Sega's President Says There's Been an Increase in Fans Who Don't Play Its Games, but That Doesn't Mean They Aren't Gamers
Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi says the company has experienced an uptick in fans who don’t actually play the games it develops and publishes.
In a September 7 interview with Nikkei Gaming, Utsumi discussed the company’s current “transmedia” strategy, which has seen some of its biggest franchises — such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, Yakuza, etc. — cross over into the worlds of film and television to expand their brands across multiple different mediums.
This, of course, has led to a rise in fans of these games who haven't actually played them. Utsumi confirmed this sentiment to Nikkei Gaming’s editor-in-chief, Aya Hirano, after she broached the topic by saying, “Lately, there's been an increase in fans who like an IP even though they've never played the game.”
“We've seen an increase in such fans for every title in recent years,” Utsumi answered. “For example, the Yakuza series has been doing exceptionally well in merchandising, with 60-70% of its buyers being women. They've become fans of the Yakuza world, story, and characters after watching our YouTube channel and popular YouTubers' streams. And among them are many people who have never actually played the game.”
Utsumi isn’t calling these fans LARPers, though; instead, he says that Sega considers all of its fans to be gamers, regardless of whether they’ve picked up a controller to actually play their games or not.
“Even people who have never played games are considered fans and gamers by us. Transmedia's strength lies in increasing the entry points and contact points for people to become interested in IP. In some cases, their engagement is even higher than that of fans who actually play the games,” he added.
Utsumi went on to explain that the rise of female fans within the gaming space has created a shift in the types of merchandise that publishers produce, specifically calling back to his experience working at Cybird, a developer famous for its Otome romance games.
“I also worked on romance games for women at Cybird. There, in addition to traditional collectible goods such as can badges and acrylic stands, we saw a significant shift in merchandising, with the emergence of lifestyle-oriented licensed products like apparel and cosmetics that could be used daily, as well as limited-edition and commemorative goods created in collaboration with amusement facilities. That experience definitely broadened my perspective, and I believe it's been invaluable in my transmedia strategy at Sega,” he said.
Sega’s “transmedia” strategy is clearly working out for it, with all three live-action Sonic movies making bank at the box office and a fourth to come — not to mention the upcoming Persona series that’s in the works at Netflix. Whether or not these projects’ popularity translates to more players seems moot to Sega, though. To them, every fan is a “gamer” at heart.