Sega gets Deep Fried

Before it was purchased by Electronic Arts in 2002, Black Box Games worked on a number of games for Sega, including Sega Soccer Slam and NHL 2K. Now a new studio formed by ex-Black Box developers has signed on to make games for the publisher.

Sega today announced that it has tapped Vancouver-based Deep Fried Entertainment to work on PlayStation Portable games. Deep Fried was founded in June 2005 by five former Black Box developers with experience working on games like MDK2, NFL Gameday, Baldur's Gate, and the Need for Speed: Underground series.

The move continues a pair of Sega trends: a growing interest in external game development and more ties with Western developers. Sega has recently acquired Western studios The Creative Assembly, Secret Level, and Sports Interactive, and has signed development deals with Silicon Knights, Bizarre Creations, Obsidian Entertainment, Monolith Productions, Planet Moon Studios, and Pseudo Interactive.

Sega did not disclose what project the Deep Fried team is working on or when it's expected to be released.