Giuseppe Nelva
The interview, featuring executive vice-president Shuji Utsumi, producer Masayoshi Kikuchi, and general manager Katsuya Hisai, provides more details about the concept and what we can expect.
The plan was put into motion in 2019 and involves strengthening the value of Sega’s IP, including older ones to create new games.
There are actually multiple games in development within this “Super Game” framework and the idea is to create titles that go beyond the conventional framework, for instance by creating new entertainment by focusing on the relationship between players and the audience watching them play.
Four points are required for a title to be classified “Super Game” and they are multiplatform, global multilingual support, simultaneous worldwide release, and AAA scale. Basically, they’re games that aim to become global blockbusters.
About 50 developers are involved in the initial stage of the project, but the expectation is to grow to involve hundreds of people.
Those working on the project form a hybrid team of developers who have been working on console, mobile, and arcade games, combining their know-how to create titles that only Sega can do.
New external technologies are being included. For instance, this includes the partnership with Microsoft for the use of Azure in development. In addition to that, Sega is promoting partnerships with a variety of companies to incorporate their technology into its games.
Unreal Engine 5 is being used for development and Sega is also collaborating with start-up companies working on the field of AI technology both on back-end work like debugging and front-end work like in-game camera control, live commentary, and automated voice synthesis.
The developers are also working on building a development flow that automatically generates objects in Houdini, or a tech that creates CGI from clothing patterns.
Interestingly, we hear that the team believes that the key to challenging the global market is “Japaneseness” as in games that are uniquely Japanese, created by people who live in Japan or who love Japanese content. This doesn’t mean that only Japanese developers are involved as a diverse set of values cultivated through experience overseas is also important. There are many non-Japanese developers working at Sega and they intend to continue to promote diversity in the future, aiming to work with people who love Japanese content to create games for the global market.
