Sega in Black, New President

Sega's annual financial report has revealed a move out of the red, while Sato is stepping down to be replaced by...

This week Sega released its report for the financial year, detailing a return to profit after five years in the red. Ironically, this was largely due to the popularity of its recent arcade releases such as Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution in the comapny's home territory. However, Sega's continuing struggle to sell videogames in the western market meant that overall, operating profit fell 34.5% to around $80 million.

The results are not surprising, as Sega announced an increase to its profits forecast two weeks ago, after merger plans with both Sammy and Namco were called off.

In more Sega Corporation news, Hidei Sato has announced that he is stepping down as President, to be replaced by Hisao Oguchi - a younger SOJ executive at 43 years old, who is currently President of Sega's Hitmaker studio, responsible for titles such as Crazy Taxi.

Oguchi said: "We'll put forward our cost-cutting plan while our focus will be on reinforcing merchandising. I'll closely work with development staff to make products that fit new trends and changes in the entertainment world." The cost cutting will reduce in-house development staff from the current level of 1,000 down to between 800-900 - but the studios themselves should remain entirely in-tact.

The new management, which has remained the same since former president Isao Okhawa passed away in 2001, is likely to restore some confidence to Sega shareholders. For gamers, it means that, for the time being, Sega looks set to continue producing top-class videogames by itself - although the firm has said it will seek support from North American partners, which really could mean anything at this stage.

In today's final tidbit of Sega information, Amusement Vision has clarified that there is no Super Monkey Ball 3 in development for GameCube, despite this having been 'official' exactly a week ago.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com