Sega is set to make a big return to Australia, with Gamespot breaking the news that Sega Australia will be established under heavy investment in Sydney. Sega's presence in Australia ended in 1998 when they sold off Sega Ozisoft, their local game distribution arm, to Atari Australia, however, they have made inroads back to the local scene somewhat with the 2005 acquisition of The Creative Assembly, picking up the local Brisbane arm of the studio responsible for the Total War series of games. From Gamespot...
GameSpot AU has received an e-mail from Nintendo's PR and online coordinator, Vispi Bhopti, in which he revealed "After nearly 8 glorious years at Nintendo--I am moving on to a new role, in Sydney. I will be helping establish SEGA Australia!!!"When contacted by GameSpot AU, Bhopti confirmed the news, but wouldn't go into specifics on when it would all happen, saying "an official announcement will be made in the coming weeks."
Bhopti also revealed to Gamespot that the new office would be headed by Darren MacBeth, former managing director of Ubisoft Australia.
It's still unclear at this point as to the purpose of the new studio, whether it will be for development or if they're picking up where Sega Ozisoft left off, but if the previous positions of Vispi Bhopti and Darren MacBeth is considered, it's probably safe to assume that Sega Australia will be concentrating on the local distribution of games.
Bring back Sega World in Darling Harbour I say :)
This is good news. Sydney really needs another big game studio.
They said it's probably a distribution arm. But hay let's hope it's a actual game studio. I wish adelaide got a large investment but nooooo it's a boring old crunch bowl.
Hrm, seems like distributor, but I really hope for studio as well, I'd love to work for them
What did you guy's really expect? A new uber development house in Sydney... I don't think so.
No, this will stay just a marketing / distribution part of Sega. DOn't expect any studios from them ;).