Sega will reveal a “new project” in a livestream broadcast next week.
Announced by the official Japanese Sega Twitter account (opens in new tab), the livestream will air on YouTube (opens in new tab) on Friday, June 3 at 8:00pm JST – that’s 4am PT / 7am ET / 11am BST. Sega producers Hiroyuki Miyazaki and Yosuke Okunari will appear during the broadcast, while regular Sega MC Misuzu Araki will host. No other details have been released, although Sega has launched an accompanying teaser site (opens in new tab) linking to the livestream.
According to Google Translate, the tweet says: “Urgent notice! A live broadcast to announce Sega’s new project will be delivered from 20:00 on June 3 (Friday). Appearing is Hiroyuki Miyazaki, Yosuke Okunari… What does that mean?”.
＼緊急告知！📣／セガの新プロジェクトを発表する生放送が6月3日（金）20時より配信決定✨出演は【宮崎浩幸】【奥成洋輔】……ということは🤔？👇配信はこちら！YouTube：https://t.co/zuCf8a7EVcニコニコ生放送：https://t.co/8nANC9FMaG pic.twitter.com/ZJq6IyCFRkMay 27, 2022
What can we expect?
Sega hasn’t given us much to go on, but there are a few key hints as to what we can expect from next week’s livestream. With the upcoming broadcast pitched as a project announcement rather than a game reveal, it’s likely to sit outside their usual gaming catalog. Don’t be expecting a surprise sequel, remake, or reboot to appear, but something adjacent to what the publisher is best known for.
One possibility is that Sega will share its first substantial update on its SuperGame project (opens in new tab). Originally announced in 2021, the initiative was billed as a partnership between Sega and Microsoft that will see the publisher deliver new triple-A games that utilize the latest technologies, and take advantage of the US tech giant’s cloud streaming software.
Super Game also looks to involve NFTs, however. In a recruitment interview earlier this year (translated by VGC (opens in new tab)), producer Masayoshi Kikuchi said: “It is a natural extension for the future of gaming that it will expand to involve new areas such as cloud gaming and NFT. We are also developing SuperGame from the perspective of how far different games can be connected to each other.”
Sega has expressed its interest in moving into NFTs elsewhere. It previously partnered (opens in new tab) with blockchain company Double Jump Tokyo to sell NFTs, and trademarked an official Sega NFT logo (opens in new tab) earlier this year. While Sega CEO Haruki Satomi told Tweak Town (opens in new tab) it had no concrete blockchain plans and must “mitigate the negative elements” of NFTs, it’s possible this upcoming livestream will announce the game-maker’s next leap into the field.
This announcement tweet’s accompanying image is rather peculiar, though, showing what looks like a homemade cake in the shape of a Sega Saturn controller. We reckon it’s pretty unlikely that the multinational gaming corporation is entering the baking industry. We’ll have to wait until next Friday to know for sure, though.