Game publisher Sega announced today that it has acquired Two Point Studios, the Fanham, England-based developer behind the sim Two Point Hospital.
Former Lionhead employees started Two Point Studios in 2016. Its first game, Two Point Hospital, came out in August 2018. It became a hit with critics, earning an average score of 83 on Metacritic. The game is a spiritual successor to 1997’s Theme Hospital, which was made by Lionhead (known as Bullfrog at the time).
Sega now owns all of Two Point, and it falls under the Sega Europe umbrella. Sega Europe has a strong collection of PC developers, including Creative Assemble and Relic Entertainment. Two Point Hospital adds to its PC prestige. The developer is working on several unannounced projects, with Sega promising details in the coming months. Those will likely include more sim games.
“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, cofounder of Two Point Studios, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “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.”
This is the first acquisition made under Sega Europe’s Searchlight Programme. Sega had been partnering with Two Point since January 2017 leading up to this acquisition.
“The Searchlight team look 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,” Sega noted in the press release.
