Sega and Sammy complete merger, new holding company launched

One of the biggest ever mergers in the videogames industry has been successfully completed, with Japanese giants Sega and Sammy finally coming together under the banner of Sega Sammy Holdings.

The new firm, which is being run by around 60 management staff taken from Sega and Sammy, is expected to report net sales of 442.5 billion Yen (3.24 billion Euro) for the current financial year, with the lion's share being generated from Sammy's pachinko gambling machine business.

Sega Sammy Holdings is headed up by Sammy CEO Hajime Satomi, who is chairman and CEO of the new firm, while Sammy president Kenkichi Yoshida (formerly a Sega game designer) will be a board director and Sega president Hisao Oguchi will be an executive vice president.

A huge array of development studios and sub-companies will come under the banner of the holding company, including all of Sega's internal studios such as Sonic Team and AM2, which were rolled back into the company in preparation for the merger, along with other studios such as Dimps (Sammy's Seven Samurai 20XX) and Red Entertainment (Sakura Wars).

"In order to become the world's top entertainment industry, Sega and Sammy will work together to provide entertainment towards people of all ages throughout the globe," according to Satomi.

Sega Sammy Holdings is expected to focus its efforts mostly on the profitable arcade business both in Japan and overseas, while continuing to push the home console game business into profitability. The company hopes to see profit growth of 40 per cent by 2007, with 75 per cent of revenues at that point being generated from the pachinko business.