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Stupid Never Dies launches October 21

Action RPG Stupid Never Dies will launch for PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam on October 21 worldwide and October 22 in Japan, developer GPTACK50 announced. SEGA will co-publish and distribute the ga…

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Jul 29 • 8:30 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Advancing Bottomfish Research Through Community Partnerships in American Samoa

NOAA Fisheries, American Samoa’s Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, and local fishermen recently completed a groundbreaking bottomfish survey in American Samoa! As the management of these important species evolves, we are building strong partnerships with local communities to build up our understanding of bottomfish life history.

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Sep 29 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • fisheries.noaa.gov
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Year Two DLC includes Hello Kitty, Persona, Final Fantasy VII, and more

SEGA hosted a special showcase revealing the next two DLC packs for Year Two of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, following Godzilla and Evangelion.

mynintendonews.com logo
Oct 9 • 4:28 PM EDT • Technology • mynintendonews.com
"No Old, Stay Gold" - It Looks Like Sega Is About To Revive More Of Its Classic Franchises

'Sega Universe' project teases new developments

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Apr 24 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • timeextension.com
Mansour Abbas is betting on a Zionist to make Palestinian votes count

By allying with Segalovich in the Israeli vote, Abbas is hoping for greater acceptance in Israeli coalition politics.

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Sep 5 • 4:40 AM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com
STRANGER THAN HEAVEN launches this winter

STRANGER THAN HEAVEN will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store this winter, publisher SEGA and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced. It will also be avail…

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May 6 • 7:36 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
EXCLUSIVE: VP Vance blames Alaska LNG pipeline uncertainty South Korean ‘political dynamics’

“It’s different because you have a president who delivers on his promises,” Vance said, moments before leaving on Air Force 2.

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Oct 7 • 1:06 AM EDT • Politics • alaskasnewssource.com
Sega Pulls Disastrous Total War: Shogun 2 Remaster From Sale Following Backlash

Creative Assembly and Sega have pulled Total War: Shogun 2 — Complete Edition from Steam after a raft of complaints about the quality of the remaster.

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Oct 15 • 11:09 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan steps down

The head of Xbox Game Studios Craig Duncan has stepped down after more than 18 months in the role. Duncan replaced former Studios boss Alan Hartman in November 2024, and oversaw Halo Studios, The Coalition, Flight Sim, Turn 10, Playground Games, Rare, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs, World’s Edge and XGS Publishing. He departs the organization this week. His studios will report to Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty until a replacement is found. Duncan has been part of the Xbox organization since 2011 and is best known for running highly regarded UK developer Rare for nearly 14 years. He oversaw the developer’s Kinect and Sea of Thieves eras. Prior to that, he held various senior roles at Codemasters, Midway and Sumo Digital, and worked cross titles such as Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, Wheelman and Colin McRae. He's also VP of the charity SpecialEffect. Subscribe Meanwhile, Xbox Game Studios chief of staff Louise O’Connor will also be leaving the company. O’Connor joined Rare in 1999 beginning as an animator on cult favourite N64 game Conker’s Bad Fur Day. She’s worked in numerous art and production roles at the UK studio, and even won an AIAS award for voicing the character Leafos in Viva Piñata. She left Rare following the cancellation of Everwild in 2025, before becoming chief of staff in September that year. In an email to staff, Duncan wrote: “When I stepped into the role of leading XGS 20 months ago, my purpose was to serve our studios, our teams, and the people making our games. Together, we set out to deliver high-quality games, strengthen the cultural fabric across our studios, and help shape the future of the business. I’m proud to say we delivered many flawless launches that drove business success for the company.” On O’Connor, he added: “Louise has been a thoughtful, creative, and trusted partner who has consistently championed the craft and supported our studios with clarity and care. I’m grateful for everything she’s brought to XGS, and I’m sure she’ll be successful in whatever comes next for her.”

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Jun 15 • 10:07 AM EDT • Technology • thegamebusiness.com
Crazy Taxi World Tour officially announced, Sega immediately upsets everyone by announcing it used generative AI

A rollercoaster day for one of Sega's most anticipated titles.

