Sega Racing Studio closed, not profitable

by James Ransom-Wiley { Apr 8th 2008 at 7:30PM }

Sega has confirmed closure of its Sega Racing Studio, which, despite ballooning to more than 60 employees, has managed only a single release since its creation in 2005. One, and done.

"The decision is part of a review of Sega's Western Development Studios to ensure that each studio is a profitable entity in its own right, and unfortunately the Sega Racing Studio's 5 year plan would not result in a successful return for the Sega business moving forward," Sega explained to Next-Gen. Poor sales of last year's Sega Rally Revo likely encouraged the decision to shut down Sega Racing Studio "immediately," bringing an indefinite halt to purported projects currently in development. Sega has not made public the ultimate fates of the staff members, who include a diverse array of veteran talent, headed by former Colin McRae Rally series producer Guy Wilday, but did add, "Sega would like to stress that there will be no changes within their other internal development studios."

Read - Initial report (Develop)
Read - Sega's explanation (Next-Gen)

Tags: sega, sega-driving-studio, sega-racing-studio, sega-rally-revo

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

mr mobius @ Apr 8th 2008 7:35PM

Releasing games would have been a start I guess.

Mr Khan @ Apr 8th 2008 7:52PM

Such casualties are inevitable, given SEGA's current position, though the first poster is right, actually releasing something more than just Sega Rally Revo (which was an OK game as such racers go) would've helped

Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Apr 8th 2008 7:56PM

They should have released Sonic Kart...That would have had tons of sales!

...OK, maybe not.

Mr.ESC @ Apr 8th 2008 7:59PM

A new Daytona U.S.A!! or a New OutRun.

Curtis the Claw: Brawl Code 1075-0441-3284 @ Apr 8th 2008 8:03PM

"Sega would like to stress that there will be no changes within their other internal development studios."

That's to bad, Sonic Team needs to stop sucking.

gregory mitchell @ Apr 8th 2008 8:27PM

how bout a new sega GT wouldve been nice the last one was pretty good, needed work but not that bad

FrankTheCrank @ Apr 8th 2008 8:58PM

If this is the death of Sega racing games than it's a very sad day in gaming history.

*drops head in sadness

blinguskahn @ Apr 8th 2008 9:11PM

agreed, this is a sad day. I would have loved updated versions of Daytona, Sega GT, Super Speed Racing, Outrun, etc.

Seems like Sega is just sucking lately and it's time for them to get their heads out of their asses. Oh yeah, and Sonice Team *does* need to stop sucking!

mr mobius @ Apr 9th 2008 11:31AM

Hopefully they are still open to making games like F Zero GX. They made that game amazing back in the Gamecube days, and I'm sure could do a brilliant sequel as well.

horngreen @ Apr 8th 2008 9:07PM

Not much point in being sad over the loss of a studio that was churning out crap. It amazes me how these companies think they can tap the well of the past for ALL their games. Sega Rally was great on the Saturn and a direct port of that would have been better than Rally Revo. Segas always jamming out some Sonic game which stinks of desperation. The past 8 years they have been living off past successes and it's catching up with them. The same will happen to Nintendo at some point I'm sure. I can also see an overload of Halo in the next couple years.

MRBlue @ Apr 8th 2008 9:07PM

If all the team could muster in 2 years was a game where cars ice-skated on dirt then they should be shut down. Making turds-on-discs is not profitable. Let's just hope Sega can turn the corner with Sonic. If there was ever a franchise and/or character that needed a seriously major reboot it's Sonic (and Lara Croft).

DustoMan @ Apr 8th 2008 10:04PM

Fuck you, Sega.

Poisoned Al @ Apr 8th 2008 10:56PM

I dunno why people are getting upset about this. I don't think these are the same people who made the classic Sega racers. AM5 was quite a small team, and if it seems with games that there can be too many cooks.

Burnt Meatloaf @ Apr 9th 2008 6:02AM

Or too many middlemen. Look inside a manual these days, and half the developers credited are project managers, not designers.

I'm waiting for yet another idiotic, whiny rant from a game studio about "rising development costs". Maybe if they did things the old fashioned way -- lock up a small team in a room for a few weeks -- they'd get better results. At least, there would be less waste, as they've already blown tons of cash doing everything else.

lexisfoot @ Apr 9th 2008 12:52AM

What a shame. I picked up two copies of Revo the day it came out. The gamestop goons gave me a puzzled look when I bought the game. Like everyone else...they were all convinced that Revo was a generic arcade racing game, but its not.

There is depth to Revo. The same kind of depth other racers like PGR, Forza, and Gran Turismo have. Once the HUD, Mirror, and Name tags are turned off, and a wheel is hooked up. Without all that crap on screen, its easier to get into the game. Revo is only an arcade racer if its treated like one... being played with a controller and that big, crappy hud. Im sad to see the team go, Revo is a gem despite what the critics claim.