Post-Dreamcast, Could Nintendo Have Ever Bought Sega?

[Nevermore]

Hit by a bit of Genesis/Dreamcast nostalgia earlier today and this was floating through my mind...

In the wake of SEGA's exit from the console hardware race in the early 2000s they eventually merged with pachinko and pachislot giant Sammy Corporation. However, the subject of alternate partnerships around this period fascinates me even if I'm a little fuzzy as to who was courting them c. 2001-2004. I believe that were speculation Microsoft at one point considered doing so but from what I understand this is impossible due to Japanese protection laws (Japanese companies can't be bought out by foreign ones unless I'm mistaken). Though I realize that it's incredibly unlikely given their conservative corporate culture, would it have been ever possible for Nintendo to consider acquiring SEGA?

Note I said 'acquire' and not 'merge' as I believe the former is more likely as Nintendo only recently mentioned they were open to the latter. Admittedly it's highly doubtful: SEGA of the early '00s was a company plagued with a lot of problems and Nintendo is about to find itself squeezed between the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in the sixth generation of console gaming. A large decision like that is probably not wise and I'm unsure how or if Yamauchi/Iwata could be convinced to do so and how such a scenario might play out (licensing deals, 3rd party contracts, etc.).

So what say you, AH.com?

 

[MorningDew]

Doesn't Nintendo own Sega now? I thought that was in 2005.

 

[Nivek]

Nintendo did was interested, heck even far away helping with sega own lifeline, Arcades, making the triforce arcade board and sonic was gc exclusive before sammy purcharse....

So Nintendo would have to jump the gun, keep sega for arcade espace, send reorganization(move console teams and send help for arcade hardware) and like you say, adquire and make it a full subsidiary(like monolith soft in 2007) and all sega 2000-2004 studios being sub-subsidiaries of nintendo.

That is a lot of game not couting arcade ports and etc.

So yeah was a missed oportunity for nintendo(like Midway, Eidos THQ and Atlus were later on when were for sale)

So just nintendo got for it, would worth a timeline.

 

[Miss Teri]

How would this effect the quality of the Sonic the Hedgehog series in later installments, I wonder. Would Nintendo resources improve their general quality?

 

[Nivek]

Nintendo will easily avoid and fix all mistakes post SA2, specially seing how the Adventure game sold so well in GC and was the time nintendo created the SPD so they would easily keep quality in check.

Sonic heroes would be adventures 3 and far better-straightforward.

Shadow would be the rpg idea was pitched or nixed,

Sonic 06 would be delayed till was completed and the plot less 'controversial', etc,etc,etc.

Them other sega series etc.

 

[Nevermore]

Doesn't Nintendo own Sega now? I thought that was in 2005.

No, Nintendo doesn't own Sega. Sega merged with the aforementioned Sammy Corporation in 2004 and became Sega Sammy Holdings. I can understand the confusion, though, as Nintendo and Sega have been pretty buddy-buddy after the Dreamcast.

How would this effect the quality of the Sonic the Hedgehog series in later installments, I wonder. Would Nintendo resources improve their general quality?

I agree with Nivek: in a hypothetical 'Nintendo buys Sega' scenario I don't think they can do anything but help Sonic's fortunes. Sonic is not just a minor property like EarthBound/Mother or F-Zero; he's going to be a flagship series given he's their former rival's mascot (and the fact they're going to show stockholders and board members who might be wary about this buyout that it was worthwhile). Yuji Naka may still eventually leave Sega to go on and do his own thing but I would imagine that better management by Nintendo would let him take some time to groom a successor similar to Eiji Aonuma to take the reins over. Miyamoto would probably be brought in to oversee development of Sonic Adventure 3/Sonic Heroes, or at least advise in some small capacity.

Perhaps a better NiGHTS... sequel down the line too. It is the one game Miyamoto has gone on record saying he's jealous that he didn't think up first.

Nintendo did was interested, heck even far away helping with sega own lifeline, Arcades, making the triforce arcade board and sonic was gc exclusive before sammy purcharse....