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Jun 7 • 2:36 PM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Surprise! The Developers Behind Cuphead Just Announced A New 8-Bit Spin-Off For The Sega Master System

As well as "modern consoles and PC"

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Jun 5 • 6:45 PM EDT • Technology • timeextension.com
SEGA Shares Lifetime Sales Update for Persona, Metaphor, and Like a Dragon

For the role-players

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Jun 22 • 7:00 PM EDT • Technology • pushsquare.com
Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.

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Oct 18 • 3:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
Ogilvy invests in sports agency, names first global sports and entertainment chief

Article 41 co-founder Vickie Segar will fill Ogilvy's newly created role as global chief sports and entertainment officer.

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May 5 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • adage.com
Sega and Creative Assembly share surprise Alien: Isolation sequel teaser for Alien Day 2026

Publisher Sega and developer Creative Assembly have shared the first teaser for the upcoming Alien: Isolation sequel, and it has a new setting.

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Apr 27 • 5:14 AM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Rumor: Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition Nintendo Switch 2 release date leaked

SEGA has yet to officially announce Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition, but the game’s release date has apparently been leaked. billbil-kun reports that the game will launch on June 23, 2026. We’re also hearing that it will cost $50 and a physical release is confirmed. However, it’s unclear if that means a proper cartridge version or a game-key card. June 23...

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May 22 • 11:27 AM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds DLC ‘Avatar Legends Pack’ launches October 14

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds downloadable content “Avatar Legends Pack” will launch on October 14, SEGA announced. It is also available as part of the $29.99 Season Pass.

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Oct 7 • 3:40 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sega Reveals Updated Sales for Metaphor: ReFantazio, Persona 3 Reload, SMT V: Vengeance and Persona 5 Royal

Sega has held their 2026 management meeting on June 15, and has published the meeting presentation, giving sales updates on various games.

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Jun 22 • 1:20 PM EDT • Technology • personacentral.com
Daredevil Star Charlie Cox Confirms He's in an Unannounced Sega Game

Daredevil star Charlie Cox has confirmed that he is starring in another video game, this one for Sega.

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Oct 8 • 7:37 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com
Sega Has Officially Cancelled Its "Super Game"

Other projects and revivals are still on the way

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May 12 • 1:00 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028

New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?

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Jul 1 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • gamefile.news
SEGA / Atlus hosting new Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch sale with Sonic Origins Plus, Unicorn Overlord, and more at new low prices

Fans of SEGA and Atlus can save big on Switch 2 and Switch games as part of new sale on the Nintendo eShop. Over thirty titles are included here with some familiar names in the lineup. We’ll mention that a number of games are at new low prices here such as the individual Etrian Odyssey games, Sonic Origins Plus, Unicorn...

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Jun 26 • 1:05 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
'The Current Experience Is Not Where It Needs to Be' - SEGA Is Pulling Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition from Stores

Original game reinstated (for now)

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Oct 15 • 9:40 AM EDT • Technology • timeextension.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds free character updates Classic Sonic, Axel, and Amigo announced

SEGA has announced new playable characters coming to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds from today until September, including Classic Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog, Axel from the Crazy Taxi series, and Amig…

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Jun 23 • 2:32 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Crazy Taxi: World Tour announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC

After an initial tease in December 2023, SEGA has announced Crazy Taxi: World Tour for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store). It will launch in 2027.

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Jun 7 • 1:37 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sonic Team head talks possibility of Sonic Mania 2

There’s no sign of Sonic Mania 2 happening anytime soon, but Sonic Team head Takazhi Iizuka has left the door open to the possibility. Believe it or not, Sonic Mania is coming close to its tenth anniversary. The title launched in 2017 and many fans had hoped that we’d get a sequel. Sonic Mania was definitely a success for SEGA,...

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Aug 29 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
"I Had To Fight" - Sonic Boss Takashi Iizuka Reveals Sega Wanted To Cancel Entire Sonic Franchise

"The biggest milestone for me was the first movie"

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Sep 22 • 6:45 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Sega plans shift to influencers after Sonic and Shinobi sales disappoint, despite strong reviews

Plus, Sega has two unannounced ‘flagship IP’ games coming soon…

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Jun 22 • 4:10 PM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com
Hands-On With Stranger Than Heaven's Unique New Combat

We went hands-on with Sega's upcoming action-adventure at Summer Game Fest

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Jun 11 • 11:25 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Sega Confirms Persona 6 Physical Release for Switch 2

Persona 6 won't be a PS5-exclusive physical release after all

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Sep 14 • 8:29 AM EDT • Technology • polygon.com
Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Segal crafted a hip hop breakup masterpiece

DOOMED! pairs Eagle’s deeply personal lyrics with some of Segal’s most commanding beats.

