While Western gamers rave about Japanese games, many don’t realize that most games from the East simply won’t appeal to them. Sega knew this, focusing on building their Western identity. In fact, Sega of America president Simon Jeffery has discussed pulling back from a traditional Japanese reliance to producing games that resonate with Western gamers.

Talking to Gamasutra, Jeffery explained: “We’ve strongly tried to make Sega of America feel like it’s not a Japanese company. We want to resonate better with gamers in the casual market a lot better than I think Japanese companies have been able to do traditionally in the last few years.”

He notes that the company wishes to build success by producing products in the West for the West. Jeffery noted that this strategy was approved and encouraged by the Japanese owners of the company, who understood the differences in the markets.

Sega has recently committed to the Western market in a greater degree than before, making exclusive deals with Obsidian and BioWare, among other big Western studios.