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Sega has sold Relic Entertainment, and will cut 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight

Relic is best known for the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, and recently developed the new Age of Empires for Microsoft. Relic will transition to an independent studio and will no-longer be part of the Sega group of studios.

The majority of the 240 job cuts are across Creative Assembly and Sega Europe, while there will be a ‘small number’ cut from Sega HARDLight. There was no mention of other Sega UK studios, including Two Point Studios and Sports Interactive.

Creative Assembly had already suffered a range of redundancies following the cancellation of its Hyenas project last year.

“Sega is working closely with Relic on this shift, and we wish them the best for the future,” wrote Jurgen Post, who is the newly appointed head of Sega Europe.

“I want to sincerely apologise for the worry and understandable distress this news will cause, particularly for those directly affected. These decisions have been incredibly tough to make, and they follow meticulous consideration and deliberation with leadership teams across the business. Change is necessary to secure the future of our games business, and to ensure that we are well placed to deliver the best possible experiences to our players going forward.

“We need to streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead. In order to do that, we need to respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we’re facing in the way we develop our products and bring them to market.”

Post apologised to staff if they should hear about this news via social media or the trade press, which is due to Sega’s legal obligation to notify the Tokyo Stock Exchange first.

Sega sells Relic and will cut 240 jobs across UK studios

Sega has sold Relic Entertainment, and will cut 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlightRelic…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[STARSBarry]

To he fair I don't think relic has done something right since DoW 2.

Company of heroes 3 being god awful was the nail in the coffin.

 

[Beer Baelly]

 

[hlm666]

To he fair I don't think relic has done something right since DoW 2.

Company of heroes 3 being god awful was the nail in the coffin.

Not a big sample size but myself and about 5 friends who play rts games casually in coop comp stomp style were not overly happy with coh2 and it's crazy mtx/dlc strategy and not one of us bought coh3. I feel rts genre is more popular among older gamers and its possibly also the age bracket which are happy to say nah fuck you and your monetisation madness. I hope relic get a chance to make an rts game without all the mtx stuff to see if it's received better and it lets them balance the gameplay properly.

 

[Hrk69]

 

[Woopah]

I'm guessing this mean a management buy out by the Relic leadership team?

 

[Skifi28]

Just leave RGG alone.

 

[nush]

Trimming the fat ready for..

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Makes sense. I guess Relic will continue working on AoE. Not sure what CA will do though. Also considering that IPs are staying with Sega, I am not sure if anybody is interested in acquiring them. I guess it is another T2B situation.

Also western developers are just too expensive.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

CA is worth keeping for Total Warhammer at least, Relic doesn't seem like they are making the kind of games their audience wants.

 

[whyman]

Hopefully this is good news for Relic. They were great once, they can rise again. I need more WW2 games.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Just leave RGG alone.

Yakuza series is on the rise. Let's just hope it won't be affected by the woke virus. Infinite Wealth was still okay despite the "consultations" to make the game's content "acceptable" for modern Western society.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

The trend is not boding well for UK studios, honestly. Especially after Sony closed London and halved Firesprite.

 

[kingpotato]

Relic made the best Warhammer 40k games. I'm skeptical Space Marine 2 will be able to top SM1.

 

[kingpotato]

The trend i not boding well for UK studios, honestly. Especially after Sony closed London and halved Firesprite.

Isn't Relic Canadian?

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Isn't Relic Canadian?

I'm talking about Creative Assembly layoffs.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Im guessing MS will pick up Relic

 

[diffusionx]

Company of Heroes 3 was probably a massive disaster. AOE4 is good but it's not their game.

 

[IDKFA]

CA is worth keeping for Total Warhammer at least, Relic doesn't seem like they are making the kind of games their audience wants.

Pharaoh was a huge flop for CA. I'm not surprised because it's not that different from Troy setting wise and it resembles more of a saga title than a full TW experience..

CA should now work on Med3 or Empire 2 and probably a 40K Total War since Warhammer Fantasy was successful.

 

[Woopah]

Pharaoh was a huge flop for CA. I'm not surprised because it's not that different from Troy setting wise and it resembles more of a saga title than a full TW experience..

