Nokia to Buy Sega.com Assets

Nokia to Buy Sega.com Assets

This week, Nokia and SEGA Corporation announced a definitive agreement in which Nokia will acquire assets of Sega.com Inc., a subsidiary of SEGA. On Tuesday the companies announced this agreement, and forecasted it will further enhance online games and service offerings for the Nokia N-Gage(TM) game deck, as Sega.com's leading multi-player technology will now become an integral part of the Nokia N-Gage experience. The SEGA Network Application Package (SNAP), that enables high-performance networked multi-player games, will form the core part of Nokia Mobile Phones' Entertainment and Media Business Unit's online games activity. The transaction is subject to standard closing conditions.

"Online multi-player games and mobility are seen as the hottest developments in the games industry today. This acquisition is a logical step in bringing online elements to mobile games," said Ilkka Raiskinen, Senior Vice President, Entertainment and Media Business Unit. "Sega.com Inc. has developed a robust technology platform which, combined with the Nokia N-Gage(TM) game deck, opens up totally new dimensions for gamers. Sega.com is known to be the host for some of the world's best online game competencies, and I believe that together, we have the leading knowledge in both mobility and online games technologies, thus further developing and expanding the opportunities for the entire games space."