{"id":13900,"date":"2026-09-08T21:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T18:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/?p=13900"},"modified":"2026-09-08T23:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T20:29:10","slug":"segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/09\/08\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers\/","title":{"rendered":"Sega&#8217;s President Says There&#8217;s Been an Increase in Fans Who Don&#8217;t Play Its Games, but That Doesn&#8217;t Mean They Aren&#8217;t Gamers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi says the company has experienced an uptick in fans who don\u2019t actually play the games it develops and publishes.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">In a September 7 interview with Nikkei Gaming, Utsumi discussed the company\u2019s current \u201ctransmedia\u201d strategy, which has seen some of its biggest franchises \u2014 such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, Yakuza, etc. \u2014 cross over into the worlds of film and television to expand their brands across multiple different mediums.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">This, of course, has led to a rise in fans of these games who haven&#8217;t actually played them. Utsumi confirmed this sentiment to Nikkei Gaming\u2019s editor-in-chief, Aya Hirano, after she broached the topic by saying, \u201cLately, there&#8217;s been an increase in fans who like an IP even though they&#8217;ve never played the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds &#8211; Screenshots<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers.gif\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3027214138 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cWe&#8217;ve seen an increase in such fans for every title in recent years,\u201d Utsumi answered. \u201cFor example, the Yakuza series has been doing exceptionally well in merchandising, with 60-70% of its buyers being women. They&#8217;ve become fans of the Yakuza world, story, and characters after watching our YouTube channel and popular YouTubers&#8217; streams. And among them are many people who have never actually played the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Utsumi isn\u2019t calling these fans LARPers, though; instead, he says that Sega considers all of its fans to be gamers, regardless of whether they\u2019ve picked up a controller to actually play their games or not.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cEven people who have never played games are considered fans and gamers by us. Transmedia&#8217;s strength lies in increasing the entry points and contact points for people to become interested in IP. In some cases, their engagement is even higher than that of fans who actually play the games,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Utsumi went on to explain that the rise of female fans within the gaming space has created a shift in the types of merchandise that publishers produce, specifically calling back to his experience working at Cybird, a developer famous for its Otome romance games.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">\u201cI also worked on romance games for women at Cybird. There, in addition to traditional collectible goods such as can badges and acrylic stands, we saw a significant shift in merchandising, with the emergence of lifestyle-oriented licensed products like apparel and cosmetics that could be used daily, as well as limited-edition and commemorative goods created in collaboration with amusement facilities. That experience definitely broadened my perspective, and I believe it&#8217;s been invaluable in my transmedia strategy at Sega,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Sega\u2019s \u201ctransmedia\u201d strategy is clearly working out for it, with all three live-action Sonic movies making bank at the box office and a fourth to come \u2014 not to mention the upcoming Persona series that\u2019s in the works at Netflix. Whether or not these projects\u2019 popularity translates to more players seems moot to Sega, though. To them, every fan is a \u201cgamer\u201d at heart.<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"poll-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\"><\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\"author-sign-off\" data-cy=\"author-sign-off\"><span class=\"stack jsx-59817748 jsx-1927875859\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"rounded jsx-444076027 jsx-4218469134 profile-thumb jsx-2141281959 aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-1-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Virginia Glaze Avatar\" class=\"progressive-image profile-thumb-img jsx-249361588 jsx-2338608387 expand\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers.jpg\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"stack jsx-2509706801 jsx-3630940851\"><span class=\"stack jsx-2959124702 jsx-702910195 author-sign-off-header\">Virginia Glaze<\/p>\n<p>IGN News Editor \/ Cat Rescuer \/ Martial Arts \/ Fighting Game Girlie<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"stack jsx-2509706801 jsx-1220387432\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"interface jsx-1132626198 sign-off-text\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Virginia (she\/her) is IGN\u2019s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she\u2019s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at <\/em>@TheeMissGlaze<em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/section>\n<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers-1.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/segas-president-says-theres-been-an-increase-in-fans-who-dont-play-its-games-but-that-doesnt-mean-they-arent-gamers-1.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-13900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-49","tag-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13902,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13900\/revisions\/13902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}