March 23^rd, 2005 (11:58am) - SEGA announced today they’ve made an agreement to acquire and publish next-generation game content from Silicon Knights, the Ontario, Canada-based development team responsible for such hits as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requium. This ends nearly a year of speculation as to where the company would end up after their partnership with Nintendo was ended.

Under the terms of the deal, SEGA and Silicon Knights will collaborate on creating a new franchise for next generation console systems. This agreement, along with recent partnerships with publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (The Matrix Online), developer, Monolith Productions, developer of Condemned, and the acquisition of esteemed developer the Creative Assembly Spartan: Total Warrior bolsters SEGA’s offerings worldwide.

"We intend to establish SEGA as a leading publisher on the next generation of game hardware and only the highest possible quality of Western-developed content will get us there," said Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America. "Silicon Knights has a rich history of developing great games that push hardware technology, so we expect this relationship will result in a powerful, new, and highly commercial franchise."

"Silicon Knights believes that the next generation systems will be the catalyst propelling video games as the dominant form of entertainment in this century," said Denis Dyack, President of Silicon Knights. "We are very excited to collaborate with SEGA on a next generation project because we share a vision – to take the medium of games to new heights and move people as never before."

SEGA will manage all marketing and distribution activities and work in hand with Silicon Knights to supervise ongoing game development. Both companies have decided not to release product, platform, or release details at this time.