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Sega-Sammy's new logo and structural changes.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:23 pm
by Segata
This is pretty big news, so a moderator may want to move this to the news section, as I can't post it there.
Courtesy of GameStop:
TOKYO--On its official site today, Sammy unveiled the logo of its soon-to-be corporate parent, Sega Sammy Holdings. As reported earlier last month, Sega and Sammy will merge operations in October by becoming subsidiaries of Sega Sammy Holdings. Once merged, Sega and Sammy's combined annual income for the fiscal year 2005 is expected to be at 501 billion yen ($4.4 billion), making it one of the biggest game companies in Japan.
Sega Sammy Holdings will start off with a capital fund of 10 billion yen ($91 million) and 50 employees. Board members in Sega Sammy Holdings will consist of Sammy and Sega chairman Hajime Satomi as the president and chairman, Sega president Hisao Oguchi as vice chairman, and two Sammy directors as executive directors. Two directors from Sega and one more from Sammy will also be given position as non-executive members of the board.
Major changes will also occur inside Sega's boardroom. Four of the company’s board members--everyone except Satomi, Oguchi, and Sammy executive Yoshiharu Suzuki--will step down in October. Other, as-yet-unidentified Sega executives will take over three of the seats, while vice-chairman Hideki Sato’s seat will remain unfilled.
"Unfortunately, Sega has been in the red for nearly 10 years. It would tighten things up if the [board] members that had directing position and representative rights took responsibility [for Sega's downturn]," commented Satomi during Sammy's fiscal announcements last month. "Oguchi is still young, so he should be able to do more things with new board members."
Prior to becoming a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings, Sega will also be merge its seven subsidiaries--Sega Wow, Sega AM2, Hitmaker, Team Sonic, Smilebit, Amusement Vision, and Digitalrex--into a single entity.
"I feel that Sega has high individual capabilities, but it's too separated into different subsidiaries", commented Satomi on the re-merger of Sega’s subsidiaries. "Sega wasn't able to create an overall corporate strategy or [a sense of] uniformity because of that, which is a major reason behind the company's stagnation. Oguchi himself has been feeling the same way. It's about time that we returned back to the old [structure of] Sega."
When the Sega-Sammy deal was announced last month, many media outlets painted it more as a takeover by Sammy than a merger. Under the terms of the deal, Sammy, which already owns nearly 25 percent of Sega, will exchange about 165 billion yen ($1.45 billion) of stock in the new company for Sega's remaining shares. Each share of Sammy will be swapped for one share of Sega Sammy Holdings, while each share of Sega will be swapped for 0.28 of a share. The deal will give current Sammy shareholders control of nearly three-quarters of the new company's voting stock.
I'm not thrilled as I feel like Sammy has too much control over the company, but maybe this is for the best. Combined, Sega-Sammy may now really be able to compete with the big boys. It's sad to see Sonic Team assimilated, but hopefully we'll start seeing more quality titles out of Sega's division. To the best of my knowledge, we'll still be seeing the classic Sega logo and this one on games developed by the Sega branch.
How will this affect what games are covered by the GHZ?
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:33 pm
by plasticwingsband
No.... this sucks.
Old Logo, you may be gone, but you're not forgotten.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:40 pm
by BlazeHedgehog
That logo is a piece of shit.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:51 pm
by Popcorn
I quite like it except for the image itself, which is simply dull. The only thing I'm really worried about is the name: 'Sega Sammy' sounds like ass.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 3:56 pm
by Owen Axel
Sammy...
It sounds like one of those embarrasing company logo mascot characters.
Hedgehog company excepted, of course.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:12 pm
by Spazz
Owen Axel wrote:Sammy...
It sounds like one of those embarrasing company logo mascot characters.
Hedgehog company excepted, of course.
