Sega is apparently in a bad position, as the company is cancelling games and laying off employees. Basically, they're killing some projects currently in development while others will be published by other groups. They'll focus on four franchises only for the time being: Sonic, Football Manager, Total War, and Aliens.

When you start dropping everything but your core properties, that's when you know the situation is getting serious. Sega has a long history for launching games that are "out there" in concept, and show a good deal of originality. Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Chu Chu Rocket, The Rub Rabbits, Madworld, The Conduit and others are all titles that focused on creativity and going into new directions instead of simply applying an existing formula on an old concept. I think it's a loss for the industry as a whole if they stop spending time on such projects...

And it continues, with the European and Australian divisions seriously scaling back.

I don't like this.

Surprise, surprise, they aren't selling a whole lot of games anymore!

Of course, a strategy shift means that it'll take a while before revenues reach the expected levels. That doesn't bug me. However, Sega as a whole sold only 2.7 million games in half a year (in Japan only?), and I find that number awfully low.