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Aug 16 • 4:31 PM EDT • Entertainment • theverge.com
Ogilvy Sports & Entertainment Expands Offering with Article 41 Investment

Little Black Book, Ogilvy names Vickie Segar global chief sports and entertainment officer

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May 5 • 11:16 AM EDT • Entertainment • lbbonline.com
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance coming to Switch 2 on September 24

Publisher SEGA and developer Lizardcube will release a Switch 2 version of SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance on September 24, the companies announced. Pre-orders are available now via Nintendo eShop.

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Jun 18 • 5:30 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Jet Set Radio leaker has leaked Sonic, Ace Attorney, Persona, Crazy Taxi, information

The insider who leaked the short Jet Set Radio trailer has returned with some new nuggets of information about key SEGA and Atlus franchises. These nuggets of information include the news that a new…

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Jun 1 • 6:29 AM EDT • Technology • mynintendonews.com
Entertainment Notebook: Grow blooms at the Segal Centre; Grand Prix Party fever and more

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts will conclude its 2025-26 season with Grow, a bold new Canadian musical by the originating producer of Come From Away, Michael Rubinoff. The musical

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May 10 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • thesuburban.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
Crazy Taxi: World Tour closed network test set for September 11 to 13

SEGA will host a closed network test for Crazy Taxi: World Tour across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC from September 11 at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET to September 13 at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m…

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Jul 28 • 1:59 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Ray Romano being inducted into LI Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

Sitcom star Ray Romano and Rory Rosegarten, the executive producer of "Everybody Loves Raymond," will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Nov. 5.

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Oct 1 • 2:22 PM EDT • Entertainment • newsday.com
Sega's President Says There's Been an Increase in Fans Who Don't Play Its Games, But That Doesn't Mean They Aren't Gamers

Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi says the company has experienced an uptick in fans who don’t actually play the games it develops and publishes.

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Sep 8 • 2:48 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com
SEGA announces TGS 2026 lineup

SEGA has announced (2) its lineup for Tokyo Game Show 2026, which will run from September 17 to 21 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

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Aug 27 • 4:15 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sega Has Synthesized Sonic's DNA And Put It In A Chaos Emerald

"Oh, you mean Sonic's DNA?" Obama chuckled

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Jun 16 • 2:25 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Sega Confirms And Responds To Generative AI Content In New Crazy Taxi Game

"Generative AI was used to support our teams during the development of background assets for 'Crazy Taxi: World Tour'," Sega confirms.

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Jun 7 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • gameinformer.com
In Memoriam: S. "Soma" Somasegar

We are heartbroken to share that our dear friend and colleague Soma Somasegar passed away unexpectedly.

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May 19 • 8:53 PM EDT • Technology • madrona.com
SEGA’s “Legendary” Games Are Coming To NVIDIA RTX Spark 30 Years After NV1 Powered The First Virtua Fighter on PC

NVIDIA & SEGA are celebrating 30 years of collaboration, as SEGA's "Legendary" gaming titles are announced for RTX Spark PCs.

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Jul 15 • 6:00 AM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com
Rumour: Persona 6 Images Supposedly Leak Online

"Sega believed to be behind the takedowns"

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Jun 5 • 1:30 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Can this unlikely pair reshape Israeli politics?

In Israel’s divided politics, an Islamist leader is teaming up with a former Israeli police officer. CNN’s Tal Shalev explains that the unlikely pairing hopes to break new ground as they reshape what’s possible and address the everyday issues that affect the country’s Arab population.

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Aug 31 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Sega is re-releasing the original Sonic Genesis games on $100 cartridges

Iam8bit’s Sonic and Sonic 2 cartridges are up for pre-order now…

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Jun 23 • 3:54 PM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com
College of Medicine welcomes Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence in public health sciences

Penn State College of Medicine welcomes Adane Kebede Tesega, PhD, as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence for the current academic year.

