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Former Sega West CEO joins mobile startup Caperfly
Sega West CEO Mike Hayes left the company in April, and has now resurfaced as a "non-executive director" of UK-based Caperfly, Ltd., a company that makes games for iOS, Android and "emerging Smart TV platforms."Caperfly was founded by former Codemasters executives, including Codemasters Studios VP of Development Gavin Cheshire, who now serves as CEO. The fledgling developer has yet to announce any specific projects.
Sega CEO Mike Hayes stepping down
Sega Europe and Sega America CEO Mike Hayes is stepping down and exiting the building, though he may peek in through second-floor windows every now and then in "advisory roles." If the Sega corporate ladder is no longer available, the garden variety should suffice.According to GamesIndustry, the departing executive will remain in the industry in assorted capacities, while COO Jurgen Post and Masano Maeda oversee the company in Europe and America, respectively. Sega has not yet confirmed when or how it intends to fill the CEO role in the future.Sega's American arm was recently struck with unspecified game cancellations, layoffs and significant restructuring in an effort to create a smaller, more profitable business. The company intends to prioritize digital games and safe, mac-and-cheese IPs like Sonic, Total War and Aliens.
Sega 'reasonably encouraged' by day-one Vanquish sales
Sega West president Mike Hayes wouldn't disclose specific Vanquish sales numbers to IGN, but he did offer some hesitant praise for the shooter's sales. "It's been in the marketplace for two days," Hayes said. "We've seen the day one numbers and we're reasonably encouraged, but I think we need to see the rest of week one and probably week two just to see how it's going to play out." He also noted that the new IP faces tough competition from established franchises (like Fallout: New Vegas, which launched the same day). "Reasonably encouraged" from a game company executive is reasonably troubling for our estimation of Vanquish's fortunes. We tend to expect publishers to overhype their games' success. If "reasonably encouraged" is Sega's spin, that's not great news for fans of Shinji Mikami's unique brand of smoking, shooting action. Though, of course, that's better than "disappointed," "humiliated," or "driven out of business."
Sega working on original, 'more sophisticated' Kinect game for 2011-2012
Sega seems to think that if you're underwhelmed by the use of Kinect in Sonic Free Riders (as seen at E3), you shouldn't give up hope yet. The publisher has had less than a year to work on these new motion-controlled titles, Sega's Mike Hayes told CVG, and hopes to improve efforts as the Kinect dev kits mature. "We've got one good idea and hopefully something will be out the back end of next year, perhaps early 2012, which we think will use the aspects of Kinect a lot more originally and in a more sophisticated way," he said. What won't we see from Sega in the near future? XBLA and PSN ports of Saturn games, Hayes said. "No," he admitted plainly, "we're going to focus on Dreamcast; there's a significant catalogue there. Once we're done with that we'll see." Sega's Yosuke Okunari made a similar point recently -- in putting the emphasis on the Dreamcast lineup first -- though expressed a more optimistic viewpoint when he said Sega was already "thinking" about Saturn ports.
Alpha Protocol sequel denied, low sales to blame
Sega West president Mike Hayes has stated that the espionage RPG, Alpha Protocol, won't be receiving a sequel. In an interview with CVG, the executive plainly expressed, "Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel." He continued that the game didn't have enough to get into that "upper echelon" of RPGs, because the amount "you need to invest to get there is so large because RPGs are naturally big projects." The Obsidian-developed game suffered numerous delays, alleged tweaks and eventually launched this year to middling reviews (across the industry). It seems Alpha Protocol will have a future akin to that other oft-overlooked espionage classic: Leonard Part 6.
Sega restructures US, European operations, lays off 73
Sega West President Mike Hayes has told IndustryGamers that the company is currently implementing a major restructuring of its North American and European operations. The human cost will be 73 jobs (36 in San Francisco, 37 in London), which represents about 12 percent of Sega West's workforce. It's worth noting that these figures are separate from the recent shutdown of Sega Studios San Francisco. Sega's San Francisco office will now focus on digitally delivered products for mobile, consoles and PC while Europe will continue focusing on "traditional package goods." Hayes stressed this is "very much administrative reorganization, because clearly we want to be very successful with digital globally. Likewise, we want to continue to be successful with traditional goods." So, to recap, instead of Sega's American and European operations running in parallel, working on retail games in addition to digital titles, each now has a specific market to focus on. Whether this strategy will result in better products and increased sales for the one-time gaming giant remains to be seen, but at least Sega's not sitting idly by.
Sega says statements about abandoning Wii core were 'erroneous'
Sega and hardcore Wii games have been the will-they-won't-they couple in the games industry lately -- our Ross and Rachel, if you will. First, Sega said it would be arrogant to give up on the hardcore. Then, the company basically did just that. Now, Sega West President Mike Hayes has corrected that last position, just a bit, with IndustryGamers. Calling previous quotes "erroneous," Hayes said that less demand for matured-themed titles on the Wii doesn't necessarily mean his company isn't going to meet the demand that is out there. "Is it going to be as big as the Teen or Mature market that exists on the Xbox 360 or PS3 platforms? Certainly not," West conceded. "Is it viable, because the cost of development on the Wii is significantly less than those other platforms? Then, potentially the answer is yes." We just want to make two key points: 1) Hayes' statement is promising news for those of us who had our fingers crossed for another House of the Dead: Overkill (read: all thinking people); and 2) We're really sorry about the dated Friends reference, we don't watch a lot of TV. Honestly, you should probably just be happy we didn't go David and Maddie on you.
