As if Sega news hasn’t been monstrously odd this past week, from the “coming out of left feild department” we get this: Remember that weirdo Sonic/Mario hybrid RPG newsrumor that flopped out of nowhere and was dismissed by many as silly talk?
Well this came in from the grapevine this weekend courtesy of IGN DC:
According to the Online version of Japan’s Asahi newspaper, Sega and Nintendo are teaming up to form a joint company. The story at Asahi first describes Sega’s recently announced losses, stating that Sega revealed to investors in September that its results for the half-year ending September 30th would be less than expected. And that’s what happened (see news article clarification below – WB), with the company announcing a loss of 29.2 billion yen today, down from an expected profit of 600 million yen. Poor Dreamcast performance was stated as the cause for the loss. Now, for the full year period ending March 2001, the company expects a loss of 22.1 billion yen, down from an expected profit of 1.5 billion yen. This will be the fourth yearly loss in a row for the company. This is where the story becomes a bit odd.
Sega has stated that it’s not basing its future exclusively on Dreamcast – go figure. As expected, it’s looking to reinforce the network gaming side of its business. In order to achieve this latter goal, Asahi states that Sega will be forming joint companies with, respectively, Nintendo and…famed Japanese music producer Tetsuya Komuro.
If you’re not familiar with Komuro’s work, then you probably aren’t familiar with modern day Japanese music at all. Komuro has helped to develop such names as Namie Amuro, Ami Suzuki, and mega-group Globe. (Don’t look at me – I have no sense of Japanese music – WB ^___^) We’re not sure what to make of this peculiar announcement. Unfortunately, the Japanese source gives no further details on what these joint ventures will amount to, and how Komuro plays a role in things. Sega of America could not be reached to confirm the information.
The Tetsuyo Komuro thing is real cool if you’re into that sorta stuff, I have no idea who he is personally – but perhaps of more relevance to game fans is being able to see Sega and Nintendo mentioned in the same sentence alongside the words “Jointly owned company.”
If this is ever confirmed, and after this fiasco weekend, maybe there’s truth to the rumors after all?
Source: IGN DC