It’s exactly one year ago that we first lifted the veil on Segalization, not really knowing where we’d stand one year later. While plenty has changed since the launch of the website, the goal we had back then is still the same, and that’s to get Sega to localize more of their games developed in Japan. One year ago the website was little more than a front page for our petition, but we ended up trying to do more than that. We found that it was equally important to spread the word on the games that we’d like to see released in the Western market, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do now by posting news about Sega of Japan’s games.
Since Sega-Sammy’s acquisition of Atlus, we also decided to start posting news about Atlus games as well. Atlus has after all been quite successful with the localization of their games, something we hope may lead to them localizing Sega games as well. During the past year, we also entered into a partnership with SEGAbits. This involves cross-posting news on both websites, or us (mostly our team member InTheSky) contributing content to SEGAbits directly. We’re looking forward to continue working together with them in the future!
Sadly, the past year hasn’t marked a big change in terms of announcements from Sega. Phantasy Star Online 2 remains absent (though Sega insists the localization hasn’t been canceled), and Phantasy Star Nova also remains Japan-only for now. The same holds true for other Sega games like Shining Resonance and Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. There hasn’t been any word on a localization for Yakuza 5, Ishin or Zero, and as time passes it becomes increasingly unlikely that we’ll see these games localized. At least, on their original consoles.
But there’s good news as well. Valkyria Chronicles received a PC port and even Sega was surprised with the strong sales of the game. This gives us a glimmer of hope that the franchise may yet be revived. It also shows that the franchise is in fact viable in the Western market. While a localization of Valkyria Chronicles 3 on the PSP seems very unlikely at this point, there’s still a chance that an HD version of the game may arrive on PC/console.
The success of Sega’s Project Diva F release last year and the growing popularity of Hatsune Miku in the West also seemed to have convinced Sega to bring over more of their Hatsune Miku games. Just last week we got to see the release of Project Diva F 2nd, and earlier this year we also got the announcement from Sega that they’ll be releasing Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX for the 3DS in 2015. The game will be an enhanced version of Hatsune Miku: Project MIRAI 2.
We hope that in Segalization’s next year, we can report on more Sega games making their way from Japan to the Western market. My personal thanks go to our team members InTheSky, Kuronoa and SuperSonicEX for their many contributions to the website over the past year. If it wasn’t for their efforts and support, Segalization wouldn’t be around today. Our thanks also go to the people at Sega And Atlus for creating all the video games for us to play and discuss in our news topics. And last but not least, thanks to everyone reading our articles on our website and following us on Twitter or Facebook! We hope you’ll continue following us for another year of Segalization!