CA should now work on Med3 or Empire 2 and probably a 40K Total War since Warhammer Fantasy was successful.

Either Med3 or TW 40K would be amazing, I hope we get that.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Googling it, Relic will now be an independent studio funded by an investor (who hasnt been revealed yet).

 

[P:axMagellanic]

Pharaoh was a huge flop for CA. I'm not surprised because it's not that different from Troy setting wise and it resembles more of a saga title than a full TW experience..

CA should now work on Med3 or Empire 2 and probably a 40K Total War since Warhammer Fantasy was successful.

Pharaoh was Sofia team.

 

[intbal]

Yet another company that woke literally destroyed.

 

[Hudo]

I would be worried but then I remembered that Relic hasn't done a good game since DoW2. Yeah, Age of Empires 4 is not too bad but they had/have a lot of guidance from World's Edge on that.

Maybe MS will pick them up?

 

[SEGAvangelist]

They'll have to make a good game to survive now. Maybe this allows them to work on Homeworld again.

 

[Hudo]

They'll have to make a good game to survive now. Maybe this allows them to work on Homeworld again.

Would be an interesting move if T2 were to buy Relic and they get the Homeworld IP to work on. Maybe work together with BBI, who are ex-Homeworld (and therefore ex-Relic) devs.

 

[Solarstrike]

As I think about this more, it's probably a good thing

 

[diffusionx]

Pharaoh was Sofia team.

Well the next question is why do they need a Sofia team if they're putting out flops.

 

[Solarstrike]

Valve should grab CA and the Aliens license and make a new VR Alien Isolation

 

[Jamesb0ndjr]

As someone who actually plays COH3, anyone interested should actually check it out now. Another big content patch drops next week adding a lot of new ideas. 2 new battle groups are free. Game has come a long way and hate is not warranted at this point.

 

[SirKicksalot]

Well the next question is why do they need a Sofia team if they're putting out flops.

They're an old RTS developer that's cheap, good, technically skilled and listens to feedback. They turned Rome 2 into a playable game with the late expansion and engine upgrades.
Pharaoh flopped because of CA UK's shenanigans which resulted in SEGA nuking them last year.
Also the historical community is retarded, any game that's not Medieval 3 or Empire 2 is met with hostility. It doesn't matter that Pharaoh brings back pre-Warscape mechanics, many people automatically hate it because it's not set in their favourite era.

 

[TransTrender]

Sold to who?
I didn't catch it in the article.

 

[peish]

Sold to who?
I didn't catch it in the article.

some dodgy investment group

Portfolio | emonacapital

www.emonacapital.com

I give relic 12 months to fold. No new games announced. Coh3 undersold and low daily active player.

dwindling sales income

Notice regarding Implementation of Structural Reform in European Region and Recording of Losses｜News Release｜SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS

Notice regarding Implementation of Structural Reform in European Region and Recording of Losses of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS INC. are described.

www.segasammy.co.jp

Sega tactfully distanced themselves from folding a company.

 

[TransTrender]

Oof, looking at their list of clients Relic seems very out of place.
I agree there's not much time left.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

some dodgy investment group

Portfolio | emonacapital

www.emonacapital.com

That entire portfolio looks like shit.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Valve should grab CA and the Aliens license and make a new VR Alien Isolation

Only if they port it to Quest 3 and PSVR2.

 

[IAmRei]

I heard that western developers are expensive, maybe this is why sega and smilegate close their connection there? Based on my asumption, each dev in west is about twice or three times asian dev. And will roughly 8-10 times south east asian devs. And if there is something wrong with the west dev, it would make the risk higher. Im not deep into industry, but i heard lot of things from some dev community locally who said the same

 

[Clear]

Sega UK's internal producers were amongst the worst I ever encountered, so no surprises there.

 

[SHA]

I fear a day that will come when we only have Tetris and Gran Theft Auto, this isn't normal even when Take 2 CEO make it look normal, I'm sorry, it's not normal.

 

[Wildebeest]

If it was old Creative Assembly which made games like Rome and Shogun 2 I would be pissed off, but I have no emotion left to give for them. Total War players have been a cash cow for SEGA and current CA management, with not much love or gratitude sent the way of people who pay the bills.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The UK keeps delivering.