SEGA has sold Canadian game developer, Relic Entertainment, which is once again an independant game studio.

Relic Entertaiment started their journey in 1997, releasing their first title, Homeworld, in 1999. They were then acquired in 2004 when THQ paid $10 million for the company. Sticking around at THQ until their bankruptcy, THQ sold Relic for $26.6 million in 2013, outbidding ZeniMax Media by 300k. Now, the company goes independant through an external investor.

Relic promises to continue supporting their current titles, with a major 1.6 update coming in April for Company of Heroes 3. Read on for statements from Relic and SEGA.

Relic Announcement

Quote From Relic Entertainment

With an external investor, Relic Entertainment will become an independently-run development studio. This is a huge change for us, but one thing does not change: we want to create amazing experiences for our players.

To our fans, we want to assure you we will continue to support our titles, including Company of Heroes 3—we are looking forward to the 1.6 Update in April, loaded with new content and features requested by our community.

We want to thank SEGA, whose support over the years and guidance during this transition have been instrumental to our success. We may be out of the SEGA business, but we remain friends and colleagues.

We are excited about this next chapter for Relic, and we hope you will all join us in creating new experiences for our fans worldwide.

SEGA Statement

SEGA released the following in a document with the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Quote From SEGA

The business environment surrounding the Consumer area, especially in European region, has been rapidly changing, including reactionary decline from the stay-at-home demand in COVID-19 and the economic downturn due to inflation, etc., and profitability has been lowered. To promptly adapt to these changes in the environment and improve profitability, we have decided to implement Structural Reform at our European bases and have been considering a review of the medium-term lineup, optimization of fixed expenses and improvement of investment efficiency, and review of development/sales structure and management system, and have now decided to implement the following three measures.

(1) Transfer of shares of Relic Entertainment, Inc. (Relic)

(2) Review of the medium-term lineup

(3) Optimization of fixed expenses