What keeps a game running for 24 years?

Takaya Segawa has spent his career building games that last. Heading up two of Sega's 4 development studios focused on online and mobile titles, he oversees a portfolio that includes some of the longest-running live service games in the industry. 

In a recent conversation with Xsolla's President Chris Hewish on The Business of Games podcast, Segawa shared how Sega approaches player engagement, what it takes to bring Japanese games to a global audience, and why going direct-to-consumer required the right partner.

Longevity is not an accident

Most live service games measure success in months. A strong first year is considered a win. Sega measures in decades.

Phantasy Star Online 2 has been running for over fifteen years since its 2012 launch. Puyo Puyo Quest has kept players coming back for 13 years. And Project MJ, Sega's mahjong title that started as an arcade game, has been in continuous operation for 24 years. 

These are not flukes. According to Segawa, they reflect a core philosophy: get as many players into the game as possible, on as many platforms as possible, and keep them engaged for as long as possible.

"Creating an environment where as many people as we can reach can play our games as long as possible, in any number of forms, on the platforms that they're engaging in; that's at the forefront of our LiveOps strategy," Segawa explained.

In practice, this means daily content delivery: in-game events, campaigns, and surprises designed to give players a reason to come back tomorrow. It also means listening. Sega places enormous importance on real-time user feedback, and not just collecting it. The development teams apply what they hear directly to the live experience. The loop of deliver → listen → adjust is what Segawa credits for the sustained health of titles that most competitors would have sunset years ago.

The other piece is portfolio breadth. Sega doesn't bet on a single genre or audience. Across Persona 5X (RPG), Sega FC Champions (sports simulation), Puyo Puyo Quest (puzzle), and Project Sekai (rhythm), the lineup is deliberately varied. The idea is simple: different players want different things, and offering a wide range means more people find a game that fits them. Long-term engagement starts with the right match.

Going global without losing what makes Sega Japanese

For a Japanese publisher looking to grow internationally, the question is never just "How do we translate the text?" It's "How much of our unique culture do we keep?"

Segawa was candid about the tension in this question. Sega is a Japanese company, and it takes pride in that identity. But different markets value different things, and the adjustments are not always obvious.

In China, for example, the volume of content matters most. Players expect a steady, high-frequency stream of new material. In the West, the priority shifts to interface polish: clean UI, smooth UX, and an overall experience that feels refined. Neither approach is wrong; neither is universally right. As Segawa put it, there is no single correct answer regarding what to localize and what to keep.

Persona 5X is a compelling example. The game is set in Japan, steeped in Japanese culture, and it resonates with overseas audiences precisely because of that identity, not despite it. Players around the world responded to the authenticity. The lesson is that cultural specificity can be a strength in global markets, but only when the surrounding experience (things like platform operations and localization) is adapted to meet players where they are.

Sega handles this through direct collaboration with its overseas offices, customizing LiveOps and marketing at the regional level through local partner branches, so the player experience remains consistent even when the underlying infrastructure varies from market to market. 

Community plays a growing role, too. Platforms like Discord give developers and players a direct line to each other, country by country, and Segawa sees that connection as essential to sustaining cross-border engagement.

Going direct requires the right infrastructure and partnership

Sega's direct-to-consumer (D2C) ambitions center on 2 pillars: the Sega Account system and SegaCon, a platform that serves as both a marketing tool and an evolving D2C service.

The Sega Account uses in-game telemetry and player data to understand preferences and guide users toward better experiences. SegaCon leverages the same data layer but extends it outward to custom storefronts, targeted content delivery, and eventually a broader commerce platform that can deliver products and content directly to players outside traditional distribution channels.

Segawa made it clear that this is not about replacing existing channels; it is about adding new ones by building more direct paths between Sega and its players.

But building custom storefronts for each title across multiple regions is not something a publisher does alone. Segawa acknowledged this openly: it required outside help.

That's where the partnership with Xsolla came in. Sega used Xsolla's web shop builder to streamline the construction of custom storefronts for its titles. The technical support was important, but what Segawa highlighted most was something simpler: having a dedicated representative who could communicate with the team in Japanese.

"Providing a representative that could communicate with us in Japanese was just a boon for us in and of itself," Segawa said. "It's a major help and really provided a wave of relief for our team."

For Japanese studios considering global D2C operations, that kind of local-language, locally informed support is not a nice-to-have. It is the difference between a strategy that stays on a slide deck and one that actually ships.

Beyond storefronts, Segawa pointed to Xsolla's events and seminars as valuable for expanding professional networks. He personally attended and spoke at a seminar in Shanghai, and described it as an opportunity to learn from others in the space and understand the direction the industry is heading.

What comes next

Sega's ambitions are not small: it wants to create major cross-platform content for a global audience. Esports is part of that equation (Segawa called it an "indispensable component of global expansion and a potential major pillar alongside LiveOps and commerce." Still, the foundation has to come first: global games-as-a-service titles that reach players in more regions, on more platforms, with more direct channels between the company and its community.

The games that last longest are the ones that earn trust daily. Sega's track record suggests they understand that better than most.

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