SEGA: We'll carry on chasing innovation

New SEGA UK managing director John Clark has told GamesIndustry.biz that the publisher is firm in its commitment to pursue innovation and invest in new IP in a bid to "crack core gaming".

The company, which has enjoyed a great deal of success in the past couple of years with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is readying itself for another big seller in the form of a Winter Olympics version - but Clark is keen to stress that it's not just a younger audience that's of interest.

"We're prepared to have a go and try to be innovative, and we want to crack core gaming," he said in response to a question about whether MadWorld performed as well at retail as it did critically. "We've spent a lot of time thinking there must be a way to release mature, more adult content on the Wii format.

"House of the Dead performed really well. Was that because it was mature or because it was an arcade title? You might lean towards the SEGA IP and the affiliation with Nintendo, but we matured that up by bringing out House of the Dead Overkill, and made it more of a core game.

"At the same time we entered into an exciting partnership with Platinum Games, the first result of which was MadWorld - a fantastic, innovative, original game, no doubt about it."

He went on to insist that the publisher reaped enough rewards from the game's sales to allow it to "invest in high quality, new IP" on an ongoing basis, and that it was an experiment that would be repeated.

"You can look at quality thresholds and the proven track records of Sonic and Total War and Football Manager, but the industry we're in demands creativity and innovation. There has to be inspiration from the development level as well as the publishing level. There has to be balance."

The full interview with John Clark is available now.