrect some of its classic franchises. At The Game Awards in early December, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, and Streets of Rage were revealed as potential new entries in classic series or reboots. While the majority of the notes cover profits, margins, and brand growth, one slide near the end contains some new artwork and information about the five confirmed revivals.
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“In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog has forged new paths for Sega, bringing the franchise to life and reaching new audiences in ways we had only dreamed of in the past,” Sega exec Shuji Utsumi said in a statement. “Building off that success, we are digging into our legacy and reimagining several franchises to bring these games to more audiences around the globe.”
The following screenshots have been released by SegaSammy:
Jet Set Radio
‘Counter-Culture’. Tokyo Street Open World Experience the ‘rebellion’ movement that feels free in a suffocating society. Make friends, increase your fans, and create a movement!
Golden Axe
Warriors arise to subdue the demons! Defeat your enemies with a variety of attacks with swords and magic! The legendary story about the battle axe ‘Golden Axe’ is about to begin!
Crazy Taxi
Innovative & Fresh Style Driving Action! Cheerful feeling of freedom x Fusion of nature and city. Peel out the new stage of Crazy City!
Shinobi
Slay the enemies in the silence of the moment. Run through the world of Shinobi full of monsters and ninja actions. Grab Oborozuki, the legendary sword, and slay evil once more. Your clan and the world are counting on you.
Streets of Rage: Revolution
Beloved side-scrolling beat ’em up action series! Take control of one of the ex-officers and make the city a place where people no longer have to walk the ‘Streets of Rage.’
These summaries contain some interesting information. Golden Axe and Shinobi could be reboots or origin stories for the classic side-scrolling beat’em ups, whereas Jet Set Radio appears to be an open-world game. The most concrete piece of information is that the new Streets of Rage, a retro favorite, is slated to be a side-scrolling beat’em up. SOR has always been an IP heavily demanded by fans and was given an independent studio 4th sequel in 2020; seen over by Sega and built by Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and published by Dotemu.
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Popular SegaSammy mainstays such as the open-world mafia ladder YAKUZA series, the stylized mega RPG series Persona, and legendary platforming speed mouse Sonic the Hedgehog also have big plans. Sega intends to release not only games, but also a variety of other media for their IPs such as animation, and continuing their tradition of licensing their characters to other media and games.
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Sega has also sparked gamehouse ATLUS to develop a new brand of multi-platform games for release later in 2024. “Metaphor: ReFantazio is a completely new title that the Atlus team is developing under the new ‘Studio Zero.’ The goal was to create an RPG from scratch that would be a milestone for Atlus for generations to come. Ever since I saw the initial plot, I’ve been waiting impatiently for the day that we could announce it.” says Yukio Sugino, the President and COO who oversees Sega Sammy’s entertainment business.
ReFantazio is the first project created by Studio Zero, an Atlus studio founded in late 2016. On December 23rd, 2016, the studio officially revealed the project, and large-scale recruitment for the project began; tasking director Katsua Hashino, character designer Shigenori Soejima, and composer Shoji Meguro among the team members who previously worked on the Persona series. It was first revealed as Project Re Fantasy before being renamed Metaphor: ReFantazio at the Xbox Games Showcase 2023.
It appears that SegaSammy will have a busy year, and from the looks of things, they will be digging themselves deep with nostalgia and rebellious roots, drawing on their early years as a powder keg in the gaming industry. This time, it appears, they are ensuring that the games they create explode in popularity, as opposed to the company blowing itself up in the past.
Let us know what you think about Sega nostalgia coming back! What are your favorite SegaSammy titles? Leave a comment below!
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