Sega buys Secret Level

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Apr 3, 2006 8:15 pm PT

With its eye on Western next-gen gamers, the Japanese publisher subsumes the San Francisco indie shop.

Last July, independent studio Secret Level announced a next-generation development deal with game giant Sega. The arrangement was to see the San Francisco-based shop "re-create a classic Sega franchise" on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for the Japanese developer. While the unnamed game in question isn't Sonic the Hedgehog--which is being shepherded into the next generation internally--the prospect of a next-gen Altered Beast or Golden Axe has many gamers excited.

Whatever the project is, it apparently has Sega excited too. So excited, in fact, that today the former console maker announced it is buying Secret Level outright. Prior to its next-gen project, Secret Level was best known for developing Karaoke Revolution, Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds, and America's Army: Rise of a Soldier.

Though financial details of the purchase were not disclosed, Sega was up front about its motivation for paying top dollar for Secret Level. "We looked long and hard at building an internal studio from scratch, but were so impressed with the team at Secret Level and their next-gen technology that we decided to create our internal development infrastructure through a direct acquisition," said Simon Jeffery, Sega of America's president and COO.

The deal comes just over a year after Sega acquired The Creative Assembly, makers of the highly acclaimed Total War PC strategy series and the not-so-highly acclaimed Spartan: Total Warrior for consoles. It also comes two weeks after Sega announced another major deal with a Western developer. On March 23, it announced it will "collaboratively develop" an all-new role-playing game with NeverWinter Nights 2 developer Obsidian Entertainment for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

49 Comments

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Apr 8, 2006 5:08 pm PT

    it's not secret, what are they talking about?

  • Sonic43090

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 11:57 am PT

    *hoping for Streets of Rage 4*

  • troakun

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 9:29 am PT

    Wow, Sega's been buying a lot of developers lately. To think a couple of years ago there was the prospect of Nintendo buying Sega.

  • majin_vegeta300

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 5:44 am PT

    A new shining force and phantasy star would be GREAT (shining force neo messed up the whole strategy RPG thing) and maybe in the next...next generation (ya know...after ps3 rev and 360) we can see a Sega console, that would be gaming nirvana...too much mainstream gaming nowadays *dreams back to when sonic and mario ruled the world*

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:45 pm PT

    Wow Sega's on a roll. They seem to be making some decent choices, in purchasing and publishing. I hope them the best as long as they continue to be innovative and take risks.

  • thefjk

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 6:00 pm PT

    Go SEGA, Go SEGA, Go!

  • Gmex

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 5:23 pm PT

    umm yay?

  • smbius

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 2:09 pm PT

    Alien Soldier, Ranger-X, etc.

  • smbius

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 2:06 pm PT

    How about another Dragon Force or Shining Force IV!! Phantasy Star!

  • skyvader

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 12:27 pm PT

    If you think about it, it has to be a game that hasn't been redone in quite some time. TJ and Earl has been done on the Xbox. Shinobi has been done on the PS2. Panzer Dragoon has been done on Xbox. So look at all the games people are wanting to see redone and you will see that most have already been redone. Dig deeper into the vault and you will find some gems that have never seen the light of day since maybe the master system. What about Alex Kid? Or some arcade titles such as a new Thunderblade, Galaxy Force, Space Harrier (my bad as there was an update called planet harriers) or Afterburner (already in the works). Hang on hasn't been done in some time. The key word in the report is "franchise" which usually implies more than one game bearing the name was released. Altered beast already has a ps2 sequal. Golden Axe...maybe as the last release was on the Saturn.

  • sonic86

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 12:23 pm PT

    This is great news! So no one asks yes I was a Sega fan boy when they made consoles. I can't wait to see what this means!

  • Octagon

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 11:10 am PT

    a good Shinobi?

  • tehl33tninj4

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:48 am PT

    I am hoping for a sequel to Panzer Dragoon Saga... Please let that be the game they are going to make.

  • Miltonelite

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:46 am PT

    Space Harrier FTW!

  • Loutronz

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:09 am PT

    Cheers to SEGA !
    Better than hearing of another EA purchase.
    Hopefully SEGA will stick to what they do best and that is making original content.
    Besides, Mr. Moore is not available.
    He is currently busy ruining another home console.
    Nothing against the 360, I just can't stand Pete Moore.

  • gleniscool

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:00 am PT

    I hope they remake Clockwork Knight. Was that Sega? I don't know.

    Actually, let's see another Vectorman.

    And make Nights Into Dreams 2 for Revolution. Holy crudupples.

  • homsuplo75

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:00 am PT

    extremely curious to see what has Sega all excited

  • Merl57

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 10:00 am PT

    wow sega is making money? great!

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 9:28 am PT

    Looking forward to see what comes of this.

  • Donkeljohn

    Posted Apr 4, 2006 8:47 am PT

    Next-gen Golden Axe would be truly desirable.

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