Sega acquires Total War Developer

[Zatoichi]

OK - sorry if this is already old news, but I've just seen this on pczone.co.uk (sorry, I'm paraphrasing rather than plaguarising, honest!)

"SEGA ACQUIRES TOTAL WAR DEVELOPER"

It basically goes on to say that The Creative Assembly is now part of the Sega empire, and that according to Sega, "The style and genre of The Creative Assembly's games perfectly complements Sega's own long term strategic vision and Sega will empower the team to continue on their existing development path whilst also expanding their resources for the future. "

Oooh. So apart from the new console game, Sega are now the new publisher - so it's so long Activision.

So - how many 'will there still be a 2 patch support deal?' replies/threads do you think this announcement will spawn?

[professorspatula]

Oh joyful news!

With any luck, this will mean we'll soon be able to train extremely fast blue hedgehogs that flatten phalanx formations in a blink of an eye in our Total War games!

I can't wait.

Sega and serious strategic wargames.... hard to see isn't it. Many thought RTW had become more mass-market and watered down, I wonder what'll happen to the series now Sega have a part to play.

[KukriKhan]

On the other hand, making separate products for both plaforms (PC & Console) may well be the answer. Then the PC dev team can concentrate on the PC-oriented gamers, without much concern for attracting masses of new gamers, or trying to appeal to or convert the console-centric crowd.

You fellas should join the conversation in our new Console forum:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=102

[Kraxis]

Interesting... I just hope Sega can deal with it. It would be real nice with plenty of support next time round.

[Puzz3D]

Maybe, but SEGA isn't noted for publishing PC strategy games. Just look at the PC games they currently have available: Spikeout (online fighting), Iron Phoenix (online fighting), The Matrix Online (MMORPG), Shining Tears (RPG).

[Zatoichi]

Maybe, but SEGA isn't noted for publishing PC strategy games. Just look at the PC games they currently have available: Spikeout (online fighting), Iron Phoenix (online fighting), The Matrix Online (MMORPG), Shining Tears (RPG).

Or maybe this is the start of Sega being noted for publishing quality PC strategy titles?

Well, it's a thought. I certainly hope it works out that way, at least.

[RedJack]

Don't know if this is good or bad. Sega has alot of capital to put behind any project, but the downside is they do focus on kid games alot. To bad, RTW was my first taste of TW, and I am probably going to pick up MTW.

[Spino]

Wow, this is surprising news! And here I thought Activision was looking to champion and exploit the Total War property as their flagship strategy series. I have to assume Activision either really needed the cash or simply couldn't turn down the amount Sega offered them for CA. And I was not aware that CA 'belonged' to anyone in the first place. I thought CA was an independent developer who simply kept going via contracts with large publishing companies.

So just how large is Sega (specifically Sega Europe) compared to Activision? How is their working relationship with their other in-house developers? How is their Q&A dept. compared to Activision's? Will we see more of the one or two patch nonsense from Sega for future TW titles?

Here's a few questions meant for CA's employees (or anyone in the know)...

Does this change of ownership affect RTW's expansion pack? I must assume nothing is changed and CA and Activision will continue their working relationship until the expansion pack is completed (and patched once, and only once) since Rome is technically Activision's baby.

How do CA's employees feel about the change of ownership? Obviously if this is a bad thing I don't expect them to say anything negative but now that they're relatively free of Activison's yoke do any of them care to comment on their relationship with their former owners?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Hm....Sega are a long established gaming company, with a lot of money to put behind projects, but considering how they focus mainly on kiddy/fantasy games, i am a bit worried that they are owning one of the most difficult RTS's on the market....

[Duke Dick]

Sega has alot of capital to put behind any project, but the downside is they do focus on kid games alot.

I think thats a bit of an uneducated remark. Sega are well known for their sports titles, action games like Panzer Dragoon, RPG's like the shining series, Shenmue, and the phantasy star series, their Outrun/racing games, beat em ups like Virtua Fighter....

The only real 'kid' games are the sonic series and the super monkey ball games, even though I wouldnt class them as kiddy, just family orientated. If you look into their future relases, Matrix Online, Spikeout, Shenmue Online, Otogi 2....they are very mature and dark games.

Don't fear, Sega will do CA the world of good.

[drone]

Does this change of ownership affect RTW's expansion pack? I must assume nothing is changed and CA and Activision will continue their working relationship until the expansion pack is completed (and patched once, and only once) since Rome is technically Activision's baby.

This is a very good question. I'm sure there is a contract for the expansion, and Activision will be involved with the release. But does this merger/sale/takeover/whatever have any effect regarding the ownership of the R:TW intellectual property? I assume CA (and now Sega) owns this completely.

EDIT - Oops, forgot the obligatory Simpsons reference:

I, for one, welcome our new Hedgehog overlords!

[SpencerH]

I dont read this as if sega has bought the publishing rights to RTW from activision. They have bought CA. Since CA is not a public company it means that sega bought it from the previous private owner(s).

[Duke Dick]

Sega owns CA and all its properties right out.

I assume Sega now owns TW and can give it any developer they want, if ever CA got crap(Like Eidos did with Tomb Raider, they took it away from Core the original creators when the games started getting really crap, and gave it to an american company).

Activision should have nothing to do with any RTW expansion pack coming out. All they did was publish the games, now that sega owns CA, they will more than likely be the publishers of anything coming out of CA(just like Nintendo did with RAREware(they were just publishers with a slight share in them), and now Microsoft do since they own them outright)

Tim Ansell created CA in 1997, and this deal still see's him staying on as Managing director, though he no longer owns the company he created.

