Sega Looks to Sports to Revive Company

Sept. 10 -- Is there life after Dreamcast?

Sega certainly hopes so. The videogame giant is trying to remain in the videogame world's spotlight by bringing its best games to game consoles created by rivals such as Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.

In Manhattan last week, the company held a "sports summit" to promote and demonstrate its new sports titles — and lay out its ambitious new goal: to become the number one game maker by the 2003 holiday season.

That would mean increasing its share of the market from its current five percent to about 15 percent, while making the transition to a company focused purely on making games.

Sega Takes Sports to Other Platforms

As Peter Moore, president and COO of Sega of America, the Japanese company's U.S. affiliate, explained, sports will be key to that transition.

Moore said 21 percent of all game revenue comes from sports related game titles. And since many gamers are willing to buy new versions of the same game each year, to get the latest players, rosters and statistics on their system, sports games are a steady source of revenue.

But that also means competing with industry leader Electronic Arts on its strongest turf. EA's titles including the monstrously popular Madden Football line.

But Moore maintained that in terms of pure sales, Sega's sports titles were already on par with those of its rivals. And to keep the pressure on, the company unveiled a new Web site dedicated to its sports titles and is prepared to spend $20 million promoting its upcoming line of sports games.

"The impending release launches of these sequels on multiple platforms are a testament to the unparalleled gameplay that only Sega Sports can deliver," said Moore.

Hoops Teammates Compete in Virtual Tennis

Having actual sports superstars as key witnesses doesn't hurt Sega's chances, either.

Both Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas of the New York Knicks were on hand at the Sega event to try out some of the games. The basketball teammates had squared off against each other in a round of virtual tennis.