Sega and Obsidian Partner to Make New RPG

Sega of America issued a press release earlier today announcing a partnership with Obsidian Entertainment to develop a new RPG for PC, Playstation 3, and the Xbox 360.
SEGA PARTNERS WITH OBSIDIAN ENTERTAINMENT TO CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT FOR NEXT GENERATION CONSOLES

Deal Marks Another Milestone in Publisher's Western Growth Strategy

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (March 23, 2006) - SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe, Ltd. today announced a new partnership with Obsidian Entertainment, Inc., an entertainment software development studio based in Orange County, CA. Under the terms of the worldwide deal, SEGA and Obsidian will collaboratively develop an original role playing game (RPG) for PC, PlayStation®3 (PS3) and the Xbox 360™.

The deal signifies SEGA's continuing drive to produce high-quality Western content for current and next-generation consoles. Obsidian, best known for the hugely popular RPG Knights of the Old Republicâ„¢ 2: The Sith Lords, is also currently working on the much-anticipated sequel to Neverwinter Nightsâ„¢.

"The development team at Obsidian has 'proven track record' stamped all over it," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "When SEGA decided to create a fresh and captivating RPG franchise for new generations of hardware, we immediately knew who we wanted to work with."

"We are excited to be working with a great publisher like SEGA as they are willing and excited to launch new and visionary IP on next generation consoles," said Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. "At Obsidian, our focus is to make exceptional games and we see SEGA as a true partner in achieving that goal for our next epic RPG."

The deal is the latest in a string of similar announcements from SEGA that underscore the company's increased emphasis on Western content development. Previously, SEGA announced partnerships with developers Secret Level, Silicon Knights, Bizarre Creations, Monolith Productions (Condemned: Criminal Originsâ„¢), and Pseudo Interactive (Full Autoâ„¢). SEGA also acquired development powerhouse The Creative Assembly (Total War series) in 2005.

About Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian Entertainment is an entertainment software development company passionately dedicated to making high quality, next generation games for PC and console systems. Obsidian was founded in 2003 by five game development veterans who've produced, programmed, and/or designed award-winning role playing games for a variety of platforms over the last 15 years. The five founders are: Feargus Urquhart, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, Chris Avellone and Chris Jones. Many of Obsidian's talented employees have worked on award winning products for organizations such as Black Isle Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Neversoft, and others. Obsidian Entertainment's Web site is located at www.obsidian.net.