Sega: MadWorld on Wii a 'mismatch;' Platinum Games needs power of 360, PS3
Apparently, the lack of commercial success for MadWorld wasn't due to the game being bad or anything -- it was just that it was on Wii. Sega's Mike Hayes told CVG that the game was a "mismatch with the Wii audience," citing that Sega underestimated the amount of Wii owners who also own other consoles. To him, most gamers looking to experience a Mature-rated game are going to do so on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC ... not the Wii. Hayes was still proud of Platinum's attempt to strike bloody gold on Nintendo's console, but thinks the developer needs the power of the Xbox 360 and PS3 to "realize what they actually want to do." He points to Bayonetta as an example of this, calling it a "very high-quality standard." And by "very high-quality standard," we think Hayes meant "in Bayonetta, you can suplex a damn dragon." [Via Industry Gamers]
Sega: we can 'sequel-ise' Bayonetta, AvP, Alpha Protocol
In a recent interview with CVG, Sega West president Mike Hayes spoke briefly on the future of the company's portfolio of intellectual properties. Hayes explained, "If you think about it, we can sequel-ise Bayonetta, AvP, Alpha Protocol and we can make a hit of something like Vanquish." Those are some mighty bold plans, considering only two of those games have actually been released. We're fairly unsurprised by Sega's interest in a follow-up to Bayonetta. Not only because it's been a commercial success for the company, but also because the developers need another chance to do all the crazy action sequences they couldn't fit in the first game. Like, for instance, throwing a church at a dragon. Wait, they did that in Bayonetta? How about riding a motorcycle in space? Really, that too? Well, then ... we're stumped.
Sega hopes to activate Natal, Sony Motion plans in early 2010
"I kind of think of it as the land of bunsen burners and test tubes," Sega West president Mike Hayes recently told IndustryGamers, commenting on the company's experimentation with Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony's motion controller. Hayes claims that while Sega is still getting into the swing, kick and jump of things, it hopes to toss out official announcements in early 2010. "We have our ideas and we know what we want to do, but the technology is pretty new, particularly with Natal, so we've got to get to grips with the technology and see if it can do what we want it [to] do," he said.Of course, turning your body into a controller is something Sega wanted to do back in the days of the Genesis. With Microsoft and Sony taking care of the hard part, perhaps it's time to bust out all those unused Activator concept games.
Sega open to developing more niche MMOs
With the success of Football Manager Live in the U.K., Sega is open to the possibility of making other niche MMOs in the future. During a Sega event in New York City last week, I spoke with Sega West president Mike Hayes about the MMO market. He said that the company's subscription-based sports MMO is doing well, and he discussed upcoming plans for the game. "Football Manager Live was a very U.K.-specific launch, and our next task is localization to take it to other territories," he said. "So whether that be France, Korea, Brazil or wherever there's a good football fanbase. It's certainly a project we're quite pleased with in terms of the progress we've made. As for future projects... we're looking at things." But if you're a soccer fan in the U.S., don't hold your breath if you're waiting for Football Manager Live to come Stateside.
Sega: Giving up on hardcore Wii games would be 'arrogant'
Sega's Mike Hayes assured Wired that the company still plans to make "core" games for the Wii, despite the relative lack of success of MadWorld. For one thing, its other games are doing well, in his opinion. "We actually regard The Conduit as a success," he said. "We shipped 300,000 units, sold through half of those and now it's at the point where it's selling consistently at a time when Wii sales are generally depressed in the marketplace."Despite somewhat disappointing sales Stateside, Hayes also told Wired that The House of the Dead: Overkill "did really well in Europe." As for MadWorld, Hayes doesn't think one game's failure is enough to close up shop on the Wii. "The thing that we're saying is, Sega would be extremely arrogant to have a title that didn't do as well as we thought on a platform and then say, Those kind of games don't sell on that platform.'"Quite a change from the Blast Processing / "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" days when Sega was extremely, demonstrably, arrogant.
Sega Europe's Hayes takes Sega America top spot
Climbing the corporate ladder is fast when the guys at the top are jumping ship. GI.biz reports that Sega Europe's COO Mike Hayes has taken the recently vacated president position at Sega of America. That means everyone at Sega Europe can stand up and move up one rung, right?Hayes' promotion comes in the wake of Sega of America president and CEO Simon Jeffery's departure to iPhone developer ngmoco.
Sega Europe prez talks MadWorld, core games, and 2009
Click for more screenage COO and Sega Europe president, Mike Hayes, is pumped for 2009. With the release of MadWorld quickly approaching, he's anxious for us to try the experience he's calling "so unique it aches." The Sega Europe president opened up on more than just Platinum Games' upcoming title, talking about the success of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, as well as what the company expects going into 2009. Click here to read the full interview.%Gallery-22964%[Via CVG]
