After the wild success of the Sonic The Hedgehog movies and SEGA IPs, the company is prime for an acquisition by a bigger company. SEGA Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi has clarified that the company isn’t for sale. They’ve got a lot more up their sleeves and aren’t likely to be part of a sale to Microsoft.
During the hearings for the Microsoft buyout of Acivision-Blizzard, many things came to light. For example, one of the reasons Microsoft bought Bethesda was because of fear that Sony wanted to buy exclusivity for Starfield. Another rumor was that both SEGA and Bungie were up for sale. In an interview with CNBC, Utsumi denied that this would happen.
“Many companies are interested. We feel honored… We have attractive IPs and potentials. Companies owned by the owner. A strong owner. I don’t think that kind of transaction is going to happen.”
Shuji Utsumi
Currently, SEGA is in the process of buying studios and considering movie adaptations of its games.
“We have other major IPs, we are thinking of reviving other classical IPs too… As I say, we are trying to be in a lot of different categories, different areas like Roblox, movies… All these IPs can be somewhere else other than games soon.”
Shuji Utsumi
While you may say ‘oh but he doesn’t know, what if Microsoft comes with a bigger number?’ I’d disagree. He’s the COO of the company, which means he’s second to the CEO, so he’s very much in the know. We’ve already reported on SEGA wanting Sonic to crush Mario, so SEGA may hope to become a powerhouse in gaming again.
It’s not impossible to do so under Microsoft, but it will keep them from reaching the heights they were once at during the SEGA vs Nintendo period of the console wars. However, anything can happen so we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.
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