SEGA confirms layoffs in its Western mobile division
Despite SEGA recent success in the mobile market, it appears the company is thinning its mobile division, confirming to GamesBeat that it issued a number of layoffs at SEGA Networks.
“In response to challenging and hyper-competitive mobile market conditions, SEGA Networks Inc., SEGA’s mobile division in the West, has refocused its operations and made a reduction in workforce,” a SEGA representative said. “As a result, we said goodbye to our talented friends and colleagues at Three Rings Design Inc. alongside a small number of team members on the publishing side of SEGA’s mobile division.”
The reason for the layoffs is due to SEGA’s new focus on “IP-based games created by internal studios, bringing popular Japanese mobile games to the West, and ‘mass market view-per-play games designed to further SEGA’s network strategy in the West,'” GamesBeat reported.
It’s always a shame to see a studio shutdown and people lose their jobs, but it will be interesting to see how this new focus will shape SEGA’s mobile games in the near future. Its popular free-to-play, mobile RPG Chain Chronicle was recently shutdown by publisher Gumi, and that might not be the last game that we see get axed.
For those wanting to know more about the games made by Three Rings Design, they are resposible for creating Spiral Knights and Puzzle Pirates which are both on Steam, as well as Corpse Craft (iPad), Spellwood (iOS/Android), and The Everything Game (iOS).
Damn. I really loved SPELLWOOD back then. Especially when playing it against my friends. Now there goes the chance of having a STEAM version of SPELLWOOD.