SEGA to shelve recent "poor" and "average" Sonic titles

[Chibs]

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/41217/Sub-standard-Sonics-de-listed
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409502
http://www.sonicstadium.org/news/2010/10/sega-removing-poor-and-average-sonic-titles-from-retail/

....yeeeaaaah, that last one is a TSS article.

SEGA has removed Sonic games with average Metacritic scores from shop shelves to combat franchise fatigue.

"Any Sonic game with an average Metacritic has been de-listed," SEGA's SVP of EMEA Jurgen Post told MCV.

"We have to do this and increase the value of the brand. This will be very important when more big Sonic releases arrive in the future."

SEGA's set to release three Sonic games in the coming months: downloadable title Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (the iPhone version's out now), Nintendo platforms exclusive Sonic Colours and Kinect racing game Sonic Free Riders.

"We could make a lot of money on back-catalogue Sonic titles, but let's keep the number of Sonic games available under control. Otherwise you can have cannibalisation. If there are ten Sonic games on the shelves, with people seeing Sonic Rush DS or Sonic Rush Adventure, this may not help our overall strategy."

...Wasn't Sonic Rush a critical success?

Also, on the NeoGaf board, they've complied a -probably unofficial- list of the games that Sega is most likely to pull.

OK, just looking through metacritic, these games are being pulled (current gen only):
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006
Sonic Unleashed
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic Classic Collection DS
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Sonic Rivals
Sonic Rivals 2
and these are staying:
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush Adventure
Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection​

So those are the details, really. SEGA wants to "freshen up" their mascot's image by removing all mediocre games released in the last 10 years or so.

Personally, this really just strikes me as pretty much the entire opposite of what SEGA seems to have been doing for years now: churning out the shit because they know it'll sell hundreds of thousands of copies and bring in the cash.

But I do have one big question: what's the damned point? Just make your new, self-proclaimed better Sonic games and keep the shit around because it's still going to sell. I can understand that, in some cases, critical success may affect sales, but that didn't stop Shadow the Hedgehog from becoming a PS2 Player's Choice title, did it?

So now, what do you think about this rather unpredictable turn of events?

 

[Azure]

I am stunned and amazed by what Sega is doing. I have no other comments.

 

[Arf]

Fuck, are these people mentally and functionally retarded?
How the hell did they get to such high position in a business?
I mean, the idea is a noble one, but noble intentions are usually fraught with poor common sense and stupidity. At least now you can average all the scores of currently sold Sonic games and get a non negative result.

 

[Sonnarkku]

Agh, Sonic Unleashed got the worst review I´ve seen in my entire life, the guy was all whiny fanboym didn´t talk a shit ´bout gameplay and gave the game a 4.5/10. The review for Black Knight was horrible too.

Well, now all fantards who underrate the games to a point they say they wish they had never played them, then it will be true now. They won´t be able to buy them anymore.

If they wanna stop producing games, I´ll just let them do so. Pirated software saves me hundreds of dollars monthly.

 

[MascaraSnake]

In a sense, it's kinda cool that they're more or less doing what whiny fans have been wanting for years: focusing on quality. I still stand by my point that both Sonic Colors and Sonic 4 seem to be good games, and so far, they have been very well-received by critics.

But as a business move, it's of course idiotic. And since the Sonic franchise has the most typical example of an unpleasable fanbase, it will not improve their reputation one bit. All of those who hated Sonic '06, Unleashed etc. will now be exactly the same ones complaining that they where shelved.

Well, SEGA can do what they want, and if they really think this'll work, let them try it out. I won't miss the shelved games, but I bet it won't take long until SEGA misses the money they got from them.

 

[SSNTails]

Maybe they just don't want the haters to have games to reference as examples, hurr hurr.

 

[Fawfulfan]

I actually saw a couple of games that I liked on that list. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games rocked. And while Sonic Chronicles wasn't a terrific title, I was kind of eager to know what happened next, and if they are eliminating that game, the odds are that they will never make a sequel either.

But yeah, this is completely idiotic. I think the average four-year-old could tell you why this is a terrible idea. You can't change the past. De-listing these games will not make them go away; they will still be a stain on Sonic's reputation. This is just going to change a tired old mascot into a tired old mascot that generates less revenue. The only way Sonic is going to get good again is if SEGA actually makes some new titles everyone likes.

