Sega has sold Humankind developer Amplitude
The studio’s most recent game was last year’s Endless Dungeon
Sega has sold Humankind and Endless Dungeon developer Amplitude Studios, it’s announced.
During the company’s latest financial results published on Friday, the publisher said the Paris, France-based developer had been sold as part of a management buyout. Its last game, Endless Dungeon, was released last year.
In March, Sega announced a similar sale of Vancouver, Canada-based Relic, which also specialises in real-time strategy games including the Company of Heroes, Age of Empires and Homeworld series.
Update - Sega statement
Sega has released the following statement:
“SEGA Europe has today announced the sale of Amplitude Studios following a management buyout from senior leaders and employees at the Parisian studio. The move will see Amplitude go back to its roots as an independent organisation and concludes the structural reforms that have been taking place in SEGA’s European business.
“The decision to part ways follows a period of close consultation between SEGA Europe and Amplitude. As an independent studio once more, Amplitude will focus on its in-development projects and growing its own franchises, while SEGA will continue to advance its strong and diverse stable of Japanese and Western IP.
“SEGA Europe acquired Amplitude in 2016, and together have released epic strategy titles like Endless Space 2 and Humankind, along with Endless Dungeon, the successor to 2014’s indie hit, Dungeon of the Endless.
“While Amplitude is no longer a part of the SEGA family of studios, the two entities will continue to work together on the smooth transition of services and operations, ensuring minimum disruption for Amplitude employees and continuity of service for players of Amplitude games.”
Jurgen Post, COO of West Studios, and SOE regional managing director, said: “We wish everyone at Amplitude Studios the very best of luck for the future,” said . “The past eight years have seen us collaborate on some exciting projects and this move ensures that Amplitude can continue to thrive while SEGA focuses on pursuing its long-term business goals.”
Amplitude studio director Romain de Waubert de Genlis added: “Amplitude is backed by strong, meaningful franchises, and our team is committed to creating the best games possible,” said. “This decision allows us to be more agile in our approach while continuing to shape the vision that we’ve had from the beginning, empowering us to push boundaries and be closer than ever to our community.”
The Amplitude sale concludes Sega’s restructuring of its European business, which has seen hundreds of layoffs and cancellations across its studios. Notably, Creative Assembly’s live service shooter, Hyenas, was canned.
The majority of the 240 job cuts were made at Creative Assembly and Sega Europe, with a smaller number also being cut at Sega Hardlight, all three of which are based in the UK.
Following a review of the medium-term line-up of its European studios, Sega also said it has decided to “implement write-downs of work-in-progress of some titles in development”. As a result, it expected to record a loss of 5.6 billion yen ($31 million) as cost of sales.
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