Sega has a "new project" to announce next week.
While the multinational's English-language social media channels have yet to say anything, Sega's Japanese-language Twitter account recently posted an "urgent notice" that teased we'd be getting a big announcement on June 3.
"Urgent notice! Live broadcast to announce Sega's new project will be delivered from 20:00 on June 3 (Friday)," the tweet said, according to Google Translate (thanks, VGC).
"Appearance is [Hiroyuki Miyazaki] [Yosuke Okunari] …… Does that mean?"
＼緊急告知！📣／セガの新プロジェクトを発表する生放送が6月3日（金）20時より配信決定✨出演は【宮崎浩幸】【奥成洋輔】……ということは🤔？👇配信はこちら！YouTube：https://t.co/zuCf8a7EVcニコニコ生放送：https://t.co/8nANC9FMaG pic.twitter.com/ZJq6IyCFRkMay 27, 2022
The tweet then links to Sega's YouTube site, and adds a single image: a, uh, "A for Effort!" attempt at a Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive for those outside of the US) controller cake.
The publicized appearances of Hiroyuki Miyazaki and Yosuke Okunari are particularly interesting here, and perhaps signal that the news will be retro-flavored. Okunari has long been associated with classic re-releases, and has been involved in bringing fan-favorite franchises to new hardware, such as the Sega Ages collection, which recently arrived on Switch.
Thankfully, we don't have to speculate for long: expect more information when the "new project" is finally revealed on June 3.
Sega is planning on releasing more remakes, remasters, and spinoffs in the fiscal year ending March 2023. Confirmation came during the company's recent financial presentation in which it forecasts an increase in sales partly due to a "significant increase in new title lineups".
Further in the presentation, it revealed that a significant part of its strategy for new releases is to prolong the life of existing IP with remakes, remasters, spinoffs. It specifically referenced games like Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania, and the Yakuza spinoff and Judgment sequel Lost Judgment.
In January, it seemed as though Sega was reconsidering plans to jump on the NFT bandwagon until it is more certain "what will be accepted and what will not be by the users".
In an interview, Sega CEO Haruki Satomi said the publisher would have to "carefully assess" the future of NFTs in its products following "negative reactions" from players but said, "if it is perceived as simple money-making, I would like to make a decision not to proceed".
For more old-school goodness, hit up the best retro consoles available today.
