Sega has sold Relic Entertainment, and will cut 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight.

Relic is best known for the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, and recently developed the new Age of Empires for Microsoft. Relic will transition to an independent studio and will no-longer be part of the Sega group of studios.

The majority of the 240 job cuts are across Creative Assembly and Sega Europe, while there will be a ‘small number’ cut from Sega HARDLight. There was no mention of other Sega UK studios, including Two Point Studios and Sports Interactive.

Creative Assembly had already suffered a range of redundancies following the cancellation of its Hyenas project last year.

“Sega is working closely with Relic on this shift, and we wish them the best for the future,” wrote Jurgen Post, who is the newly appointed head of Sega Europe.

“I want to sincerely apologise for the worry and understandable distress this news will cause, particularly for those directly affected. These decisions have been incredibly tough to make, and they follow meticulous consideration and deliberation with leadership teams across the business. Change is necessary to secure the future of our games business, and to ensure that we are well placed to deliver the best possible experiences to our players going forward.

“We need to streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead. In order to do that, we need to respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we’re facing in the way we develop our products and bring them to market.”

Post apologised to staff if they should hear about this news via social media or the trade press, which is due to Sega’s legal obligation to notify the Tokyo Stock Exchange first.

Sega’s cuts is the latest in a long run of layoffs that has impacted the games industry over the last 12 months, with almost every major games company reducing its headcount due to sluggish growth and rising costs.