SEGA Talks The Conduit

The company gives us the lowdown on why it picked up the Wii-exclusive FPS.

by Matt Casamassina

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October 29, 2008 - Early Wednesday morning, third-party SEGA revealed itself to be the official publisher of The Conduit, the High Voltage Software-developed first-person shooter and one of the most anticipated Wii games of next year. To learn more about the partnership, we chatted with SEGA of America's president, Simon Jeffery. Below, he offers some quick comments on why SEGA decided to align itself with HVS to bring The Conduit out next year.

IGN: First of all, congrats on picking up such a highly anticipated project. What drew SEGA to The Conduit?

Simon Jeffery: The Conduit is one of those few games that comes along that ignites a frenzy of interest across the gaming community. We really liked the way that the developer (HVS) was promoting and presenting the game. They had us at 'The…'

IGN: Why do you think SEGA is a good partner for this game?

Simon Jeffery: SEGA is making considerable investment in core games for the Wii. We strongly believe that games like Mad World and House of the Dead Overkill have a great place on the Wii – and Nintendo of America shares our belief. Everyone is churning out wide market and family-friendly fare for the Wii platform, but there are millions of core gamers being underserved right now – and SEGA was delighted that HVS feel the same way.

IGN: Do you view The Conduit as the beginning of a Wii-exclusive franchise from SEGA?

Simon Jeffery: We are currently only talking about the first game, but we have every belief that HVS is building something awesome here…

IGN: The Conduit is a big game amongst the educated Wii owner, but it's also a new IP – always a hard sell to the general consumer. What kind of marketing /advertising will you back this new game with? How much do you plan to spend to support it?

Simon Jeffery: It's early days to talk about how much we will spend to support the game, but the buzz that HVS have already generated for The Conduit is absolutely outstanding. All metrics indicate extremely high awareness with Wii consumers. We will absolutely put a world-class marketing campaign behind the launch of the game – but we're helped by the fact this game is so good that it sells itself!

IGN: High Voltage Software has not only been a big supporter of Wii, but one of the few third-party developers to really push the system. We happen to know it's already working on major new Wii software. Will SEGA also try to publish the developers other projects?

Simon Jeffery: We have huge respect for HVS and really enjoy working with these guys. We hope they like us back!

IGN: Finally, do you have any words for fans anticipated The Conduit?

Simon Jeffery: Only that everything that you've seen to date is just the tip of the iceberg. When we saw deeper and further into the game, we just got more and more excited. Wii gamers are in for a real//i> treat exclusive to their platform!

It's really good that their are going to advertise the game,I really hope it does well.

I really like Sega again. Especially since they funded and published Bayonetta and Madworld...and now The Conduit. Good job Sega. You have endeared yourself to me, and earned my respect.

Wii is starting to look like a spiritual succesor to the Dreamcast.

weird how close sega and nintendo are. segas mascot has appeared in a nintendo game (SSBB) nintendo's mascot has appeared in a sega game (mario and sonic and the olympic games)

sega's franchises are have got exclusive titles on wii ( nights/sonic/samba de amigo)

sega has a strong and diverse wii lineup in 2009 ( sonic and the black knight, conduit, madworld, house of the dead overkill, bleach versus crusade)

whats the next step? get sega to put all its other franchises on wii (shining force already rumoured) and yes that means ALL of them :P)

and then get sega to make f-zero for wii

Haha now going to have all these people love Sega again. I've always loved Sega so I'm glad they are supporting more on the platform I play the most on. Looking to be a good early 2009 on Wii with Sega with Madworld, House of Dead: Overkill, Sonic and the Black Knight, and The Conduit. Never thought I'd buy 4 games from the same company all around the same time haha. Hope Sega spaces them out within those 6 months so they don't hurt sales of one another.

Sega. The name is really starting to mean something big again.......

Even though they have killed sonic almost I still have reasons to love SEGA....

@ Zucas, is it just me or are all those titles set for a Q1 2009nrelease date?

Yea they are except for Conduit which is Q2 2009 but they are going to have to space them out some more.  Probably Madworld in January or February(a good time to release controversial games) with House of Dead: Overkill at the end of the quarter and then you can release Conduit and Sonic at or around the same time because brand is strong enough for Sonic to keep it alive while not affecting the Conduit.