SEGA Ages has seen a strong response overseas, but disappointing reception in Japan
According to SEGA Ages senior producer Kagasei Shimomura, the overseas reception to the series has been much higher than anticipated. Sonic, Out Run, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World have received an especially big response, particularly in Europe.
Unfortunately, things aren’t going quite as well in Japan. Shimomura and supervisor Yosuke Okunari indicated that sales have been a bit slow and they need to appeal to its Japanese fan base. Shimomura added that SEGA Ages on Switch has been selling less than half as well as the 3DS classics that were developed a few years ago.
Here’s the full response from Shimomura and Okunari about SEGA Ages’ Japanese performance:
Shimomura: Honestly speaking the Japanese sales need to be better, and I take responsibility for that. This market is becoming more and more niche, and while each series being on different platforms means there is little point in directly comparing them, the reality is that sales are less than half of the 3D Classics Collection. Because this particular project will release games over a longer period than those packaged collections, we’d like maintain a good relationship with players. For that reason we won’t quit or get pessimistic… though it may take us time to make this second phase [of games] a reality.
Okunari: We definitely need to work harder to satisfy our Japanese fan base. When I look back on it now, it took around two years to make the first 3D Classics Collection. Continuing after that, Shimomura took over the development of the second collections for us, but out of the three domestic games in the arcade series, only one was released overseas. This time around, hopefully those overseas where those 3DS collections were not released will be able to experience them fresh.
Thanks to Corks for contributing to this post.
