During a news conference, Sega Sammy Holdings president and chairman Hajime Satomi mentioned his company would actively look at mergers and acquisitions to become one of the world's five largest third party publishers. While Satomi's comments focused on foreign companies, he did not rule out the possibility of a merger with or acquisition of a Japanese company either. Sega Sammy currently boasts a staff of 600 game developers, most of them working for Sega's internal developing studios Sonic Team, Sega AM2, Sega WOW, Amusement Vision, Hitmaker, Smilebit and Digital Rex. According to Satomi, more than 1,000 developers however are required to become a top five company in the global game business.

Sammy, Japan's leading maker of pachinko slot machines, has acquired a 22.5% stake in Sega from Sega's former parent company CSK earlier this year. Next month, the two companies will merge and form Sega Sammy Holdings.

While Konami has strengthened its position as Japan's largest third party publisher in recent years, Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts remains the world's largest third party publisher. US publisher Midway and Britain's Eidos Interactive have been among the companies which have been mentioned in recent takeover talks.

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