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Oct 13 • 12:20 PM EDT • Health • pennstatehealthnews.org
Two Point Museum DLC ‘Rides & Relics’ announced

Publisher SEGA and developer Two Point Studios have announced Two Point Museum downloadable content “Rides & Relics.” It will launch on October 8.

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Sep 15 • 10:33 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
MAD: Ogilvy Invests In NIL Specialist, Taps Segar To Lead Global Sports/Entertainment Practice

WPP has acquired a stake in Chapel Hill-based Article 41, an NIL specialist cofounded by Segar. She is tasked with leading and expanding the agency's Sports & Entertainment practice.

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May 5 • 11:17 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediapost.com
Charlie Cox Reveals He's Already Recorded 40 Hours Of Lines For A Surprise Sega Game

The Daredevil and Clair Obscur actor confirmed the new voice acting work during his appearance at NYCC

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Oct 9 • 11:00 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Owner, founder of St. Louis business Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Cafe dies

Jilly’s Cupcake Bar & Cafe shared Saturday that the business’ owner and founder, Jill Segal, has died.

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Jun 21 • 7:50 AM EDT • Business • firstalert4.com
Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan steps down

The head of Xbox Game Studios Craig Duncan has stepped down after more than 18 months in the role. Duncan replaced former Studios boss Alan Hartman in November 2024, and oversaw Halo Studios, The Coalition, Flight Sim, Turn 10, Playground Games, Rare, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs, World’s Edge and XGS Publishing. He departs the organization this week. His studios will report to Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty until a replacement is found. Duncan has been part of the Xbox organization since 2011 and is best known for running highly regarded UK developer Rare for nearly 14 years. He oversaw the developer’s Kinect and Sea of Thieves eras. Prior to that, he held various senior roles at Codemasters, Midway and Sumo Digital, and worked cross titles such as Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing, Wheelman and Colin McRae. He's also VP of the charity SpecialEffect. Subscribe Meanwhile, Xbox Game Studios chief of staff Louise O’Connor will also be leaving the company. O’Connor joined Rare in 1999 beginning as an animator on cult favourite N64 game Conker’s Bad Fur Day. She’s worked in numerous art and production roles at the UK studio, and even won an AIAS award for voicing the character Leafos in Viva Piñata. She left Rare following the cancellation of Everwild in 2025, before becoming chief of staff in September that year. In an email to staff, Duncan wrote: “When I stepped into the role of leading XGS 20 months ago, my purpose was to serve our studios, our teams, and the people making our games. Together, we set out to deliver high-quality games, strengthen the cultural fabric across our studios, and help shape the future of the business. I’m proud to say we delivered many flawless launches that drove business success for the company.” On O’Connor, he added: “Louise has been a thoughtful, creative, and trusted partner who has consistently championed the craft and supported our studios with clarity and care. I’m grateful for everything she’s brought to XGS, and I’m sure she’ll be successful in whatever comes next for her.”

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Jun 15 • 10:07 AM EDT • Business • thegamebusiness.com
Sega wanted to cancel the entire Sonic series but the first movie saved it, says Sonic Team head Iizuka

The live-action Sonic film “definitely changed the course of this franchise…

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Sep 22 • 4:40 AM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com
Jillian Segal wants ‘independent group’ to examine ABC’s Israel coverage

Antisemitism envoy tells royal commission that she would like the broadcaster to be 'as good as it possibly can be'

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Jul 9 • 2:26 AM EDT • Politics • theguardian.com
😐 Neutral (11%)
wow
34%
ahah
33%
love
33%
Delta can turn the iPhone Duo into your favorite folding handheld

Delta 2.0 adds support for the iPhone Duo, Sega Genesis games, and more.

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Oct 22 • 2:30 PM EDT • Technology • theverge.com
Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition now available for Switch 2

SEGA has released Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition for Switch 2 for $49.99. It is available digitally, as well as physically as a game-key card.

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Jun 23 • 1:10 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sega Announces Two Sonic Game Collections For Switch

Including a "Modern" and "Classic" collection

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Jun 23 • 7:30 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Alien: Isolation 2 announced for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC

Publisher SEGA and developer Creative Assembly have officially announced horror first-person shooter sequel Alien: Isolation 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC (Steam). A release da…

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Jun 5 • 5:12 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sega’s Yakuza prequel stars an actor who’s been dead for more than a decade

In the yakuza life, there are no KOs

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May 6 • 7:33 PM EDT • Technology • polygon.com
Sega Cancels Its 'Super Game' Plan

The company will focus instead on classic reboots and movies.