I'd actually forgotten about the Triforce arcade board in partnership with Sega and Namco. But again the question comes back to: is there a way to make them interested enough to acquire them? That's the stumbling block, as I said, due to how Nintendo normally operates (preferring partnerships and not purchasing studios). Speaking of those partnerships, one wonders if 20th Century Fox's deal with Sega to produce games based on the Alien franchise would carry over to Nintendo proper. A Retro Studios-produced Alien game in the vein of Metroid Prime would be quite something.

I've read before that the GameCube initially was going to make a much larger use of its broadband feature and that Yamauchi had ambitions of a service similar to Xbox Live. Might that be a start? After all, Sega has experience given that it had SegaNet...

That is a lot of game not couting arcade ports and etc.

It's an impressive portfolio, that's for sure, even discounting Sonic. All those arcade titles would be perfect for Nintendo continuously re-releasing on the Virtual Console equivalent. Going with the above speculation about a 'NintendoNet' I could see the third episode of Phantasy Star Online (the card one) or an entirely new sequel being the flagship title for the service. Another one I wonder about is Sega Overworks; having Skies of Arcadia become a franchise would be great but it didn't sell very well on either the Dreamcast or as Legends on the GameCube.

One of the more immediate butterflies that comes to mind in this case is the future of Shenmue. Despite the fact that the first two games were commercial failures it does give Nintendo the unique opportunity of having a sandbox-style franchise that could hypothetically compete with the likes of Grand Theft Auto elsewhere (I think it's rather safe to say the Yakuza franchise is butterflied away given that it's not really Nintendo's style). At the very least I'd imagine some sort of compilation of the first two games and a much earlier third game. Yu Suzuki's scope for the franchise may still be too overly ambitious for Kyoto, though.

So yeah was a missed oportunity for nintendo(like Midway, Eidos THQ and Atlus were later on when were for sale)

Out of general curiosity: did Nintendo ever consider purchasing those OTL? I know there were rumors they'd approached Atlus before Sega nabbed them, but I've never heard anything regarding Midway, THQ, or Eidos before.

 

[Nivek]

I agree with Nivek: in a hypothetical 'Nintendo buys Sega' scenario I don't think they can do anything but help Sonic's fortunes. Sonic is not just a minor property like EarthBound/Mother or F-Zero; he's going to be a flagship series given he's their former rival's mascot (and the fact they're going to show stockholders and board members who might be wary about this buyout that it was worthwhile). Yuji Naka may still eventually leave Sega to go on and do his own thing but I would imagine that better management by Nintendo would let him take some time to groom a successor similar to Eiji Aonuma to take the reins over. Miyamoto would probably be brought in to oversee development of Sonic Adventure 3/Sonic Heroes, or at least advise in some small capacity.

Perhaps a better NiGHTS... sequel down the line too. It is the one game Miyamoto has gone on record saying he's jealous that he didn't think up first.

Nice and thansk to agree with me and i agree with you, Sonic would be promoted to Flagship or sub-flagship(the same position Kirby, Fire Emblem and Metroid are now) and being sure not suffer slip and nintendo is famous for delay something to make sure work flawesly and this good. And specially as Nintendo have SPD departament, who is for that.


A miyamoto directed or produced nights would be awesome too.

I'd actually forgotten about the Triforce arcade board in partnership with Sega and Namco. But again the question comes back to: is there a way to make them interested enough to acquire them? That's the stumbling block, as I said, due to how Nintendo normally operates (preferring partnerships and not purchasing studios). Speaking of those partnerships, one wonders if 20th Century Fox's deal with Sega to produce games based on the Alien franchise would carry over to Nintendo proper. A Retro Studios-produced Alien game in the vein of Metroid Prime would be quite something.

I've read before that the GameCube initially was going to make a much larger use of its broadband feature and that Yamauchi had ambitions of a service similar to Xbox Live. Might that be a start? After all, Sega has experience given that it had SegaNet...

The Internet Bit would as you say improved but like any business chance, nintendo will need to cosnider and just bit the bullet and if want focus internet, sega's seganet and dreamarena would be perfect for it, is just take the risk.


