Game

Former Disney executive Justin Scarpone, who is leading Sega's foray into Hollywood, says the future is bright for Shadow the Hedgehog.

From the upcoming sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to the recently announced Ninjago movie to Prime Video's Like Dragons series, Sega has made a name for itself in Hollywood over the past few years. However, the company has bigger ambitions to become a media giant like Disney, and a former Disney executive is working hard to make that happen.

After 17 years at Disney, Justin Scarpone was hired by Sega earlier this year as global head of transmedia. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Scarpone noted that most video game companies have yet to follow Disney and Marvel's lead and use their assets across all media. But he plans to change that at Sega.

“Gaming is an irreplaceable form of entertainment in today's world, far more than any other form of entertainment, and it's time to replicate the Hollywood studio system in the gaming industry,” Scarbone said. “Gaming companies don't have the history of the kind of content flywheel that Walt Disney basically invented, which is to capitalize on that intellectual property and develop a five-, ten-year roadmap for content, like Marvel executive Kevin Feige did for movies. And connect that to all the other businesses and evolve the story across these different experiences, you know, content products and services.”

Scarbone also pointed to Shadow the Hedgehog's prominent roles in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic the Hedgehog X Shadow Generations as an example of exactly the kind of crossover content he wants Sega to pursue.

“We're doing things in other avenues: Shadow merchandise, Shadow character appearances,” Scarpone added. “We want to make Shadow an enduring, unique character. That's all in the plan.”

“I think Sega will capitalize on our company's transformation into an entertainment company to grow,” Scarpone continued. “Other game companies have moved in the same direction with varying degrees of success, and we respect that, and Nintendo is one of the leaders, right? They're arguably the big brother of all Japanese game companies ...... but I think we're doing quite well and we have many more opportunities to further develop what the Sega brand means to consumers around the world. That's what I want to achieve.”