SEGA Amusements International, a wholly owned subsidiary of SEGA Corporation (headquartered in Japan), is being acquired by its management team led by industry veteran and CEO Paul Williams. The new holding company – Kaizen Entertainment – will retain the SEGA Amusements International name under a royalty agreement with SEGA Corporation, and business will otherwise remain as usual.

“I am extremely pleased to have concluded this deal, which secures the future of my team of employees who have supported me over the years,” Williams said. “We will continue to work closely with our friends and colleagues at SEGA Japan to develop amusement games for the western market, alongside game development with our in-house R&D team headed by Patrick Michael.” He continued: “These products in conjunction with the games from our third-party suppliers will ensure that we remain at the very pinnacle of game development, manufacture and distribution to the amusement sector. We have a pipeline of product in development and to be shortly released that will deliver a series of blockbuster games.”

According to Williams, the management buyout took more than six months to negotiate and was signed off in Japan yesterday, March 25.

He noted that when SEGA Japan develops games for the arcade sector that are suitable for the overseas market, SEGA Amusements International will have the right to distribute them in the Western world. “Equally, we have the right to continue to operate the SEGA arcades we have in the U.K.”

While Kaizen Entertainment will remain behind the scenes as the holding company, “Kaizen” itself, a Japanese business philosophy that means “continuous, step-by-step growth,” will be the guiding principle behind the company.

Read more about the management buyout in an upcoming issue of RePlay. In the meantime, visit www.segaarcade.com.