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Sega confirms negotiations for PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance development[01.24.00] » This time, the rumors prove partially true - Sega of Japan debunks reports of the Dreamcast's death but plans on development for other systems. Following the latest and strongest in widespread rumors involving Sega's future, the company's Japanese headquarters has issued an official statement. While reaffirming the future of the Dreamcast, Sega has also confirmed that negotiations for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance development are in progress. Rumors that Dreamcast production would be halted in March were true, but according to Sega of America statements, badly miscontrued -- the reason was not that the platform was being killed, but that Sega simply has enough Dreamcasts already and won't make any more until that stock is sold. The company committed to keeping software titles coming for the system, as well as plans to include Dreamcast architecture in PCs and set top boxes. The text of the official statement is below: "Today, some news organizations made reports on the future of our Dreamcast business that, since we are still carrying on an internal debate about the issue at the moment, were not based on any official company announcement. To restore our lost revenue in the next fiscal year, we are currently discussing our 'new management policies,' which were announced on October 27 last year. The policy is to reform our business structure with a focus on our content and amusement enterprises, which have the strongest profit-earning capacity for us at this time. 1. Concerning Dreamcast's hardware, we have plans for a structural reorganization in its production, distribution, and circulation systems. We fully intend to continue our DC business and are prepared to let the software titles take the lead; we have about 100 titles (including third-party ones) in the pipe for Dreamcast from this April to March 2002. 2. We are currently in negotiations with Sony and Nintendo to provide our game titles to PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. 3. As for the DC platform strategy, we have been actively working on promoting Dreamcast's architecture for use in PCs and consumer electric appliances, including STBs (Set-Top Boxes)." Sega had originally scheduled a statement on these issues next week, but it is unknown whether this forced early announcement will affect those plans or exactly how far along the negotiations are at this time.
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