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May 12 • 8:28 AM EDT • Technology • engadget.com
Sega Pulls Disastrous Total War: Shogun 2 Remaster From Sale Following Backlash

Original game is coming back.

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Oct 15 • 11:09 AM EDT • Technology • nordic.ign.com
Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition from sale amid AI accusations, admitting it has "fallen short"

Sega and Creative Assembly are working with platform holders to remove Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition from sale and bring back the original game.

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Oct 17 • 1:28 PM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Ogilvy PR names first global chief sports and entertainment officer

Article 41 cofounder Vickie Segar will approach her new position with a talent-focused strategy, specifically with college athletes.

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May 7 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • prweek.com
SEGA talks importance of Sonic, failing to reach its goal, wanted new game to sell more

As part of a wide-ranging Famitsu interview with SEGA, president Shuji Utsumi touched upon a number of different topics, including Sonic the Hedgehog. The Japanese magazine published a lengthy discussion with the executive in this week’s issue. During their talk, Famitsu mentioned that Sonic the Hedgehog plays a pretty big role in the transmedia business. Utsumi said in response: “Sonic...

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Jul 11 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds DLC ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pack’ now available

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds downloadable content “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pack” is now available for $5.99, SEGA announced. It is also available as part of the $29.99 Season Pass.

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Jul 28 • 8:55 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Year Two updates and DLC announced

SEGA has announced new updates and downloadable content coming to crossover racing game Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds in Year Two, which officially starts on November 3.

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Oct 9 • 5:00 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Is hormone therapy the cheat code to perimenopause?

Perimenopause can be overwhelming. Mood swings, insomnia and hot flashes can make you feel like a completely different person. Hormone therapy is one way a lot of women are treating the symptoms. Life Kit’s Marielle Segarra talks with Dr. Mara Gordon of NPR’s Real Talk with a Doc column about the risks and benefits.Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekitSign up for our newsletter here.Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at lifekit@npr.orgSupport the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit

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Aug 17 • 3:00 AM EDT • Health • npr.org
High-Signal Publisher
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds free character update Bayonetta announced

Bayonetta will join Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds as the first free character update of year two, SEGA announced.

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Sep 15 • 7:15 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Xbox Fans Report Companies ‘Not Participating’ In Disc-To-Digital

Fans report Sega, Ubisoft, Square Enix, and Bandai Namco games are ‘not participating’ in the newly introduced service

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Sep 8 • 9:26 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
Two Point Museum x DAVE THE DIVER collaboration update now available

Publisher SEGA and developer Two Point Studios have released the version 10.0 update for Two Point Museum, which brings MINTROCKET’s DAVE THE DIVER to the museum’s Digiverse, the compan…

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Jun 19 • 11:23 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
It’s Linux, On A Sega Megadrive

If you were in the market for a games console in 1990, the chances are that the object of your desire was either a Super Nintendo with its 16-bit 6502 derivative, or the Sega Megadrive, sold as the…

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Jun 29 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • hackaday.com
Sonic Frontiers on Nintendo Switch 2 has quality and performance modes, Switch 1 save transfers, no upgrade path

We have a few more details about Sonic Frontiers: Definitive Edition, which was just announced and released for Nintendo Switch 2. First up, SEGA has confirmed the two different graphical modes are included. It’s possible to either go for performance or resolution. Performance means a higher frame rate, but the resolution will drop to compensate. SEGA didn’t go into specifics...

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Jun 23 • 1:27 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Ogilvy invests in sports agency, names first global sports and entertainment chief

Article 41 co-founder Vickie Segar will fill Ogilvy's newly created role as global chief sports and entertainment officer.

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May 5 • 9:00 AM EDT • Sports • adage.com
Japanese Company Behind ATARASHII GAKKO! Launches U.S. Division

Japanese entertainment company ASOBISYSTEM, home to girl group ATARASHII GAKKO!, has launched a U.S. division with a new office in Los Angeles.