Heh, There is actually a US company called Sammy Toys; they own brands like Mattel. The mascot is this retro looking boy wearing a crown and a striped shirt. Kinda like a character out of an Archie comic. And I mean the Archie
comic.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:22 pm
by Crazy Penguin
That is the tooliest thing I have ever seen.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:35 pm
by Esrever
I just don't understand why everyone is making such a big fuss about the logo of a holdings company. The old Sega logo isn't going anywhere.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:36 pm
by Squirrelknight
As long as theres PSO (or PSU or whatever), a new Sonic now and then (however LAAAAAAME they may be), I'll be happy. Though I have the impression that it'll be harder for Sega to publish those crazy, niche underground titles we've all grown so fond of.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:25 pm
by Shake
Squirrelknight wrote:As long as theres PSO (or PSU or whatever), a new Sonic now and then (however LAAAAAAME they may be), I'll be happy. Though I have the impression that it'll be harder for Sega to publish those crazy, niche underground titles we've all grown so fond of.
Maybe not. In any merger, don't both sides have to give some? There's still a small chance we could see the "Niche Underground" titles.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:05 pm
by Ngangbius
I refeuse to call this company Sega Sammy. So in the vein of calling Square Enix--Squenix, this Sega Sammy will now be known as Segammy.
However, I really prefer to just plain Sega, but...
My brother commented that the logo looks like ribbon candy. I say it's better than Konami's current logo but it still sucks.
Anyway, this dev. team intergration will be like in the good old days when Sega was still on top of the world in the West in the 90's. Hopefully Sammy would also fire the current marketing staff and hire people who can actually advertise a Sega game that is not Sonic.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:05 pm
by Green Gibbon!
Sega hasn't attempted a "niche underground" title since the DC went under. Since they went third-party (which was a good announcement and should've had awesome ramifications), all they've done are revive ancient series that should've remained in the previous decade and cough up a few godawful licensed games.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:10 pm
by Ngangbius
Would JSRF and Pazer Dragoon Orta be considered niche titles or those don't count because they are sequels?
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:11 pm
by Spazz
I wish that blue ribbon thingy represented SEGA engulfing the green ribbon (Sammy). To bad it couldn't have had a slightly more flashy font though.
(Sammy the Hedgehog, what?)
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:22 pm
by Esrever
Ngang, let's just say that those two games don't count, since they arrived right at the end of the DC era. JSRF, in particular, was originally going to be a Dreamcast game anyhow.
Gibs is right. The "innovative" Sega is dead. But it was their painful first year as a 3rd party publisher, not the death of the DC, that did them in. So many of the games they released that year -- Rez, JSRF, everything that wasn't SA2B -- tanked horribly. The new Sega philosophy seems to be "don't make any more of those silly games that no one ever buys," which is a shame for the few that liked them.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:27 pm
by Bo
Why are we all wanting Sega to have more control? I of course want them to put out good games like in the old days, but they put out a lot of crap in the old days, too. They haven't made a good financial decision since 1993; maybe this will give them competent management.
And as I read it, you can still say "Sega". If I'm reading "merge operations in October by becoming subsidiaries" correctly, it sounds like they'll be sister comapnies with a common parent, Sega-Sammy Holdings. We didn't call it "CSK-Sega" all these years.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 6:52 pm
by Argent Silver
Let's face it... Sega has really never been a success at all. Besides the Genesis and the Sonic the hegehog series, just about everything else they've done has sucked (maybe not as far as creativity or gameplay goes, just financially). Sega CD failed, Sega 32X failed, Sega Saturn failed, Sega Dreamcast failed, and they're not doing too great right now. I love the company to death, but it seems sorta like they're cursed.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:00 pm
by Biby128
I like the logo, but it's nowhere as good as the original Sega logo.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:24 pm
by Spazz
Speaking of bad/weird SEGA games, for those who actually played this, I'd like to know what people thought of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.
I thought it was playable, but also plain freaky. I mean, you play as Micheal Jackson, and you have to rescue...Children?
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:27 pm
by Segata
What type of salad dressing does Macaulay Culkin prefer?
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:28 pm
by Biby128
Which MJ was it? The big nosed (Back then when he was cool) or the no nesed (Now) one? MJ used to be a pimp (the strait kind)
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:34 pm
by Spazz
Biby128 wrote:Which MJ was it? The big nosed (Back then when he was cool) or the no nesed (Now) one? MJ used to be a pimp (the strait kind)
This one:
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:36 pm
by Biby128
OOOOOOhhhhh the no-nose....
Scary
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:43 pm
by Popcorn
That's probably not the real Sonic behind him.
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:57 pm
by Biby128
Of course not, Sonic knows better.