The deal sees SEGA acquiring a company at the very pinnacle of games development - a unique group of talent who are second to none with an outstanding global reputation. The style and genre of The Creative Assembly's games perfectly complements SEGA's own long term strategic vision and SEGA will empower the team to continue on their existing development path whilst also expanding their resources for the future. SEGA will not only be releasing Spartan: Total Warrior this year, but will also be supporting The Creative Assembly to develop the Total War strategy series, as well as exploring ambitious new ventures.
Naoya Tsurumi - CEO: SEGA Of America & SEGA Europe commented "This news is direct evidence of SEGA delivering it's strategic objective of strengthening our emphasis in the western market. As our first developer acquisition in the West since we became a publisher it clearly demonstrates that we have set our sights on working with the very best talent in the industry".
"Acquiring such a well respected and talented company as The Creative Assembly is a huge boost to SEGA, we are thrilled to be working with a development team renowned for its quality and highly commercial products", commented Mike Hayes, President & COO of SEGA Europe. "We are selectively building a portfolio of triple A titles to fulfill our objective of becoming a world-wide leading force within the gaming industry".
Tim Ansell, Managing Director of The Creative Assembly adds "We are delighted to have signed with SEGA, a company which we quickly realised shared our creative vision and were appreciative of our ambition to not only enhance stability but also position ourselves for future growth as a developer. SEGA have extremely impressive plans which will take shape throughout the coming years, and this is something which we were very eager to be a part of".
The heritage and dynamic culture present within both companies suggests an exciting future, and the marrying of two such popular brands is set to bring highly compelling content for game enthusiasts around the world.
The first The Creative Assembly title to be released as a result of the deal will be Spartan: Total Warrior. This epic game will be released for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft®, and Nintendo GameCube in September 2005.