No cuts planned at Sega Europe
Mike Hayes reveals company is "in great shape" and trading well
Following the news yesterday that Sega's US operation was the latest publisher to cut jobs, Sega Europe's president Mike Hayes has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company has no plans to follow suit.
Instead, he revealed that Sega Europe was "in great shape" and had ranked fourth in the publisher's market share list for the UK in 2008.
"No, we're in great shape, in fact we're still recruiting," he said when asked if the company would also be making job cuts. "We've reinvented ourselves in the last five years - when I joined the company there were 30 staff, now with full time QA we're up to 650-something.
"In a way we've filled ourselves out, and we're still filling out Spain and Australia, our network crew which covers Football Manager Live and our PlaySega venture.
"So we're actually in good shape, and we're also having a very good trading year. In the market share results we were fourth biggest in the UK. It was Nintendo, EA, Activision Blizzard, then Sega - so we're actually having a really good time."
Sega of America previously announced that it was to cut 30 posts as a result of the recession and a "harsh trading landscape," but strong performances from a number of titles, including Football Manager and Mario & Sonic, have helped Sega Europe to thrive.