Sega teams up with Huddle so game developers can, uh, huddle on cross-Atlantic projects

Sega mascot Sonic can cross a continent in no time at all. But that’s not the case with its game developers. So they have to collaborate using the cloud when they’re making games with teams that are oceans apart. And to do that, they use Huddle.

Making games isn’t easy even when everyone is in one place. And when development teams are spread out across the U.S. and Europe, it’s even harder. That’s where Huddle comes in. On the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Sega of America’s internal teams stayed in touch using Huddle, a web-based collaboration environment.

Prior to using Huddle, the teams struggled to keep a global view of a marketing campaign or a game development project. They tried to do it through the Internet data transfer method FTP. They also use shared network drives and emails. But London- and San Francisco-based Huddle customized its cloud platform so the U.S. and United Kingdom branches of Sega’s digital business team could share work together on projects. Sega’s teams can access a central knowledge base and communicate across distances more easily.

Conversations and feedback on content are stored in one place, where everyone can access data that is updated in real-time. Producers can manage milestones on games and decision makers have full visibility into the status of projects. Marketers can access a central database for market research and other info.

“Huddle has transformed the way the team works and enabled us to move away from the cumbersome and complex tools that often made working together such a challenge,” said Chris Olson, the vice president of digital business at Sega. “With all relevant content and conversations stored in one place, Huddle has significantly reduced our dependency on email and the need for face-to-face meetings, which is fantastic. Huddle is simple to manage and flexible, and the easy-to-use interface means that people didn’t find it daunting or need hours of training. As well as enabling the team to get work done quickly, we could customize the platform to give it a familiar Sega flavour for workers.”

Huddle’s investors include DAG Ventures, Eden Ventures, Matrix Partners and Jafco Ventures. Other customers include 80 percent of the Fortune 500 and 80 percent of the U.K. central government as well as Unilever and Kia Motors.

“Sega’s digital business team presents a great example of how complex technology systems no longer support the new ways of working,” said Alastair Mitchell, the chief executive of Huddle. “Today’s workforce has to work effectively with people inside and outside of the firewall and it’s great to see such a renowned brand using Huddle to bring teams across the globe together to streamline projects and work on valuable content in a secure cloud environment. ”