Sega undergoes corporate restructuring and leadership change

[eastside]

On Monday, mobile developer-publisher Ngmoco announced that it had tapped former Sega of America president Simon Jeffery to lead its new publishing efforts. The news was somewhat surprising, considering that until Ngmoco made its announcement, it was assumed that Jeffery was still leading Sega's North American operations, a position he has held since 2005.


Mike Hayes
Today, Sega broke its silence on Jeffery, confirming the executive's departure as part of a reorganization of its global business structure. As part of the shake-up, Sega's current head of video game operations Naoya Tsurumi will now lead up the publisher's entire consumer entertainment business, a segment within Sega Sammy that also encompasses toys and mobile phones.

Sega also named a new head of its Western operations. Current Sega of Europe president and chief operating officer Mike Hayes will now be responsible for both sides of the Atlantic, taking on Jeffery's former role at Sega of America. Hayes will report directly to Tsurumi.

The mix-up at Sega's top level comes as its parent company struggles through the ongoing global economic crisis. In May, Sega Sammy reported fiscal-year revenues of ¥429 billion ($4.49 billion), a year-over-year contraction of 6 percent. The Japanese company did manage to substantially trim its losses to ¥22.9 billion ($239.5 million), down from ¥52.5 billion ($549.5 million) in fiscal 2008.

Hopefully, this newly integrated Sega Consumer business will enjoy greater focus, efficiency, and synergy than the previous fragmented one. Now one dedicated consumer leader to be accountable for performance rather than the old division's reliance on having the amusement side make up for its money losing operations.

[Dakinggamer87]

On Monday, mobile developer-publisher Ngmoco announced that it had tapped former Sega of America president Simon Jeffery to lead its new publishing efforts. The news was somewhat surprising, considering that until Ngmoco made its announcement, it was assumed that Jeffery was still leading Sega's North American operations, a position he has held since 2005.


Mike Hayes
Today, Sega broke its silence on Jeffery, confirming the executive's departure as part of a reorganization of its global business structure. As part of the shake-up, Sega's current head of video game operations Naoya Tsurumi will now lead up the publisher's entire consumer entertainment business, a segment within Sega Sammy that also encompasses toys and mobile phones.

Sega also named a new head of its Western operations. Current Sega of Europe president and chief operating officer Mike Hayes will now be responsible for both sides of the Atlantic, taking on Jeffery's former role at Sega of America. Hayes will report directly to Tsurumi.

The mix-up at Sega's top level comes as its parent company struggles through the ongoing global economic crisis. In May, Sega Sammy reported fiscal-year revenues of ¥429 billion ($4.49 billion), a year-over-year contraction of 6 percent. The Japanese company did manage to substantially trim its losses to ¥22.9 billion ($239.5 million), down from ¥52.5 billion ($549.5 million) in fiscal 2008.

Hopefully, this newly integrated Sega Consumer business will enjoy greater focus, efficiency, and synergy than the previous fragmented one. Now one dedicated consumer leader to be accountable for performance rather than the old division's reliance on having the amusement side make up for its money losing operations.

We shall see indeed.. Sega has lost lots of faithful fans so it's hard to say.. If I see Yakuza 3 localized in US and Shenmue III released then maybe I would say SEGA is back...

[otaku]

They haven't quite lost me lots of good stuff still coming out from sega (outrun 2 on xbox, I hear madworld is good, loved the hotd overkill) yakuza 2 of course which I still need to get. And then they need to release yakuza 3 (and shenmue 3 would be sweet but so unlikely) here's hoping things go well

[IMJ]

We shall see indeed.. Sega has lost lots of faithful fans so it's hard to say.. If I see Yakuza 3 localized in US and Shenmue III released then maybe I would say SEGA is back...

You mean that Sonic on the PS3 hasn't reaffirmed your faith that the company still has a few original ideas left in them?

[Zeonik Freak]

Another corporate facelift? Hopefully this time i pleases the fans than themselves ( and we all know how Sega management can be judging by the past events).

Till i see things OTHER THAN SONIC, im not holding my breath...

[newt42]

I really hope they bring back the older Sega games. Its about time for Sonic to take a couple of steps back.

[Upsidedown Fuji]

We need some proper emulation for the classics. Backbone is kind of mucking up easy money on ports. Let the Japan PS2 SEGA Ages team work on stuff internally.

I am still very pleased SEGA's been porting good classic titles to modern systems though. I look forward to seeing more of the classics popping up in XBLA, PSN, wiiware.

[randombullseye]

Another corporate facelift? Hopefully this time i pleases the fans than themselves ( and we all know how Sega management can be judging by the past events).

Till i see things OTHER THAN SONIC, im not holding my breath...

MAD WORLD!

[wip3outguy7]

It's time for another 3D Shinobi.

and Border Break needs to come to the PS3 with Mouse and Keyboard support (MS won't allow it so to hell with a 360 version).

[Weekend_Warrior]

How about a new console? Go for it, Sega!