Sega Hints At Reviving ‘Dormant’ Intellectual Properties

Some of you may remember a shining golden age. There was a time when Sega made more than just Yakuza and Total War. Those were the days of the Dreamcast, where Sega gave every creative type with half an idea and a gallon of spunk money to make whatever they wanted. From that plan birthed Sega’s most memorable, if not a bit strange, games including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Chu Chu Rocket and dozens more. I truly could go on for days about the greatness of the Dreamcast, but I’ll stop here today. Those long-dead series, however, may be next in line for a revival, as indicated in a recent internal Sega financial report.

The new report cites “dormant” intellectual properties that could benefit from a “remaster”, “remake” or “reboot.” The games cited as “dormant” are Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Panzer Dragoon, Shinobi, Virtua Fighter, Altered Beast, Nights, Rez, Streets of Rage, Space Channel 5 and House of the Dead. On the actual presentation slide, dormant IPs almost double examples of “active” IPs which is certainly depressing.

I have an unbreakable soft spot for Sega’s Saturn and Dreamcast era of design, so any talk of bringing that era’s IPs back into the cultural spotlight is good news.