Big changes at SEGA: the Japanese giant has sold studio Relic Entertainment and will lay off 240 employees from its European operations

Big changes continue to take place at major gaming companies.

We have just reported that Embracer Group has sold Gearbox Entertainment, the creator of the Borderlands franchise and other popular games.

Sega decided not to lag behind their Swedish colleagues and announced the sale of one of their studios.

Here's What We Know

The Japanese giant parted with the studio Relic Entertainment - the creator of strategies Company of Heroes and Homeworld and the developer of Age of Empires IV.

Canadian studio Relic Entertainment became independent, not least because of an unnamed "external investor", but the amount of the deal is not disclosed.

The developers emphasised that the new status will not affect Relic's work and plans to release updates and new games. Thus, patch 1.6 for Company of Heroes 3 will be released in April and will delight fans with a lot of new content.

For its part, Sega said it was laying off 240 employees at its European gaming divisions, including those at Sega Europe, Sega HARDlight and Creative Assembly.

The company apologises to anyone affected by the cuts, but it is a forced move to optimise costs and further develop the business.

Source: Relic Entertainment, Games Industry.biz