March 8^th, 2003 (12:00am) - Sammy Studios has announced that it has expanded its U.S.-based video game development operations. The company unveiled a team based in Los Angeles that is currently working on its second internally developed title, a flight combat game for home consoles, along with plans to launch a state-of-the-art studio located in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley before the end of Q2 2003. Sammy Studios’ founding team has been working on the company’s first-ever U.S.-developed title, a console-based first person shooter, since launching its San Diego studio last year. Sammy Studios also revealed that it will begin development on two additional titles and will be looking at applicants for all projects in both studios at the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California, on March 5th - 8th, 2003.

"It’s an exciting time for our company and our parent, Sammy Corporation of Japan," said John Rowe, president of Sammy Studios Inc. "We established Sammy Studios less than a year ago and the progress we’ve made since then is phenomenal. We have two titles in development, teams at two studios preparing for our first and second volleys of triple-A homegrown titles, and we continue to ramp up our publishing business. We hope the excitement in and around our company inspires the talented and the curious in the industry to come and see what our growing company is about."

Launched last spring, Sammy Studios Inc. represents a major pillar in Sammy Corporation’s mission to become a multi-faceted global entertainment and amusement company. Sammy Corp. is experiencing a period of tremendous success and growth, finishing among the top ten public companies in Japan in 2002 and seeing a 120% surge in profit over the previous year. Driven by the vision of company founder and president Hajime Satomi, Sammy is leveraging its success to continue growing, and it established Sammy Studios as a US-based operation headed by seasoned industry veterans to undertake this growth in its interactive entertainment business.

"We are on a mission to make Sammy Studios a prolific player in the video game industry, and a large component of that will always be attracting top talent to create the type of first-rate content that will help make it happen," said Michael Haller, executive vice president of licensing for Sammy Studios Inc.