 

[csmgiw]

I still stand by my point that both Sonic Colors and Sonic 4 seem to be good games

I can't speak for Sonic Colors, all I've seen is that it's going to be interesting to play. As for Sonic 4, Sega is trying, but they aren't fully there yet. They tried to incorporate old and new tactics, such the homing attack in a 2d follow up to Sonic 3 and Knuckles. They should have done what they've always done for that series, come up with new, unique badniks, normally based around animals, new and interesting bosses, instead of renewing old material and adding some special camera gimmicks. The Special Stages, how ever unique, remind me too much of the Sonic 1 special stages (Personal Preference). Than there is the whole aspect of stage select, normally you have to cheat in order to get to select your stage, but I mean honestly, "Lets go to the last boss first and than Splash Hill Zone" That shouldn't be an option in story mode. It can be an option later, sure, but only as you unlock the levels.

 

[Autosaver]

Those games that are terrible still can be bought as used. This probably won't stop the Sonic hate. Shadow can't be bought anymore but its still brought it.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

Doubt this one will get taken off, everyone knows Sega makes so much profit off of this game. Sega would be stupid to take it off.

 

[Sgustavo]

Shelving the games doesn't makes sense for me.Sega will lose money because this.

 

[supersonic45]

Agh, Sonic Unleashed got the worst review I´ve seen in my entire life, the guy was all whiny fanboym didn´t talk a shit ´bout gameplay and gave the game a 4.5/10. The review for Black Knight was horrible too.

Well, now all fantards who underrate the games to a point they say they wish they had never played them, then it will be true now. They won´t be able to buy them anymore.

If they wanna stop producing games, I´ll just let them do so. Pirated software saves me hundreds of dollars monthly.

Metacritic has more then one review site(s) and compile them into one large score out of 100. If everyone else has reviews like that, then yeah it'll be low. If it's just one guy who says that it won't go down too far.

 

[Inazuma]

*facepalm*
Sega needs an idealist from the Sonic Fanbase Community... someone that can bring Sonic right back up on top without all of that removing games shit (because it's not helping at all).

 

[Jeck Jims]

Well, this is ok with me in a way. I Already have almost EVERY Sonic game. So getting them out of my face when I walk into Wal-Mart is nice.
Also, I downloaded Sonic 4 on the iPod and it Rocks!, I seriously recommend it!
The special stages are LIKE sonic 1's, but It focuses more on rings and turns than destroying those color changing blocks. Another thing, I lol-ed when I realized SEGA used Sonic Rushes' Model.

 

[Monsteriestyn]

• Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 - Yeah, this one should be #1 on the list. It's amazing they still kept producing this one.
• Sonic Unleashed - I'm 50/50 on this one. For obvious reasons. Well, for the 360/PS3 versions at least.
• Sonic and the Black Knight - Haven't played it, but it sounds just as bad as Secret Rings.
• Sonic Classic Collection DS - Didn't really cared about this game. Seems like an afterthought.
• Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - Actually not a bad game. The 2nd game is still supposedly being planned, so this one shouldn't be shelved.
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games - As already stated, this is a big game that shouldn't be removed. Even if it did stunk a bit.
• Sonic and the Secret Rings - Bleh. I made a mistake by playing this game. I don't know if it's better than Sonic 06, or the other way around.
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - I guess I'm also 50/50. It got shelved? Oh well.
• Sonic Rivals 1 and 2 - Man, the first playthough is always the same. I feel like I'll be playing this game for months to come. That won't be happening now, especially since I sold my PSP ages ago.

 

[clairebun]

And nothing of value was lost.



Alright, but seriously. SEGA's been known to be pretty damn good at marketing, never mind their gameplay quality. I wouldn't be surprised if this somehow does lead to a net gain for them.

 

[Autosaver]

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood - Actually not a bad game. The 2nd game is still supposedly being planned, so this one shouldn't be shelved.

Wait, what? I thought the game was canceled when EA acquired BioWare. Killing a lot of projects.

 

[Cinefast]

Silly effort to please retrofags (which it will fail to do) as well as a bad business move for all the others who would buy these games. SEGA truly are silly to do this.

 

[BlueZero4]

I really enjoyed Silver's gameplay in '06. The game was still very glitchy, but the novelty of him as a character made the game for me.

Also, these things will still be floating around on the used games market for quite a while, right?

 

[fickleheart]

Sonic and the Secret Rings

Spoiler: big text

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I loved that game ;-;

welp, the list isn't official, so

 

[DarthJunior]

I loved that game ;-;

welp, the list isn't official, so

It was a pretty good game. Despite the fact the final boss nearly made
My wrists snap, I had a good time getting up to that point.


The pain brings back memories. I can't tell it they are good or bad.


I don't see how this would really affect their sales positively.
Long time fans of the series will know how much the bad games
Sucked, while new fans to the series will just buy the latest games.
Anyone who would even remember playing the old games already has
A definite opinion about it.

New fans won't even notice the change.