Sega director, Hiroyuki Soga, has quashed rumours that suggested the games giant is looking to buy software houses Infogrames and Midway.

It seems no definitive plans to buy any companies have yet been decided.

His comments follow an article in the Wall Street Journal Europe a couple of weeks ago, where Sega COO, Tetsu Kamaya, announced that the company was in talks to acquire US and European software houses.

These mixed signals may represent a bit of back-pedalling from Sega; it's unlikely that the company realised what a reaction there would be to the news that it was on the acquisition trail.

Several troubled companies saw their share prices boosted by the possibility that they could be rescued by a buy-out.

Midway's share price has fallen over 70 per cent this year.

And Infogrames is considered to be in difficulties due to large corporate debts despite a strong product line-up and recent re-organisations. © gamesindustry.biz