Series X
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Last week, Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa teased a “huge scoop” coming in the June 4 issue of Famitsu, with the story in question relating to SEGA. Nishikawa said that it was on the level of Wired’s PS5 articles, back when they had exclusive reveals about that console, which led everyone to speculate about a new SEGA system coming, though Nishikawa immediately said no, Dreamcast 2 is not on the way.
This story took an even stranger turn when a new rumor began to emerge. The idea is that this news had to do with Microsoft, and that they were going to be partnering with SEGA to rebrand the Xbox Series X for the Japanese market, a place where Xbox has done notoriously poorly in the past.
Today, however, industry analyst Daniel Ahmad says that a Chinese opinion leader claims they have seen the Famitsu issue and that rumor is definitely not true. Whatever the scoop is, it’s something else, and likely has nothing to do with Microsoft at all. In contrast, it’s noted that Nishikawa is a respected journalist, not a troll, so whatever the announcement is may still be significant.
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The idea of a SEGA rebrand of the Xbox Series X always seemed like totally goofy fantasy to me anyway. The Japanese market is not stupid. Simply slapping a SEGA badge on an Xbox Series X and painting it hedgehog blue is not going to convince people to buy a console they would have otherwise avoided, at least not in any significant numbers. A more believable tale would be Microsoft buying SEGA so they can start making Sonic games or something for Series X, and yet again, it’s quite likely this has nothing to do with Microsoft and these rumors have just spiraled out of control.
So, what is the scoop, set to come out June 4, the same day as Sony’s PS5 event?
I don’t know, but I keep having flashbacks to Atari announcing the VCS console, which has amounted to be pretty much nothing but vaporware, and the last I heard from Atari these days they were building branded Atari hotels and the VCS is nowhere to be found.
To SEGA’s credit, they are in a better place than Atari and are more than just a brand name these days. While they also may not make consoles anymore, they are still making video games and are a respected publisher, albeit not a huge player in the current market. They also can boast that they made the first genuinely good video game movie in ages with Sonic the Hedgehog, also known as the last big movie before the pandemic shuttered theaters, and a sequel has been greenlit.
We’ll find out what this is all about Thursday but no, don’t go in expecting some SEGA Xbox unholy alliance to fool the Japanese market.
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