Sega Japan COO - "Shenmue is an important IP to us"

[Axm]

http://www.gamebusiness.jp/article/2015 ... 11621.html

Hideki Okamura is a Sega Sammy Executive in charge of all video games, arcade as well as Toy and Animation areas. He has been involved with Sega since 1988, first working in edutainment area division, and then was in charge of Saturn and Dreamcast marketing strategies.

He was asked about Shenmue. Here are Google Translations:

Certainly "Shenmue" is to important IP Sega, as well as Sega, is a title that has affected a lot of games. In a closed world, you can go anywhere, that it can be anything, and I'll was a pioneer of open-field game. The Hiroshi Suzuki on it there was a strong desire to create a "Shenmue 3". Should make is making things really make people want, it is that it's creators with a focus on Mr. Yutaka Suzuki. Of course Sega might exchanges with Mr. Yutaka Suzuki, even now. We have continued to support also "Shenmue 3".

[-=SPZ=-47]

No wonder Sammy wants Shenmue burried. Those guys look just like those mobsters from yellow head building. They only say this because they smell money. Yet, Yakuza 5 is coming without any help from Sony/fans.
#hate

[Jibby]

I have a feeling that it's just SEGA marketing, but it's still nice that they're acknowledging Shenmue's existence.

[Peter]

Agree with Jibby here. Sounds like one of the old guard saying the right thing when asked about Shenmue, rather than some young executive replying with, "Shenmue?? ..... oh yea remember that..."

[Hanzumon]

Bullshit. Sega does nothing with the Shenmue-IP in the last 12 Years. They don`t want to make more Shenmue-Games. They didn´t help Yu Suzuki to create the third game.

[LucBu]

Yes. In the other topic there was a difficulty in translating some of the language. I believe Rakim had trouble with, "モノ作りは本当に作りたい人が作るべきで、それが鈴木裕氏を中心としたクリエイターだということです。"

Let me put my translating skills to use.

It means: "I ain't gonna do shit for Shenmue but please love me. I'll only take a stand on things that graphs allow me to love and I have no imagination. If I was a bird I wouldn't use my wings; I would crawl with my beak through the dirt. Sometimes it is cold at night."

Hope this helps everyone.

[iyapol]

The guy was in charge of marketing the Saturn and the Dreamcast? How does be still have a job?

[freakycritter]

The guy was in charge of marketing the Saturn and the Dreamcast? How does be still have a job?

In Japan.

It means: "I ain't gonna do shit for Shenmue but please love me. I'll only take a stand on things that graphs allow me to love and I have no imagination. If I was a bird I wouldn't use my wings; I would crawl with my beak through the dirt. Sometimes it is cold at night."

Hope this helps everyone.

I'd think with marketing background you woudn't be someone with no imagination.

[KidMarine]

The guy was in charge of marketing the Saturn and the Dreamcast? How does be still have a job?

In Japan.

Segata Sanshiro was a stroke of genius.

[freakycritter]

http://www.mobygames.com/developer/shee ... rId,43646/

Shenmue (1999) (Exec. Marketing Producer)

I think he might be more attached to Shenmue than alot of other executives at Sega.

[Mark James G]

The guy was in charge of marketing the Saturn and the Dreamcast? How does be still have a job?

I think the Dreamcast did poorly mostly because of Utopia and CD Burning. I don't have any statistics to back that up and am going purely on anecdotal evidence here when I say this but everyone I knew who had owned a dreamcast did this.

[LucBu]

I'd think with marketing background you woudn't be someone with no imagination.

You'd be surprised.

Did you see the Sony Hack and the leaked presentation the marketing department were using to understand the Smurfs 2? They had a spider diagram showing two major themes; 'blueness' and 'family'. That, my friend, is how an alien outsider would view human society and culture.

[Axm]

Shenmue is such an important IP to us we haven't touched it since a decade and a half.

[Kintor]

Shenmue is such an important IP to us we haven't touched it since a decade and a half.

There have been a few nods to Shenmue in the last few years. Seeing Ryo Hazuki in both S&SASR and S&ASRT alongside so many other Sega characters is a hugely significant thing. Its little cameos like this which has helped to keep Shenmue in the public eye, alongside the efforts of the whole Sega fanbase to make Shenmue 3 possible.

If anything, now that Shenmue 3 is being made, Sega's executives and spokespeople might feel more confident about talking about Shenmue in public. There's no longer any danger of accidently hurting fan's expectations, merely by talking about Shenmue, since at last Shenmue 3 has been announced. The time for 'walking on egg shells' has passed; Shenmue can be discussed confidently in the same breath as any other Sega franchise.

Personally, I welcome the fact that Hideki Okamura has talked about Shenmue. This is a positive statement on Sega's part that bodes extremely well for the future.

[Monkei]

I think the Dreamcast did poorly mostly because of Utopia and CD Burning. I don't have any statistics to back that up and am going purely on anecdotal evidence here when I say this but everyone I knew who had owned a dreamcast did this.

I don't think piracy has ever hurt hardware sales. On the contrary, it helped the first PlayStation to become as huge as it did. Being able to get the games for free wouldn't really be something that speaks against buying a console, would it? It might have hurt software sales and SEGA as a whole though, to whatever extent.

Very bad marketing, bad business decisions, no EA Sports games, not much mainstream appeal, great alternatives (PlayStation 2) on the horizon, bad timing, bad luck - there are many reasons why the Dreamcast failed. There simply weren't enough people who gave a damn about it, despite it being a damn fine console.