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Aug 6 • 6:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • billboard.com
Sakura Wars 30th anniversary – ‘Sakura Wars 6’ plot exists, SEGA wants to bring series to modern platforms, more

The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu features a massive interview with the creators of steampunk strategy RPG series Sakura Wars in celebration of its 30th anniversary, revealing the existence of a p…

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Sep 30 • 3:12 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
IP Saves the Day On Streaming

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get started, I wanted to highlight a new idea I saw from Real Good AI, proposing a ratings system for AI use. (H/T to Anthony Kaufman’s article highlighting this.) It would look something like this: In general, I think that this is a solid, middle-ground solution that should appease both the pro-AI camp (who love AI) and the anti-AI camp (who wants to know if what they’re watching didn’t come from humans). Regardless of your feelings on AI/LLMs—I’ll never use it for my writing—transparency is often the best solution to many problems. In general, I think way more media outlets need to be using way more AI disclosures. My quick “Yes and...” to this idea: what about ads? In particular, I hate it when I see or hear ads that are obviously AI-generated, but a person or voice says, “I used this product”. AI doesn’t use products! Just today, I watched a YouTube ad where a “person” said they use some sort of rain wind chime...but that’s not a real person! They didn’t use this product. (Especially since the video of the wind chime itself also appeared to be AI-generated...) I believe most traditional advertising already has standards like this anyway.1 Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re covering the week of 14-Sep, and then next issue, I’ll be fully caught up with Nielsen’s new release schedule. In the future, I plan to put out Streaming Ratings Reports each Monday after Nielsen’s Thursday releases. Overall, we had some big new shows this week, like Prime Video’s Reacher spinoff_, Neagley_, which is off to a big, big start, and Netflix’s latest in its Monster anthology, which is their largest opening since June and the second-largest since One Piece came out in March. All that, plus Slow Horses returns, the trio of returning shows (Lioness, Reacher and Ted Lasso) continue to dominate the top tens, Paramount+’s latest crime drama, a big whiff for a Netflix original film and a precipitous drop for Netflix film charts, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of September 14th to September 20th 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - IP For the TV Win Can I use the dirty word of entertainment journalism right now? IP. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone I said it. But IP works at the box office, and we’ve seen some evidence it works in TV too. Not as well, and not all the time—no absolutes here!—but often enough. And glancing at the Nielsen top ten…it worked this week! Take Prime Video, who has a monster hit in the crime drama Reacher. Would a spinoff work for that show? Yep! They binge-released Neagley, about a detective from the original Reacher series, and its eight episodes debuted to 29.6 million hours. Here’s how it stacks up to Reacher, one of Prime Video’s biggest shows: That’s great. Nearly as strong as Reacher’s opening! (Both shows started with eight, binge-released episodes, so this comparison is apples-to-apples.) Notably, Prime Video scheduled the debut of Neagley to overlap with Reacher’s most recent season, to help drive tune-in. Obviously, I love smart release strategies like that. And even though I wrote “obviously”, it’s not really that obvious, since streamers don’t often take advantage of natural overlaps like this_._2 Other data backs how well Neagley performed. It opened at second place on Samba TV for two weeks and got 51.7 million hours on Luminate. That’s the eleventh biggest opening on Luminate since May of 2024 and tied with Bridgerton’s third season opening. That’s a huge opening! Its IMDb is solid too, a 7.7 on 24K reviews. Netflix’s latest edition in the “Monster” series—which started with Jeffrey Dahmer and comes from Ryan Murphy—did well too, opening to 24.7 million hours. That’s the biggest opening for Netflix since I Will Find You in June, and second biggest since March. Unlike the Reacher series, this franchise is trending downward, though. The first Monster show—Dahmer - Monster—was giant. More than anything, I think this reflects that Netflix running out of extremely popular—if that’s the right word?—serial killers to feature. Still, the data says this is a very good opening. It made it to third place on Samba TV for two weeks. It also opened to 40.0 million hours on Luminate. That’s not quite as elite as Neagley, but still very, very strong. I’ll be honest: my priors coming into any given week are that IP works to help drive buzz for new shows, but TV shows need to stand on their own even more than movies, so they will succeed or fail based on their quality. But these two spinoffs definitely worked. Quick Notes on TV The top show, film or special this week? Football, again. Specifically, Prime Video’s season opener of Thursday Night Football. The games run long (three hours) but mainly a lot of people watch each game. That adds up to a lot of viewership. Paramount released the second season of MobLand on an unusual day for that service, a Friday! Often, they put their new shows out on a Sunday, as they did last year with a run of shows (Lioness, Tulsa King and Landman). MobLand didn’t make Nielsen in its first week, but on Samba TV it got to eighth and seventh place. Luminate had a smaller opening too, only 5.3 million hours. MobLand missed the Nielsen charts for its first eight weeks, so this season is off to a stronger start. (Bonus note: the first season streams on both Prime Video and The Roku Channel, but I only have it as Paramount+ on those charts.) I’ve mentioned a few times that foreign-language originals do lower numbers than English-language originals on Netflix most of the time. But I don’t usually emphasize what country those originals come from, and observationally, they tend to be from Western or Northern European countries, in general. So credit to Not a Stranger, a Turkish Netflix original, for breaking through on Luminate, getting to 7.9 million hours in its first full week on those charts. As I mentioned last issue, Crew Girl ended up making the Nielsen charts in its second week. That’s still a soft performance compared to many shows, but again this, one looks affordable. And if you’re curious, here’s how it stacks up to some other sports romance shows: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… …about a new data source and how it drives streaming viewership… ...what reality show is struggling in its latest season…. ...what Netflix film bombed…. ...How Reacher, Ted Lasso, and Lioness are doing on the charts… ...what obscure sport put up great viewership numbers… …how far streaming films are falling… …all the flops, bombs and misses for the last week… …and more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue, then we’ll be all caught up with Nielsen’s data. Yes! The goal is to have my report out on the Monday after I get Nielsen’s data. So next issue, I’m looking at East of Eden, The Great British Baking Show, a Willy Wonka game show (that people are upset uses AI, but viewers might not care), and a Cosby show spinoff reboot on Netflix, and Brothers on Apple TV (starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey). That’s about it for TV, but who’s going to win the streaming week, The Breadwinner or Backrooms on streaming? Answer: Toy Story 5. Plus Netflix has a Unabomber film and a new Tyler Perry film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma tries to repeat The Substance’s run on MUBI, and Paramount+ has Jackass: Best and Last. Long term, Netflix is remaking Lonesome Dove. I love this choice, but man, there are a lot of westerns on TV right now. And they’re making Sega TV shows, including a Crazy Taxi TV show and Sonic show with an “edge”.