[Quietus]

Worse if EA buys Se-gah! I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. We need some input from the devs right now!!

What are the changes in store??

[Duke Dick]

{DELETED BY ME}

[Big_John]

Sega and serious strategic wargames.... hard to see isn't it.

infidel! have you forgotten herzog zwei??

[Count Belisarius]

Here's an idea. What about a synthesis of the TW system and a MMORPG along the lines of Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot, but obviously with a different theme? Maybe not a RTW theme, but what about MTW? Imagine having your own fief and going out with your comrades and raiding enemy lands, or joining a Crusade for massive player v. player battles, or going behind enemy lines to assassinate an enemy general. I'm not a MMORPG junkie. It's just not my thing. But it would allow more p.v.p. action, something for which TW is sadly unsuited, beyond the odd tactical fracas. For me, the tactical showdowns, for all their pageantry, are only a small fraction of what makes the TW system special. Sega would have the capital to make something like that happen, not that they are even contemplating it at this point.

[Spino]

Here's an idea. What about a synthesis of the TW system and a MMORPG along the lines of Everquest or Dark Age of Camelot, but obviously with a different theme? Maybe not a RTW theme, but what about MTW? Imagine having your own fief and going out with your comrades and raiding enemy lands, or joining a Crusade for massive player v. player battles, or going behind enemy lines to assassinate an enemy general. I'm not a MMORPG junkie. It's just not my thing. But it would allow more p.v.p. action, something for which TW is sadly unsuited, beyond the odd tactical fracas. For me, the tactical showdowns, for all their pageantry, are only a small fraction of what makes the TW system special. Sega would have the capital to make something like that happen, not that they are even contemplating it at this point.

Heh, too late Count Belisarius! There already is a Roman empire era MMORPG game in the works! Don't remember the name though.

[Red Harvest]

Who knows what will happen? I just did a check of my PC's for the word "sega" in any folders and the only thing it found was internet cache items from today. I can't think of any Sega titles I have. I can't consider that a particularly good sign, but time will tell. I guess it is possible that they want to enter PC strategy games in a big way--hope that is the intent, but I have a hard time seeing it as a high probability. We will just have to wait and see, and it won't be until the next generation (post XPack) that we will have a true read on where this is headed.

[Mayfield The Conqueror]

Sega used to publish alot of KOEI strat games for the Genesis, but that ended a long time ago. Ahh the days of ROT3K, Liberty or Death, and PTO....

[BDC]

Hopefully it will be fine.

Now if EA had bought it out, I would have destroyed all CA-related things I own and gone to purify myself with fire. They would have done exactly what they did with Westwood and destroyed everything that is great about it, and replaced it will highly polished mediocracy.

[Turbo]

Most likely what you will see a direction away from computer games to console games. Most likely Sega believes that there is a console audience for Total War.

[Brighdaasa]

Well, SEGA Europe have also recently aquired the rights to publish Football Manager 2005, being a ultra realistic football manager game. Sports Interactive (ceators of FM2005, previously Championship Manager) sounds very positive about Sega. SI scheduled for 2 patches for their game, but after discovering some more bugs, Sega Europe allowed them not only to make a 3rd patch, but also to update the players database to reflect the mid-season transfer changes, being over 160,000 changes.

To me that gives good hopes for the patching process of future TW games.

Also it seems that Sega isn't focusing on console games, but are looking to publish a whole array of games, on every platform. They seem very eager to become a major player in the publishing business.

BTW, i read Sega bought CA for about $30 million

edit: spelling

[Khorak]

Possibly Sega have realised they'll make a shitload more money by creating a publishing empire like EA, and are going to buy into every massive market EA have overlooked.

Football management games are beyond massive in Europe, and Total War is a proven pedigree with no competition barring Imperial Glory.

Plus if they create a more employee friendly atmosphere than EA and take more time creating great games without enormous pressure on developers (as opposed to EAs stale yearly genre update with horrendous pressure on companies to produce the goods), they'll just start leeching talent out of EAs lap. One needn't really bother mentioning the benefits of creating a reputation for quality in public eyes. Hell, Blizzard could shit on a plate, call it Warcraft four and watch it sell millions based on their rep alone.

[HarunTaiwan]

Oftentimes companies buy companies whose products complement their own lines. So, the fact that SEGA doesn't have many strategy games might be an explanation for buying CA...they want to sell those kind of games, so they buy a company who makes them.

[crizzy]

Are you forgetting that EA published the first Total War game, Shogun (also the best, if i may add)?

[Revelation]

Heh, too late Count Belisarius! There already is a Roman empire era MMORPG game in the works! Don't remember the name though

Anyone know anything about this? A link perhaps? Very interesting!

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

Damn I don't care and give a **** who owns who . I just want to play and enjoy the TW game series and to be them as perfect as they can be

[Browning]

SEGA bought the developers, yes. But the rights to the title (I mean R:TW) rest with the publisher, Activision. So the news really is, there will be no long term development of R:TW.

[Duke Dick]

No, that is incorrect. Sega now own the rights to TW and the rights to publish it. as i've said in another post, Sega now also have the ability to take away TW from CA and give it someone else.

edit-just because someone publishes a game, does not mean they own the rights....for example-Nintendo Published all Rare games, they did not own the rights to them though, when rare left, they took all their properties with them. This is different though, as CA are now part of Sega, and anything can happen.