SEGA Acquire The Creative Assembly News
Chris Leyton
09/03/2005
SEGA acquires award-winning developer behind Total War series...
In news that is likely to continue the war of words currently engulfing the TVG forums, SEGA Europe today announced the acquisition of The Creative Assembly.
Founded in 1997 with headquarters in the UK and Australia, The Creative Assembly have been responsible for a catalogue of hits throughout their history, most notably in the form of the Total War franchise.
The style and genre of CA expertise is said to match SEGA Europeâs own long-term strategic vision, with SEGA not only releasing the recently announced Spartan: Total Warrior this year, but also supporting CA to develop the Total War strategy series, along with exploring ambitious new areas.
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 news comes hot after further details on the first title in the newly formed relationship became available. Scheduled for release in October 2005 for the Playstation2, Xbox and GameCube, Spartan: Total Warrior marks the debut of a new franchise for The Creative Assembly with players switching the role of a commander to that of a heroic warrior.
Pitting players in the midst of titanic clashes between mighty armies, blending mythical beasts and legendary monsters into the fray, Spartan: Total Warrior throws you against the ruthless Roman Empire and challenges you to fight against loyal allies.
"All of us at CA are delighted to be working with SEGA, who share our vision of creating genre defining games," said Tim Ansell, Managing Director of The Creative Assembly. "Spartan: Total Warrior is an original game-play experience based upon dynamic, epic action-combat and we could find no better global partner than SEGA, who wrote the book on
console gaming."
"With Spartan: Total Warrior, CA has developed a title that offers both dynamic, real-time combat sequences and epic-sized battles; a combination that has never been technically accomplished on this generation of hardware," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of marketing, SEGA of America. "This partnership underscores SEGA's strategy to publish more great game content designed to appeal to western gamers."
"The Creative Assembly has delivered outstanding games from day one and Spartan: Total Warrior is another quality title befitting the exceptional standards of the team", comments Matt Woodley, Marketing Director of SEGA Europe. "They've delivered an epic game-play experience and have laid the foundation for what will be another hugely successful brand."
Weâll have more information soon.
