Sega Sweatshop: Mark Cerny's 80s Tokyo Experience

The Sega Sweatshop environment of the 1980s in Tokyo, as recalled by PlayStation architect Mark Cerny, paints a picture of intense pressure and demanding conditions at the company behind Sonic the Hedgehog. Cerny described his experiences on the "My Perfect Console" podcast, highlighting a specific period when Sega was striving to compete with Nintendo.

Cerny explained that back then, teams were small. Atari's game development consisted of one or two people. By the late 80s, Sega had teams of around three: a programmer (like himself), a designer, and an artist.

He clarified that his observations were limited to Sega's Tokyo office during the latter half of the 1980s. "But man, Sega was a sweatshop. Three people, three months, that's a game. And, you know, we would sleep at the office."

This intense work ethic stemmed from the strategy of Sega's former president, Hayao Nakayama, who believed that the key to success was to overwhelm the market with a large number of titles. Nakayama reasoned, "Why is Nintendo successful? They have 40 games. So what are we gonna do? We're gonna have 80 games for the Master System, and that's going to be our path to success."

The Flawed Strategy Behind the Sega Sweatshop

Cerny argued that this approach of flooding the market with games was misguided. Instead, Sega should have focused on quality over quantity, encouraging larger teams to work on fewer, more polished titles. Did focusing on quantity truly lead to success?

"If you look at the history of games I think if you're trying to sell a console, you need about two good games, and that sells you your console," Cerny stated. He cited Nintendogs and Brain Training as examples of games that drove Nintendo DS sales.

Eventually, Sega devoted more resources to a specific project: Sonic the Hedgehog. However, even with its tremendous success, Sonic's creator, Yuji Naka, faced criticism for exceeding the budget.

Cerny explained that the "Million Seller Project" aimed to create a game that could sell a million copies. "Sonic was terribly controversial — part of the idea there was, let's put much more resource on the project than usual..."

The initial plan was to have three people working for 10 months. But, it ended up requiring four and a half people for 14 months. Despite its success, the budget overruns led to Yuji Naka being "yelled at" and ultimately leaving the company.

The Aftermath of Sonic's Success and the Sega Sweatshop Culture

While Sonic's sales proved beneficial for Sega, Cerny noted that "Yuji Naka was pretty tired of the situation by that point." Naka was reportedly earning $30,000 annually when Sonic 1 became a hit, though he received a "president's bonus" that year.

Cerny questioned, "I guess that is interesting, how could he be yelled at but get it [the bonus] as well? It was an interesting environment, I have to say." The bonus effectively doubled Naka's salary, bringing it to $60,000 in his best year. However, the constant criticism led him to develop Sonic 2 in the United States.

Cerny also mentioned that his team of 40 people back in 1987 included prominent figures in the gaming industry, such as Naka and Rieko Kodama, the creator of Skies of Arcadia. Despite these positive aspects, Cerny left Sega in 1991 and returned to the U.S., where he worked on Sonic 2 before starting his long-standing collaboration with PlayStation.

Mark Cerny's recollection of the Sega Sweatshop environment provides a unique insight into the pressures and challenges faced by developers during the late 1980s.