THQ and Sega impressed its retail and distribution partners across PAL territories last week, with a perfectly executed trade conference comprising over 400 delegates.

Following on from the success of last year’s inaugural event in Malta, the two games giants joined forces in Lisbon to show off their range of releases between now and next March.

Representatives from over 35 different countries saw detailed presentations for a slate of key titles covering everything from hard core next-gen to big licences and casual gaming.

Sega Europe president Mike Hayes and THQ executive VP of international Ian Curran (pictured) demonstrated recent growth in both the business as a whole and across the two companies.

“Screen Digest expects software sales in PAL territories to top $12 billion this year – that’s growth of five per cent over 2007,” said Hayes.

“But we think this is a little conservative. Double digit growth, or even as high as 15 per cent looks achievable.”

Sega and THQ are currently tracking at a combined market share in PAL of over 12 per cent, up a third on 2007 and up two thirds on 2003.

“Between us, our games will represent a sales opportunity across PAL of $1.5 billion at retail this year,” added Curran.

Both companies were applauded again by retailers and distributors for holding a single event that covered off two key publishers.

But whilst the addition of a third publisher would probably prove popular, there are currently no plans to widen the event for 2009.