Sega Racing Studio Lives On With Codemasters

The news that Codemasters has reached an agreement to take control of the recently closed Sega Racing Studio in Solihull England is much more exciting if you think of it in terms of an adventure romance film. Three years ago Codemasters employees, along with some from Rare, Criterion, and Rockstar, were lured away to Sega Racing Studio by the promises of new racing IP adventures and fabulous treasures. Three years later the studio steps into quicksand and Sega is too uncaring to help, leaving them sinking, hands raised above their heads as the quicksand slowy obscures their vision. Then, at the last moment, a hand reaches down and grabs the studio's wrist pulling them free of the mire...it's Codemasters! They never stopped loving their wayward employees. Cue Peter Cetera's "For The Glory Of Love" as they hug. Not a dry eye in the house.

"In seizing this opportunity, we have created additional resources to escalate our plans in the racing segment," said Rod Cousens, chief executive, Codemasters. "We hope to welcome more than 40 people to the company and we have enjoyed the full co-operation of our friends at Sega in making this happen.

Sega Puts The Brakes On Its Racing Studio

The studio that Sega built specifically to work on its driving franchises has been shut down, reports Develop Magazine. Established in 2005, pulling in talent from UK area development houses like Rockstar, Criterion and Codemasters, the studio only got its hands dirty with one racer, the commercially stalled Sega Rally Revo.

If there's new Daytona, Virtua Racing, Enduro Racer or Sonic R title in the works at Sega, it won't be from this group of 60-odd fellows. Develop cites no known reason for the closure, but we'll just chalk it up to general Sega luck.

Sega Racing Studio closed [Develop]