Relic Entertainment gains independence from Sega. Japanese publisher to lay off 240 employees across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

Relic is best known for the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, and recently developed the new Age of Empires for Microsoft. Relic will become an independent studio and will no longer be part of the Sega group of studios.

The majority of the 240 job cuts are at Creative Assembly and Sega Europe. No mention is made of other Sega UK studios, including Two Point Studios and Sports Interactive.

“We need to streamline, focus on what we are good at, and position ourselves as best we can for the road ahead. In order to do that, we need to respond to the changing economic landscape and the challenges we’re facing in the way we develop our products and bring them to market,” wrote Jurgen Post, the newly appointed head of Sega Europe.

He apologized to employees who learned of the news through social media or the press, due to Sega’s legal obligation to first notify the Tokyo Stock Exchange.