Sega Heroes Dev Demiurge Studios Becomes Independent

The original co-founder of Sega Heroes developer Demiurge Studios has bought the studio back from Sega, according to an article published on GamesIndustry.biz yesterday.

Albert Reed, with business partner Geoffrey Hyatt, bought Demiurge back after Sega acquired the studio in 2015. Its manager under Sega, Bart Simon, who we interviewed about Sega Heroes in 2018, will now become the studio’s CEO.

It’s unclear why Sega sold the studio off, other than, according to the article that it was made as part of a “strategic change.” Sega has been on an acquisition roll in the middle of the 2010s. It began when the mothership bought Atlus and brought it into the fold. In the West, the European side had been beefing up both physical and mobile operations.

Said Reed of the ownership change:

The vast majority of the staff is actually the same… A lot of it is actually pretty similar. When we were discussing things with Sega, it was an easy conversation because myself and my business partner already kind of knew everything.

Though Reed wants Demiurge to support AAA titles again, the operation of Sega Heroes will remain unaffected by the change. Demiurge will continue to maintain the mobile game, as it has for years now with Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Demiurge also developed Sega’s Crazy Taxi Tycoon for mobile.