This week's bidder is Electronic Arts. Why doesn't Sega just give up and get bought out already?
Well, this time it's not quite a straight buyout that EA is interested in. Instead, Sega is reportly looking for a "sales alliance" with the publishing giant, in hopes to boost sales of its North American games.
"We will consider forming a sales joint venture in the United States if necessary," Oguchi said. The North American market has been a thorn in Sega's side and Oguchi said the company also wants to reinforce the development of video games through alliances with local firms to attract a wider audience in the key U.S. market.
EA, one of Sega's top rivals in the U.S., is a leader in sports simulation games and last year fended off a Sega challenge to its dominance in that sector. "We have been badly beaten in the U.S. consumer video game market," said Oguchi, who was one of the principle developers behind hit Sega games such as the domestically popular Derby Owner's Club.
"If we can't resolve this on our own, then it's better to join hands with someone."
The Reuters article really doesn't say what Sega means by this. It could be as simple as EA publishing Sega's North American games (like it did under the EA Square name, before Square went to Enix), or it might even go as far as having EA collaborate on some of Sega's games (and vice versa).
Either way, it seems that this would only happen in North America, as Sega is doing just fine in Japan. When Sega decides on this partnership, or dumps it and looks for another one, we'll have all the details for you. Again.
Madden one year, 2Kx the next 
