SEGA Scoops Up Secret Level
The house that Sonic built is ramping up on their next-gen studio acquisitions.
Published: April 4, 2006
It was really only a matter of time. With SEGA quickly working to build both internal Japanese and US development houses and buying up studios left and right, the fact that Secret Level was already in the club enough to start work on a next-gen version of one of SEGA's classic franchises meant it was probably inevitable.
SEGA's official take on the purchase was that Secret Level knew their stuff when it came to tools and middleware, a vital part of quickly adapting to next-gen development. Rather than building an in-house development group, they just picked up a developer already working on a project for them. And hey, they're already here in San Francisco, making it an easy trip to SEGA's US headquarters in SoMa. Easy peasy.
"In recent years, SEGA has rebalanced its development strategy to be more Western focused," explains Naoya Tsurumi, CEO, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. "On the heels of our first, successful studio acquisition with The Creative Assembly, the addition of this development powerhouse further moves SEGA toward its goal of becoming a leading next-generation publisher."
Simon Jeffery, President & COO, SEGA of America, Inc. seems to agree with the boss man. "We looked long and hard at building an internal studio from scratch, but were so impressed with the team at Secret Level and their next-gen technology that we decided to create our internal development infrastructure through a direct acquisition, one that could fulfill our dynamic growth plans and produce high quality games."
Secret Level President Jeremy Gordon seems pretty happy about the whole deal, adding, "SEGA's incredible library of IP and global publishing muscle will enable us to realize our full technical and creative potential. It's become clear that a combined SEGA and Secret Level are greater than the sum of our parts."
It's likely we'll finally get some word on what Secret Level's... uh, secret levels have been put toward come E3 time. It's also increasingly likely that we'll be ending all our news stories for the next month or so with "check back around E3 time!" So, y'know, do it.
SEGA's official take on the purchase was that Secret Level knew their stuff when it came to tools and middleware, a vital part of quickly adapting to next-gen development. Rather than building an in-house development group, they just picked up a developer already working on a project for them. And hey, they're already here in San Francisco, making it an easy trip to SEGA's US headquarters in SoMa. Easy peasy.
"In recent years, SEGA has rebalanced its development strategy to be more Western focused," explains Naoya Tsurumi, CEO, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. "On the heels of our first, successful studio acquisition with The Creative Assembly, the addition of this development powerhouse further moves SEGA toward its goal of becoming a leading next-generation publisher."
Simon Jeffery, President & COO, SEGA of America, Inc. seems to agree with the boss man. "We looked long and hard at building an internal studio from scratch, but were so impressed with the team at Secret Level and their next-gen technology that we decided to create our internal development infrastructure through a direct acquisition, one that could fulfill our dynamic growth plans and produce high quality games."
Secret Level President Jeremy Gordon seems pretty happy about the whole deal, adding, "SEGA's incredible library of IP and global publishing muscle will enable us to realize our full technical and creative potential. It's become clear that a combined SEGA and Secret Level are greater than the sum of our parts."
It's likely we'll finally get some word on what Secret Level's... uh, secret levels have been put toward come E3 time. It's also increasingly likely that we'll be ending all our news stories for the next month or so with "check back around E3 time!" So, y'know, do it.
