Sega R&D Shake-Up: Latest Details

In the biggest changes Sega's R&D studio structure has seen for three years, teams are being cut and key staff, including Yu Suzuki, have moved desks.

Some interesting changes are taking place at Sega Corporation regarding their R&D studios structure. It has been confirmed that the current nine studios will be rearranged into just five studios, although specific details regarding which studios will remain and which will dissolve into other teams won't be decided internally until later this month.

Our bet is that the highest profile studios - Sonic Team, Sega-AM2, Amusement Vision, Hitmaker and perhaps UGA - will remain with company names and brands in tact, while Wavemaster is likely to remain consolidated regardless, since it's responsible for a large amount of musical output from the company. However, Sega have emphasised that redundancies will be minimal, with most development staff moving to the remaining divisions.

The exercise is intended to improve development efficiency, and remove a lot of duplication that has existed at Sega with ten independent studios in operation. This streamlined approach is a prudent move for the company and newly appointed President, Hisao Oguchi, although the long-term purpose is up for debate. On the one-hand, it will mean profitability is more consistently achievable, but also it puts Sega in a much better position for discussions with suitors - such as Sammy, with whom Oguchi-san recently stated that talks are still "ongoing".

In addition to the studio company restructuring, some high-profile staff movement has taken place, with Yu Suzuki promoted to Non Executive Board Director, a position held by both Nagoshi (also President, Amusement Vision) and Naka (Sonic Team) for some time. In this role, Suzuki will oversee research and development across the whole company, including AM2. However he's not setting up any 'new studios' - specifically, he is dealing with much of the restructuring we mentioned.

Unlike Naka and Nagoshi, Yu Suzuki is no longer President of his beloved AM2 studio. He has passed that position to arguably the best man for the job at AM2 - Hiroshi Kataoka, who has been a prolific part of AM2's most respected franchises including the Virtua Fighter and Shenmue series.

Sega will hold a meeting at the end of July to determine the details of the restructuring, before making the changes final and effective from October 1, 2003. We'll keep you posted on everything we learn in the meantime.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com