Sega Shifts Gears

Sega plans to address its recent financial woes by shifting its focus from hardware to software. The company is taking the wraps off an ambitious plan to boost its share of the videogame software market to 25 percent. Sega currently holds a 4.2 share, with Nintendo leading the industry with a 19.6 percent share. Sega's plans to reach that goal include providing software for rival consoles and licensing Dreamcast technology to makers of PCs and cell phones. "We aim to win the top share of the world market in the near future by increasing the number of platforms which can operate Sega software,'' explained Sega's Strategic Counsel Tetsu Kayama, "Our focus on content provision is back in place. Sega aims to become a real game creator." To that end, Sega is looking to overhaul its software development operation, including redirecting more than $200 million in investment funds from third-parties back to its own internal developers. Sega hopes these moves will put the company back into the black as soon as next year.