Unless 20th Century Fox renegated the deal or want to got it out, the deal woudl still stand, unless nintendo or sega dropped it later but a retro studios Alien game would be brutal,at least save mankind of the awful colonial marines

It's an impressive portfolio, that's for sure, even discounting Sonic. All those arcade titles would be perfect for Nintendo continuously re-releasing on the Virtual Console equivalent. Going with the above speculation about a 'NintendoNet' I could see the third episode of Phantasy Star Online (the card one) or an entirely new sequel being the flagship title for the service. Another one I wonder about is Sega Overworks; having Skies of Arcadia become a franchise would be great but it didn't sell very well on either the Dreamcast or as Legends on the GameCube.

Excatly, Sega game vault, both console and arcade will be invaluable later on, and if triforce becoem sucesfful, that will add more arcade port for GC and future console based arcade board(iirc porting from Naomi-Dreamcast to gamecube was pretty easy and that explain a lot of early ports, why was not continued was weird for me). Yeah a brand new Phantasy Star Online( Card Revolution would be a spinoff later on that a numbered title) for Gamecube taking advantage the system power would be pretty good.

Well Nintendo did later supported Monolith and Xenosaga have a poor track record too, Nintendo funded Baten Kaitos Sequel when sold as much as Skies of Arcadia, this possible nintendo will make Skies of Arcadia Legends even better(improved models, improved soundtrack, 2 dics rather one,etc) and maybe fund sequel, if sequel is sucessful would make a series or revived Classic Phantasy Star Instead.

One of the more immediate butterflies that comes to mind in this case is the future of Shenmue. Despite the fact that the first two games were commercial failures it does give Nintendo the unique opportunity of having a sandbox-style franchise that could hypothetically compete with the likes of Grand Theft Auto elsewhere (I think it's rather safe to say the Yakuza franchise is butterflied away given that it's not really Nintendo's style). At the very least I'd imagine some sort of compilation of the first two games and a much earlier third game. Yu Suzuki's scope for the franchise may still be too overly ambitious for Kyoto, though.

Depend cost, acording yu suzuki, shenmue was tech bed for the virtua figther series and DC respectly, full of middleware and tools would be use intensively by sega, and if a port-remake of Shenmue I and II(Depend when the company is buy, they would still release II to DC and simultaneous to GC) sold well, would approve III and if sucessful, continued the series or ended it right there.

A More Tamed Yazuka is possible, is the same Nintendo approved and make Eternal Darkness, maybe with less creepy minigames and more focus in gameplay.

Out of general curiosity: did Nintendo ever consider purchasing those OTL? I know there were rumors they'd approached Atlus before Sega nabbed them, but I've never heard anything regarding Midway, THQ, or Eidos before.

Well I think nintendo did was interested in something of THQ, Itagaki knew something but he is under NDA so will not say anything(tried it), Atlus did was at the time and was a missed oportunity still i raised against the Late Satoru iwata(R.I.P.) for not getting it when they can. the other were speculation

 

[Kermode]

It's honestly a little difficult to see what Sega would do for Nintendo. While Sega would bring them a wealth of IPs, many of them overlap with what Nintendo offers (Sonic, Sakura Wars, Panzer Dragoon, OutRun, Crazy Taxi) or don't fit cleanly into Nintendo's image (House of the Dead, Shenmue, Seaman, Rez). While there would be a some fits (Samba de Amigo, Super Monkey Ball, Sonic) and wins (Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star, maybe even Ecco), it's hard to see them as really worth the entire company. I think Nintendo would be smarter to poach the talent and set them up in a new studio instead.

 

[oreocruncher]

What would happen to Atlus down the line? I mean, OTL Sega bought them up when their parent company, Index Corporation, went bankrupt...

 

[Nivek]

What would happen to Atlus down the line? I mean, OTL Sega bought them up when their parent company, Index Corporation, went bankrupt...

there is almost a decade of difference between events and before being bought by Index(who was a multi purprose holding compasay) During 2003 Atlus was talking to be bought by takara(toy company) but they just become a minor partner instead
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlus(here for more info)

So unless Ceteris Paribus, maybe as now nintendo adquire sega and got good experience, will get atlus too? they Still have Genei Ibonroku #FE and SMTIV in the way.