Gaming News With the sale of this company and the loss of 240 jobs, Sega is experiencing one of the worst phases of its existence
The year 2023 has been extremely complicated for people working in the video game industry, and moving to 2024 hasn’t helped matters. Some observers expect a lull at the end of the fiscal year, but shortly before that it was SEGA that decided to downsize.
SEGA decides to reduce its workforce in Europe: Creative Assembly hit hard
Although he is no longer a building contractor, SEGA remains a very active publisher. From Like A Dragon to Persona to Football Manager and Sonic to Unicorn Overlord, players have had a lot to do in the last few months. However, the atmosphere in the publishing house is not festive, and especially within the western branches. We recently received proof of this with an announcement regarding the publisher’s British division.
After cutting 250 jobs across its European subsidiaries in September The publisher announced that 240 additional positions would be eliminated. The vast majority of layoffs affect Creative Assembly (Total War, Alien Isolation), which was already affected after the cancellation of Hyenas, and Sega Europe. Sega Hardlight (Sonic Dreamteam) has also been affected by some job cuts, but Sports Interactive and Two Points Studios appear to be quiet at the moment. Overall, the various restructuring measures led to the dismissal of 620 people in one year.
I would like to sincerely apologize for the concern and understandable distress that this news will cause, particularly among those directly affected. These decisions were incredibly difficult to make and required careful consideration and consultation with leadership teams across the company. (…). We need to rationalize, focus on what we can do and position ourselves optimally for the future. “To achieve this, we must respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we face in developing our products and bringing them to market,” said Jürgen Post, President of SEGA Western Studios.
Relic Entertainment is a SEGA studio
At the same time, and a bit like what we’ve experienced over the last few weeks at Embracer, A SEGA studio has just regained its independence. On March 28th, studio manager Relic entertainment announced that the company is leaving SEGA and becoming independent with the help of an outside investor called Emona Capital. The studio’s complex situation perhaps explains this choice. The latter had laid off 121 people last yearalthough the most recent productions have obviously not achieved their goals.
We have an important announcement to make to our players and fans. With an external investor, Relic Entertainment becomes an independent development studio. This is a big change for us, but one thing doesn’t change: we want to offer our players incredible experiences (…). We would like to thank SEGA, whose support over the years and their help during this transition have been instrumental to our success. We may be outside the SEGA business, but we remain friends and colleagues.
However, if you are a Company of Heroes 3 player, you can rest assured that this new independence does not put an end to the game’s further development. The developers Version 1.6 is currently being prepared, which is expected to be released later this month. It will include new content as well as various features requested by the community. Apparently, Jürgen Post wished Relic Entertainment all the best in this new adventure.
