Talk:Sega AM1/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Namcokid47 (talk · contribs) 03:45, 9 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Namcokid 47 ^(Contribs) 03:45, 9 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Red Phoenix: - This article looks to be in good shape, but my question is - are they still around? Their website seems to be broken and Sega Retro seems to point to AM1 being defunct? If that's the case, the article should probably start with "Sega AM Research & Development No. 1 was a development department within Japanese video game developer Sega", as it lets readers know they no longer exist (if, of course, that's true). Namcokid 47 ^(Contribs) 17:58, 21 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@Namcokid47: Unfortunately at this point it's impossible to know - and I spent a couple hours trying to answer that question. Here's what I have on that matter:

R&D 1 had a Twitter that was actively maintained until February 2017.
Sometime in 2017, the website on which they posted (buzz.sega.jp) was redirected to Sega Interactive. A Google translate of the description doesn't explain why, just where to find info that was hosted on the site.
I combed through all of Sega's press releases they have on the site and have no mention from 2017 to now on restructuring their research and development.
Even during the later years, Sega has been spotty about telling what department has done what, probably because what it was was special - Sega's R&D had rivalries before and were very separate, but that's probably not how it usually works. Quite simply, after Sammy acquired the company the information just hasn't been there except in Japanese media on rare occasions.

It's a little better with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sonic Team. As recent as 2019, articles have mentioned Sonic Team / Sega CS2 working on Sakura Wars (2019 video game). The AM and other CS departments get mentioned less, and almost never in English media because they're pretty much working exclusively on Japanese games, where arcade culture is in much better shape.

I searched and searched, including with Google in Japanese (noting I don't speak or read Japanese, I can just sort of work through it with Google Translate), and there's nothing either way. Nothing confirms they're done, and nothing confirms they're continuing. It is obvious the social media presence has come to a close, but we don't know more than that and it wasn't ever announced, to what I can find.
Sega Retro provides no indication that it's done. They have multiple AM1 pages that makes it hard to sort out.

It sucks, but that's the best I have. Red Phoenix ^talk 22:12, 21 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, no problem. I don't notice anything else wrong with the article, so I'll pass it. Superb work as usual. Namcokid 47 ^(Contribs) 01:02, 22 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]