man this sucks.
Sega sells sports franchises for $24M
Adrienne Sanders
A week after Redwood City-based Electronic Arts announced a 15-year exclusive licensing deal with ESPN, Sega of America confirmed that it is selling its sport franchises to Take-Two Interactive Software for $24 million. Until today, San Francisco-based Sega co-published ESPN sports games with Take-Two, under a contract due to expire at the end of 2005.
“The ESPN Videogames line has not been a key profit driver in the North American market for Sega,” said Naoya Tsurumi, who became CEO of Sega of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. just last week. (Tsurumi is also CEO of Sega Europe.)
“While Sega recognizes the strength and depth of the ESPN Video franchise, we must remain committed to growing content that will help boost revenues across all western territories.”
New York-based Take-Two will now own stock and related assets of Visual Concepts Entertainment, which developed Sega’s ESPN and Kush sports games.
Sega announced a related agreement with Take-Two, in which Sega will distribute Take-Two software titles in Asia. And the two companies will work together to bring Visual Concepts titles to Sega arcade games.