Sega ponders global domination

Japanese games giant Sega is looking to acquire US and European games publishers to expand its business.

The company, which sprung to prominence in the early 1990s with its Megadrive console, declined to elaborate on which companies it was targeting, but said that it is keen to get a foothold in the US and Europe rather than export solely from Japan.

Chief operating officer Tetsu Kayama told The Wall Street Journal: "We'll increase our studios in the US through buyouts.

"If a studio has something that Sega doesn't have, then we'll do an acquisition. Our development organisation will become global."

The company has maintained strong sales in sports games, but has been eclipsed in recent years in the console space by Nintendo's GameCube, Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.

The Sega Dreamcast console flopped miserably with consumers.

Kayama said that acquisitions would help the company expand into areas where it had traditionally been weak, such as in role-play, action and simulation games.