PlayStation veteran Shuji Utsumi has been appointed President/COO and CEO of SEGA America and Europe, top billing in Western markets. The reshuffling was announced by SEGA Sammy, the parent company of both the SEGA and Sammy corporations (which manufacture pachinko machines).
Utsumi has an impressive list of credits to his name. Of particular interest to our audience, he was instrumental in founding Sony Computer Entertainment and helping launch the PlayStation in North America. He's produced dozens of games and launched the SEGA Dreamcast outside of Japan. He's also said to have been vital in making Kingdom Hearts happen, having worked to bridge the gap between Square Enix and Disney in the early 2000s.
It's an exciting shakeup, and a newly resurgent SEGA has an exciting slate of games to look forward to. Persona 3 Reload is just a few weeks away, out on 2nd February, and looks incredible. The company's Power Surge reveal was arguably the most exciting at last year's The Game Awards, resurrecting Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, and Golden Axe with new entries.
Are you excited for the future of SEGA? What do you think of the company's hotshot new Western CEO? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source segasammy.co.jp, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 6
He’s the executive producer of the last few Sonic games (that were cool in my book), seems to have it together. Good luck!
Also, as someone who was pivotal in bringing us both the PS1 and the Dreamcast, he’s so cool that I will forgive him for inflicting Kingdom Hearts on us.
Sega really has never had a completely cohesive amazing era. Even during their Genesis days there was a ton of infighting between Sega of Japan and Sega of America. They’ve been putting out good games recently, but all of those have either been RGG or Atlus games with a lot of the other games being pretty mid. If leadership actually has good expectations, good practices, and if these upcoming throwback games are great then I think we’re in for maybe the best SEGA ever.
Great news!
Imagine if they would get back in the console business, with a "Sega Ultra Drive". Won't happen,
but I can always dream about that 😁
Sega Arcade collection please produced with a nice history about their creation similar to Atari 50.
Would love that!
More of the same please, you've been on a roll, and I like that Sega still take risks!
Damn that guys got some accomplishments under his belt
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