Sega Plans New Studio Acquisitions

Sega Europe boss Mike Hayes has claimed that the publisher is looking to acquire “two or three” new in-house development teams as part of the company’s continued Western expansion. Speaking to British trade paper MCV, Hayes indicated that the company’s attempts to widen its portfolio with more Western focused products was still ongoing, following the acquisition of British developers Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive, and numerous development deals with North American studios including Secret Level, Obsidian, Petroglyh and Silicon Knights. “I think for Sega ‘West’ we probably need another two or three studios within the family to get to the critical mass we want to get to,” said Hayes in the interview. “We’re aggressively wanting to work with more third party devs but having two or three in-house would be ideal. Who they would be and when that will happens is based on the market and the opportunities that arrive, so we’re constantly on the lookout.” No clue as to what type of studio would be considered was given, and given the surprise announcements for Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly, both of which were seen as producing atypical Sega titles, it is likely that the company will be looking for other studios specializing in products not normally tackled by Sega’s Japanese teams. Hayes also indicated that the company had imposed a deadline of April 2007 upon itself as the point at which the company’s existing three British studios will be fully staffed, and the company’s marketing headquarters properly established in the UK, France, Germany, Spain And Benelux. According to Hayes this is to ensure the company can go “toe-to-toe with the likes of Ubisoft, Activision and THQ.”