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[AniHawk]

That Sega seems like they're doing so well on GameCube is sad more than anything, their PS2 versions have been bombing which says their mindshare is nearly non-existant with mainstream gamers now. They should stick with niche hardcore Xbox/GC gamers and give them with lots of extra features like Tecmo is doing.

Sega could try to make their games $20 like their sports lineup right out of the box. It could give them an image where you might get what you pay for, but you also might be pleasantly surprised for what you get. Could bring Sega and its franchises back to the mainstream public, much like how Take Two was able to with the ESPN 2K5 lineup.

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

Sega could try to make their games $20 like their sports lineup right out of the box. It could give them an image where you might get what you pay for, but you also might be pleasantly surprised for what you get. Could bring Sega and its franchises back to the mainstream public, much like how Take Two was able to with the ESPN 2K5 lineup.

I think the problem with that is that most other genres can't get away with tweaking and repackaging a product as readily as sports games. It's more feasible to do it with a sports line without getting bad 'budget' associations. They'd have to be careful about taking that approach. It might be more productive to put in the extra resources, marketing and polish into the games to get them up to where they justify their full price next to the competition.

 

[jarrod]

jarrod:

All costs, including those for development surprisingly, are being shared between the two publishers. Distribution is handled through Take-Two's channels under the SEGA/Global Star label, and both Visual Concepts and Take-Two are contributing creative and monetary resources for marketing and advertising.

The act of publishing centers around negotiating with retailers on matters like orders, shipments, and revenues. In a true co-publishing deal, the commitment that the retailer receives comes from both publishers to ensure that the product is supported with timely shipments, advertising, customer care, and level of price protection if any (an agreement to refund the retailer some money in case the MSRP is dropped unexpectedly). Hypothetically, both publishers would be somewhat liable if issues arose.

Co-publishing is not just PR. In the case of standard third-party publisher deals like Phantasy Star Online Eps.1&2 or Shenmue II on Xbox in the US, Microsoft planned and handled most of the details for release themselves and mainly just had the product developed for them by SEGA. The release strategy of this year's ESPN line, though, resulted from SEGA having Visual Concepts seek a new sales plan and closely collaborating with Take-Two.

Sorry, Lazy but go listen to Take Two's conference calls. They pretty much shouldered all the burden here financially, took full direction of advertising, handled all manufacturing/distribution/retail concerns and they actually had to convince Sega to allow the $19.99 price point. Had Sega done 2K5 themselves, things would've gone worse than last year. Sega's commitment essentially ended with owning Visual Concepts and licesning, and in 2 years they won't even be accountable for that.

And Sega's used the co-publishing line before, with Acclaim, THQ and Atlus in the US. An interview with THQ revealed that Sega's responsibilty with "co-publishing" essentially ended with sending THQ the finished ROM. I expect things really weren't much different here, Sega has the brand while their "co-publisher" does everything else.

 

[Lazy8s]

jarrod:

Sorry, Lazy but go listen to Take Two's conference calls. They pretty much shouldered all the burden here financially, took full direction of advertising,

Even Take-Two's conference call on the subject contradicts all of this. Specifically mentioned are that 'all costs are shared' and that 'Visual Concepts will continue to market the products' as well. The deal was spearheaded on the initiative of Visual Concepts early on to find a sales solution outside of SEGA's infrastructure, and they worked out all of the release details of their flagship line of games by collaborating closely with Take-Two throughout the whole process.