Sonic the Hedgehog has always been an underdog to Mario, and he still is. But everything hasn’t been a loss: Sonic has succeeded where Mario hasn’t in winning our hearts.
In Part 1, the cover story of the
IAG January issue, we examined the current state of play of integrated resort (IR) development in Japan including its rationale, recent events affecting the rollout, the pros and cons of likely IR locations and the current timeline. In Part 2, we compare and contrast the various candidate operators in the race.
Japan is the holy grail of the global integrated resort industry – one of the last remaining advanced economies in the world without casino gaming. In theory at least, a Japan integrated resort ought to be very lucrative.
Japan’s US$5 trillion economy is the third largest in the world, it’s a wealthy nation with a GDP per capita around US$40,000, and its local population has a proven propensity to gamble – with an enormous pachinko industry and the world’s largest horseracing market. Add to that a unique culture, spectacular architecture and design, and an exquisite F&B offering which attracts visitors from across the globe, and
Veteran Yakuza producer and executive director Toshihiro Nagoshi will be stepping down from Sega s board of directors on April 1.
He will also be leaving his role as Sega s chief creative officer, but will however remain at the company as creative director, Kotaku reported.
The Yakuza franchise had a successful 2020, with its remastered collection making it to the top ten in the UK charts and its latest entry, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, selling over 450,000 units in Asia in just a few months. This good performance boosted Sega s financial results for the 12 months ended March 31, 2020, with full-year sales reaching $3.4 billion.
Sega also announced a partnership with 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content to produce a new film based on the Yakuza franchise last September.