Sega Europe is restructuring via a wave of 240 employee layoffs, and the sale of Age of Empires and Company of Heroes studio, Relic Entertainment. The news was announced by Sega Europe head Jurgen Post on Friday, in an email detailing sweeping cuts set to impact a number of teams.
Creative Assembly (Total War, Hyenas) and Sega Europe are set to be impacted most heavily, with Hardlight (Sonic Dream Team) also suffering losses. As noted by IGN, Two Point Studios and Sports Interactive were not mentioned in the announcement.
Layoffs will impact a range of roles across the mentioned studios, with projects likely to be rescoped as Sega Europe looks to “secure the future of [its] games business.”
“I want to sincerely apologise for the worry and understandable distress this news will cause, particularly for those directly affected,” Post said. “These decisions have been incredibly tough to make, and they follow meticulous consideration and deliberation with leadership teams across the business.”
Read: Sega’s cancelled Hyenas was reportedly its “biggest budget game ever”
“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.”
Impacted employees are expected to be provided with “severance pay, career support and access to independent and internal guidance.” Post promised as much transparency as possible as individuals are contacted and informed of their job status.
Notably, Sega Europe has had a difficult few months, following the cancellation of Creative Assembly’s “big budget” live service game, Hyenas. Despite this tumult, Sega has confirmed there are “multiple projects in development” at the studio, including new entries in the Total War series, and another unannounced project.
Relic Entertainment goes independent
As part of sweeping changes, Sega has additionally revealed it’s saying goodbye to Relic Entertainment, which has now become independent, thanks to a third-party investor. The studio will continue to support its past games, while also focussing on its future.
“One thing does not change: we want to create amazing experiences for our players,” Relic said on Twitter / X. “We are excited about this next chapter for Relic, and we hope you will all join us in creating new experiences for our fans worldwide.”
Sega Europe has acknowledged there will be an “unsettled phase” for the business going forward, but it’s expected that work on new projects will be going ahead full speed, once the dust has settled. Our thoughts are with those impacted by the announced layoffs at Sega Europe.
