SEGA® of Europe Ltd and Sports Interactive, a leading developer of sports management computer games, today announced a partnership granting SEGA® the worldwide rights to publish all output from Sports Interactive for the next five years. The partnership marks a significant step for both companies’ plans for worldwide growth.

Following Eastside Hockey Manager (working title) due to be released Summer 2004, Sports Interactive’s next product with SEGA will be the latest incarnation of their highly-acclaimed football management technology. Maintaining the heritage and experience accumulated through 15 years of development as creators of the Championship Manager® series of multi-award winning and chart topping games, the new game will be renamed as part of a fresh branding exercise as Football Managerâ„¢. Due for release Q4 2004, this year’s edition entitled Football Manager 2005, will see numerous advancements in technology and gameplay, including new tactics, pre- and post-match analysis and other features designed to immerse players further into the game. . .

SEGA has rights to distribute Sports Interactive’s games across all relevant territories using its global publishing operation. As SEGA grows its portfolio of products to match games offerings to market-specific tastes, the partnership with Sports Interactive will also see the UK developer’s games spreading to a broader market than before, with additional sports being considered for future management games.

Naoya Tsurumi, President and COO, SEGA Europe Ltd, commented, “SEGA Europe’s relationship with SI is a significant partnership for both companies. SEGA is looking forward to growing its base of market-specific products outside Japan, and signing one of the most important developers in the UK underlines our strong commitment to this.”

“We are absolutely delighted to have signed a long-term deal with one of the biggest players in the global games business,” added Miles Jacobson, Managing Director, Sports Interactive. “We’re justifiably proud of what we’ve achieved with our previous games and business relationships, but we believe that this new agreement will take us to even higher levels. With both Football Manager 2005 and Eastside Hockey Manager due for release within a matter of months, we’re confident that 2004 will be just the first of many successful years for Sports Interactive and SEGA.”

Matthew Woodley, European Marketing Director, SEGA Europe Ltd, added, “We are delighted to extend our relationship with Sports Interactive. We’re really excited to be working with them with one of the most important PC games ever and doubly excited to be able to help them achieve their goal of worldwide distribution. Football Manager 2005 is going to be a huge hit this year and something we’re going to have a lot of fun working with.”

About Sports Interactive
Sports Interactive (SI), the creator of the Championship Manager series, is the world’s leading developer of sports management simulations. Founded in 1994 and based in Islington, North London, SI has a full-time staff of 24 and employs the services of more than 2,500 part-time researchers across the globe. The company’s games have enjoyed an unparalleled history of commercial and critical success, with five of its creations among the UK’s Top 20 best-selling PC games of all time. SI’s future games will be published by the global computer and video games giant, SEGA. Further information on the company is available from its website, www.sigames.com.

About SEGA®
SEGA Europe Ltd. is the European Publishing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe’s web site is located at www.sega-europe.com.

SEGA® is a registered trademark of SEGA Corporation. Eastside Hockey Manager, Football Manager and Sports Interactive are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sports Interactive in the UK or other countries. Championship Manager is a registered trademark or trademark of Eidos Interactive. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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