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Oct 15 • 3:32 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds ‘Captain Majima Content Drop’ update launches April 29

The “Captain Majima Content Drop” update for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will launch on April 29 at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET, SEGA announced.

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Apr 27 • 12:36 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds announces Godzilla and Evangelion DLC

More DLC is on the way to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, with SEGA revealing new collaborations featuring Godzilla and Evangelion. Release timing will be given in the future. We also have an update on previously-announced DLC. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is coming in July, followed by Avatar Legends in October. Note that SEGA has even more DLC coming for Sonic Racing:...

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Jun 5 • 6:29 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York' review: John Turturro gets the movie he deserves

Noah Segan writes/directs a crime thriller you won't want to miss.

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Oct 1 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com
S. ‘Soma’ Somasegar, 1966-2026: Microsoft and Madrona leader was a champion of developers and startups

Friends and colleagues remembered S. "Soma" Somasegar, the longtime Microsoft developer leader and Madrona managing director, as a generous mentor to developers and founders, and a fixture of Seattle's tech community.

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May 19 • 8:05 PM EDT • Technology • geekwire.com
Analogue is reviving its Mega SG and Super Nt consoles, and they'll play all your old Sega and Nintendo cartridges with some modern enhancements

Analogue has unveiled new, fancier, versions of its Mega SG and Super Nt machines, with pre-orders starting soon.

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Oct 16 • 1:11 PM EDT • Technology • eurogamer.net
Sonic Returns To His Roots With New Sega Genesis Cartridges

Gotta go back

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Jun 24 • 5:00 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Sega Cancels $882 Million 'Super Game,' Details Schedule For Upcoming Games

Super done.

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May 12 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • gameinformer.com
STRANGER THAN HEAVEN Gamescom 2026 demo playthrough

Publisher SEGA and developer RGG Studio have released a 12-minute playthrough of the Gamescom 2026 demo for 50-year action adventure saga STRANGER THAN HEAVEN.

