SEGA Arcades Only!!!
> Date Added: 2003-12-11 13:24:51

Sammy President urges SEGA to concentrate on arcade titles and move away from the consumer market…


In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, Sammy President Hajime Satomi revealed the worst of SEGA fans fears, by urging the Japanese games developer to concentrate on the arcade market.

Having seen their financial year grow beyond all expectations thanks to the strong demand of their arcade titles, it’s clear to see why the recommendation has come from Satomi-san, however to have no SEGA in the consumer market would be worse then the day they pulled out of hardware development.

More worrying is recent comments made by Satomi, that suggest if SEGA doesn’t accept his decisions, he’ll simply increase Sammy’s stake in SEGA to a position where they’re forced to do what the Pachinko manufacturer says.

Certainly it’s a move considered to promote Sammy’s ‘Atomiswave’ arcade units, based around the Dreamcast and NAOMI hardware and utilising JAMMA compatible boards. It’s claimed that these units are extremely cheap to produce, with Satomi-san claiming “It' s low cost enough that even a single play at 10 yen a game can turn a profit. We can sell it in third-world countries as well" .

We’ll have more news soon.
http://www.totalvideogames.com/?section=Read%20News&id=4250&gameid=2805&format=000001

Sammy’s Chief Intentions
> Date Added: 2003-12-10 14:56:51

Sammy Chief Executive comments about the future of SEGA with unwavering opinions…


In a statement to Reueters, Hajime Satomi, Chief Executive Sammy Corp. displayed the same level of determination and grit that has seen the Pachinko manufacturer become the largest shareholder of SEGA Corp.

In a statement talking about the future between both companies, Satomi-san stated: " I can' t imagine this happening, but if our vision does not agree with that of Sega then we might have to consider taking more shares”; prompting speculation that if SEGA doesn’t bow down to what Sammy says, that they’ll eventually force the Japanese games developer into a position

Satomi-san claimed that he wanted to join SEGA’s board of directors as soon as possible, with early suggestions pointing towards an early stage in 2004.

Whilst we’re hoping that Sammy’s new position will help SEGA to continue its resurgence, we can’t help but worry that Sammy are using this position to solely improve their own; it’s believed that one of the major aspects of the deal was to use SEGA’s brand image to push Sammy’s ‘Atomiswave’ range of arcade machines.

http://www.totalvideogames.com/?section=Read%20News&id=4245&gameid=2805&format=000001