Shenmue II & Propeller Arena are cancelled, are more to come?

As you have most likely read, Shenmue II will not be released in North America on the Dreamcast, it will appear on Microsoft's Xbox. While I have many interviews with Sega regarding their decision to only release it in Europe, I can only notice that they fail to mention the main factor in determining the title's fate - money. You see, Shenmue has already been finished for some time and has been out in Japan; it has also been translated via English subtitles (done so in regards to the European release), and has been advertised already. The only thing that is left would be packaging and shipping. Unfortunately, Sega has said that the title would not be able to recoup significant development losses; this makes no sense as the title is guaranteed to ship more units here than it Europe. The reasons given to gamers have been laden with sappy remarks and a devoted tone towards the Dreamcast, but none has mentioned just how much Microsoft had paid them for the license to have it exclusive to the Xbox. This is a very poor showing on Sega's part as they decided to make a run at the hearts of gamers, instead of giving them the facts.

A new fact that has come up is also a bit disheartening. After promising the release of the rest of the upcoming Dreamcast titles, yet another game has met Mr. Cancellation monster. Propeller Arena, an on-line dog fighting title developed by AM2, had a great deal of promise, but alas, it will not see the light of day. This leaves to question the rest of the titles that were promised to us - Bomberman Online, Virtua Tennis 2, and a handful of others. With one high profile title canned and another one with great possibilities, it doesn't give any other upcoming title a solid chance of making it to retail.

Now, I am aware that Sega is only looking to maximize profits and are only adjusting to recent retail trends (small shelf space for Dreamcast and games), but it isn't that, that has gamers up in arms. Sega has always been a company that excelled in making fantastic games and has always spoken highly of its fans, and to guarantee a game's release, then not only cancel one, but others in the process, it's going back on their word. With these cancellations, many sites have halted Dreamcast support and even Sega dedicated sites have taken sabbaticals. Anyone remember the drought of sites that happened after the Saturn died off from retail? The same thing is happening now. But these days, it's even worse since there were so few sites left to begin with. In this new venture, let's hope Sega can cater more to their true fans, I mean, they DID release Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers in limited numbers to please fans, they can't do something like that now? Remember the people who shell out hard earned cash for your games, that's the same cash that can bankrupt you if it's spent elsewhere.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic