What if Sega and Bandai had merged in 1997?

[CastletonSnob]

For those of you who don't know (Heck, I only learned about this today), Sega and Bandai were supposed to merge in 1997. Here's a video with more information.


As well as some old articles about the failed merge.

Bandai Calls Off Planned Merger with Sega

The move came after Bandai's board decided the two companies wouldn't be such a good fit after all.

www.wired.com

Sega to Acquire Bandai, Creating Toy-Video Giant (Published 1997)

Sega Enterprises says it will buy Bandai Co Ltd in stock swap valued around $1 billion, creating world's biggest toy and video-game company; new company will be called Sega Bandai; it will have $6 billion in revenue, with operations ranging from Sega's video arcades, miniature theme parks and...

www.nytimes.com

What if the merger had happened? Would Sega have been able to stay in the console business?

 

[wings012]

At the very least we wouldn't have to deal with these hideous logos had they merged.

 

[Chimpzy]

Ok, so, Bandai was a toymaker with no notable experience with gaming hardware outside of peripherals, many of which where not that well regarded (also, Sega + peripherals was historically not a resounding success), and the Apple Pippin, which bombed hard. I suppose a merger could've Sega given access to a number of IPs that Bandai had the game rights to, like Gundam, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider and such. But Sega was never really lacking in quality IPs or in ability to put out quality games.

So I'm not really sure how much Sega would've benefitted from the merger, at least when it came to staying in the console business. Not to mention Bandai was at the time a company in decline. Sure, they had a windfall with the tamagotchi, but that was a short-lived fad, they were otherwise not doing so hot. And neither was Sega, cuz you know, that Sega Cd, 32X & Saturn tripple whammy. And real life isn't maths. Two negatives signs don't necessarily make a positive.

 

[CastletonSnob]

Ok, so, Bandai was a toymaker with no notable experience with gaming hardware outside of peripherals, many of which where not that well regarded (also, Sega + peripherals was historically not a resounding success), and the Apple Pippin, which bombed hard. I suppose a merger could've Sega given access to a number of IPs that Bandai had the game rights to, like Gundam, Power Rangers, Kamen Rider and such. But Sega was never really lacking in quality IPs or in ability to put out quality games.

So I'm not really sure how much Sega would've benefitted from the merger, at least when it came to staying in the console business. Not to mention Bandai was at the time a company in decline. Sure, they had a windfall with the tamagotchi, but that was a short-lived fad, they were otherwise not doing so hot. And neither was Sega, cuz you know, that Sega Cd, 32X & Saturn tripple whammy. And real life isn't maths. Two negatives signs don't necessarily make a positive.

Bandai had the rights to Dragon Ball Z video games. I think that would have made a difference for Sega. DBZ was absolutely HUGE when I was in elementary school.

 

[Chimpzy]

Bandai had the rights to Dragon Ball Z video games. I think that would have made a difference for Sega. DBZ was absolutely HUGE when I was in elementary school.

Yeah, I'm not so convinced. By the time 1997 rolled around Sega had already burned tons of bridges with gaming audiences and retail & publishing partners alike with a string of hardware failures, internal fighting between its various international branches, and just really poor management decisions overall. Having the DBZ license would've probably resulted in a few mediocre to decent fighting games, which would have likely sold pretty well based on name recognition alone. Enough to singlehandedly keep the company's console business afloat? I doubt that.