Sega Not For Sale, Says Jeffrey

Sega Sammy U.S. chief executive Simon Jeffrey has ruled out the possibility of any acquisitions or mergers in the foreseeable feature, despite the forthcoming merger of Activision and Vivendi Games and Electronic Arts’ bid for Take-Two Interactive. Following recent disappointing financial results for Sega Sammy, itself the product of a merger between the video games veteran and Japanese pachinko manufacturer Sammy, rumours had begun to emerge that Sega would be sold off or merge with another competitor. "That's not an area we want to play in right now," said Jeffrey in a Reuters interview. "We have no interest in being acquired, we are very happy with our position right now." "There is plenty of room for smaller companies to be successful and profitable in this business. You don't have to be number one or number two. You can be number six very happily," added Jeffrey, referring to Sega’s position as the sixth biggest games publisher, by revenue, in the U.S. Despite problems at Sega Sammy Holdings, Sega itself has recently experienced some of its highest levels of success since becoming a third party developer, with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games selling some five million copies in three months.