Sega Acquires Two Point Studios Who Released Two Point Hospital Last Year

Written by Brandon Hofer on May 09, 2019

News: Sega has a new studio join the family that hopes to compliment their already existing stable of franchises.

Two Point Studios released the anticipated spiritual successor to Theme Hospital in summer of 2018 titled, Two Point Hospital. It was met with a positive reaction from both critics and gamers alike and their publishing partner Sega apparently took notice as it was just been announced that Sega has acquired Two Point Studios. Two Point Studios had been working with SEGA Europe in a publishing partnership capacity since January 2017 as part of SEGA Europe's Searchlight program. The Searchlight team looks for exciting new development talent, working on new IP, with franchise potential, and this acquisition is the first of its kind of as a direct result of this internal initiative.

Two Point Studios was set-up in 2016 by Lionhead alumni, Gary Carr, Mark Webley, and Ben Hymers, with the goal of creating accessible games with understated depth, set in atypical worlds. The trio set about assembling a 17-strong team, featuring talent from some of the best and most experienced developers, who between them have worked on titles like Black and White, Alien: Isolation and Fable at studios including Creative Assembly, Lionhead and Mucky Foot. On 30 August 2018, Two Point Hospital launched worldwide as a PC digital download, garnering critical acclaim and commercial success.

Following the acquisition, Two Point Studios becomes a wholly owned SEGA studio and a fully integrated SEGA Europe pillar, alongside Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Relic Entertainment, Amplitude Studios, and HARDlight. Two Point Hospital will take its place alongside SEGA Europe's other franchises like Total War, Company of Heroes, Football Manager, and Endless Space. The studio will continue to work on several unannounced projects of which there will be more news in the coming months. For SEGA Europe's Searchlight initiative, the ongoing task of seeking out the best new studios, ones that fit with SEGA's ethos to deliver new IP with strong franchise potential, continues to gather momentum.

"We're delighted to welcome Two Point Studios officially into the SEGA family. As a relatively new, British-based developer with a global hit already under their belts, we knew we had to move quickly on this deal because they are an extremely attractive investment proposition with a great deal of talent," said Gary Dale, President/COO for SEGA Europe Ltd. "The Searchlight team at SEGA Europe have done a fantastic job integrating the studio over the past two years and the studio have gone on to produce a fantastic title with clear franchise potential."

"It's a landmark step for Two Point Studios and we're thrilled to be joining the SEGA family. We're looking forward to executing the next phase of our plans as we continue to evolve Two Point County" said Mark Webley, Co-Founder of Two Point Studios. "It's a hugely exciting time to be a part of Two Point and we are here today thanks to the hard work, passion, and dedication of our small, but amazingly talented team here in Farnham and the incredible fans that have supported us throughout and guided our continued development of Two Point Hospital."

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Two Point Hospital and you have a PC that can handle it, I highly recommend you check it out. No word yet on if it will ever make it to consoles, although that would be a great addition to Xbox, PlayStation, and especially Nintendo Switch with its portability. What do you think about this latest acquisition by Sega? Tell us in the comments below.