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SEGA is one of the most iconic video game publishers alongside Nintendo. They publish a large number of excellent franchises including Yakuza and the Persona games from Atlus, but undoubtedly their most iconic IP of all time is Sonic. While the publisher is flourishing in regard to single-player properties, SEGA’s president and COO has said they are striving for better games-as-a-service results with the Angry Bird developer given access to beloved IPs such as Sonic for mobile games.
SEGA president wants to crack the live-service business
Christopher Dring of The Game Business conducted an interview with SEGA president and COO, Utsumi-san, during their visit to Summer Game Fest. The interview was just published on July 1st, and it covers a lot of interesting discussions.
One of the topics discussed involved live-service games. There are a lot of publishers wanting to strike gold with GAAS properties, and Sony is perhaps the biggest example. Despite the huge failure of Concord and cancellations of multiple projects such as The Last of Us Factions, Sony have insisted they are continuing their pursuit of the live-service genre.
While heaping praise on the company’s single-player properties performing well, Utsumi-san confessed the live-service business is currently SEGA’s biggest challenge. The president and COO said, “The console/PC standalone business is getting better, but we are still working on making that GAAS business global”.
SEGA purchased Rovio, the developer of Angry Bird, for a reported $776 million in 2023. According to Utsumi-san, the Angry Bird developer is key to SEGA’s current GAAS focus which is centered around free-to-play mobile games.
Utsumi-san said, “Rovio has deep knowledge of the global mobile business, and very strong IP with Angry Birds… We feel like the fit between Rovio and Sega is good. We are working closely with Rovio to have a Sonic mobile game, and we are giving them access to IPs, including Sonic, to come up with nice, welcoming GAAS titles”.
An example of a Sonic game coming from Rovio is Sonic Rumble. This is a free-to-play experience slated for mobile as well as PC on Steam. It is currently available to pre-register for, and it is a 32-person multiplayer party game that looks similar to Fall Guys.
In addition to Sonic Rumble, another live-service project currently involving SEGA is Persona X. This is basically Atlus’ version of a gacha game for the Persona series, and it is available on mobile as well as PC, with rumors of it eventually finding its way onto PS5.
If you are not fond of GAAS games, you needn’t worry about SEGA abandoning more traditional console and PC experiences. Speaking on Sonic alone, Sonic Racing Crossoworlds is coming out in September, and there is belief that the next single-player Sonic game will be revealed in 2026 to coincide with the blue hedgehog’s 35th anniversary.
Check out The Game Business’ full interview for more interesting conversations with the SEGA president concerning the future of consoles, the pursuit of Hollywood, and more.
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