Sega has been hinting about its ‘super game’ project for a while now with particular emphasis as of late. It is said to be the company’s next big project. Based on how much they have been hyping it up, it seems that the project will be central to their strategy over the coming years.
Sega also provided some new detail on what the project will entail. Shuji Utsumi, Sega’s executive vide president said that the company’s ‘super game’ refers to the development of AAA games which will be aimed at online and global markets. These will then be added to multiple projects and some of these projects are already in development. Sega is also focusing heavily on interactivity of the gameplay and for audience to have the ability to watch streams of games.
Utsumi claims that, ‘We are developing multiple titles within the framework of ‘Super Game’, and although it depends on each title, there is no doubt that it will become an interactive title that goes beyond the framework of conventional games. For example, in the past, people who played games were called gamers, but now watching games is a culture, and those people may be called gamers as well. I think there is great potential in the relationship between the people who play the game and the people who watch it.’
The term gamers and gaming has heavily evolved over the years. It first indicated only video games and/or computer games. With the recent rise in online and mobile casinos, games have now also been transported to online slot games (both on desktop and through handheld smartphone devices). Recently, as Utsumi is also suggesting here, the term gamers can now also be applied to people who watch and stream games.
Katsuya Hisai, Sega’s general manager, adds that, ‘In fact, efforts that could be part of ‘Super Game’ have already started for titles that are already in development. For example, in terms of watching the game mentioned earlier, it’s a system that allows viewers to intervene in the game. We are experimenting with new experience possibilities to broaden the range of players.’
According to producer Masayoshi Kikuchi, Sega is also keeping in mind cloud gaming and the recent buzz for NFTs when it comes to long-term projects and how ‘super game’ might expand in the future. ‘In the future, it is natural for the future of games to expand by involving new fields such as cloud gaming and NFT. We are also developing ‘Super Game’ from the perspective of how far different games can be connected to each other.’
Cloud technology has always been on Sega’s mind. Last year, Sega entered into a partnership with Microsoft for the use of Azure’s cloud tech which Sega wanted to use for the development of its ‘super game’. NFTs are still a grey area for Sega as they are still debating ‘what will be accepted and what will not be by the users.’
Hisai said in a recent Q&A that the ‘super game’ project is currently undergoing multiple projects, but it will surely involve hundred of people. On this note, Utsami adds that ‘super game’ will prioritise four main aspects – multiplatform releases, simultaneous global releases, multilingual support, and AAA development.
The games that we are to expect from the ‘super game’ is still unknown but Kikuchi hints that ‘a big feature is that it is a hybrid team that gathers members who have been active in the fields of consumer, arcade, and mobile in the past. Members who are familiar with the differences and characteristics of each way of playing are combining their own know-how to develop new games that only Sega can make.’