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Aug 28 • 9:10 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Entertainment Notebook: Gopnik’s one-man show coming to the Segal; Brave the Waves;evenko Foundation

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts has booked Adam Gopnik to present his acclaimed one-man show, Adam Gopnik's New York. Produced by Steve Martin and James L. Nederlander, the show

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Jul 19 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • thesuburban.com
'Sega Universe' Initiative Announced, Celebrating Multiple Classics With Anniversary Projects

Reviving IP such as OutRun, NiGHTS, Sakura Wars and more

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Apr 25 • 4:00 AM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
Sega Explains Why Exactly It Cancelled Its "Super Game"

Market competition and business conditions ended the project

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May 12 • 9:55 PM EDT • Technology • nintendolife.com
AI Deepfake Fraud Raises Liability Stakes for Banks and Business

As AI tools improve and spread, deepfake fraud becomes more foreseeable, and liability will depend on whether any party had both a duty and an opportunity to detect the deception, Segal McCambridge attorneys write.

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Sep 30 • 4:30 AM EDT • Business • news.bloomberglaw.com
STRANGER THAN HEAVEN launches January 15, 2027

STRANGER THAN HEAVEN will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store on January 15, 2027, publisher SEGA and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced. It will also …

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Jun 5 • 5:22 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
Ogilvy PR names first global chief sports and entertainment officer

Article 41 cofounder Vickie Segar will approach her new position with a talent-focused strategy, specifically with college athletes.

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May 7 • 12:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • campaignlive.com
Sega pulls Total War: Shogun 2 remaster from sale following disastrous launch

“We agree that the current experience is not where it needs to be.”

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Oct 15 • 6:35 PM EDT • Technology • theverge.com
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance coming to Nintendo Switch 2

SEGA is putting Shinobi: Art of Vengeance on Nintendo Switch 2, the company just announced. Fans will be able to grab this version on September 24, 2026. Shinobi: Art of Vengeance previously came to Nintendo Switch. However, on the new console, it’ll feature an improved resolution. For those interested in the game, check out the following details: The iconic Shinobi...

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Jun 18 • 5:23 PM EDT • Technology • nintendoeverything.com
Virtua Fighter Crossroads announced

Publisher SEGA and developer RGG Studio have officially announced Virtua Fighter Crossroads, previously known as Virtua Fighter New Project. It will launch in 2027.

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Jun 5 • 5:55 PM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
😐 Neutral (3%)
wow
56%
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Total War: SHOGUN 2 Complete Edition announced for PC

Publisher SEGA and developer Creative Assembly have announced Total War: SHOGUN 2 Complete Edition, which includes the base game, all downloadable content, and a range of improvements such as updat…

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Sep 15 • 10:27 AM EDT • Technology • gematsu.com
SEGA’s ‘Golden Axe’ video game is now a TV series: See the exclusive first look

SEGA’s ‘Golden Axe’ video game is now an animated TV comedy with Matthew Rhys, Liam McIntyre, and more: See the exclusive first look.

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Aug 20 • 9:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
NVIDIA says SEGA games are coming to RTX Spark PCs, including Virtua Fighter Crossroads

NVIDIA says SEGA games are coming to RTX Spark PCs, with Virtua Fighter Crossroads named in the announcement. The other titles have not been detailed.

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Jul 15 • 6:26 AM EDT • Technology • videocardz.com
Lenovo Has Officially Ditched Its Piracy-Packed Game Boy-Like

The G02, pre-installed with dozens of Nintendo and Sega games, is no longer on sale

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Jul 9 • 11:37 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
10+ Huge SEGA Games Are Cheaper Than Ever In New Xbox Publisher Sale

A particularly fantastic new set of offers!

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Aug 18 • 12:00 PM EDT • Technology • purexbox.com
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang reunites with Sega exec who saved the company with $5M investment

Sega and the world’s richest company celebrated a new partnership in Tokyo…

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Jul 15 • 8:47 AM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com
Ray Romano, Rory Rosegarten to be inducted into LIMEHOF

Ray Romano and Rory Rosegarten will be inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame as the first non-musicians honored. The induction recognizes their contributions to entertainment, notably through the sitcom 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' which has strong Long Island ties and a popular exhibit running at LIMEHOF.

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Sep 30 • 10:39 AM EDT • Business • libn.com