Industry veteran Shuji Utsumi has been appointed as the head of Sega's Western business.

In a filing to investors, Sega Sammy revealed that he had been promoted to president, chief operating officer and CEO of both Sega America and Sega Europe. Utsumi was previously CEO of the company's US arm and chairman of Sega Europe.

Utsumi has worked in the industry for a long time now, starting off at Sony in 1986. He was promoted to VP of the newly-formed Sony Computer Entertainment America – PlayStation US – before moving to be SVP and director of Sega of America's board.

Four years later, he moved to head up Disney Interactive's Asia Pacific, then helped found the developer Q Entertainment alongside Tetsuya Mizuguchi in 2003. Utsumi as both president and CEO of that studio.

His next career move didn't come until 2014, when Q Entertainment went out of business, and he moved to Warner Music as president and director of the board of the company's Japanese business. In 2016, he took on the role of president and board director of developer Cybird.

Utsumi returned to Sega in May 2019 as VP and senior exec officer at both Sega Sammy and Sega Corporation. The following year he became Sega's chief strategy officer, before becoming co-COO of Sega and CEO of Sega America. In 2022, he was appointed chair of Sega Europe and in 2023 was made co-COO and president of consumer game and transmedia at Sega.

This comes amid a shakeup at Sega, which has seen company vet Jurgen Post return as MD and COO of the company's Western studios. The firm's European arm in particular is facing difficulties, with Creative Assembly staff facing layoffs in the wake of Sega cancelling Hyenas.