Sega has filed paperwork today to inform investors that it will be splitting its gaming divisions into two separate entities as of April 2021. The first entity will cover PC and console game development and publishing and the second will focus on arcade and pachinko machines.
SegaSammy has had a turbulent year in 2020 with the COVID 19 pandemic wreaking havoc on its arcade business in japan with a stay at home and social distancing orders in place. Japan is also now experiencing what some would call the third wave of infections of the virus. Recently SegaSammy finalised plans to restructure its workforce with a special redundancy program which has been taken up by over 700 employees.
What this means in the short term is that Sega will make itself more agile in the upcoming gaming landscape and able to better weather the financial storm that is plaguing most traditional retail and hospitality businesses and offer a shield / firewall to the console and PC development studios. It also provides a more agile focus in creating development deals and content distribution plans. more in depth details of the plan can be read here.
In other news today Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi will be stepping down from the board of directors and working in a more creative driven role, bolstering game development. While the executive suite will also receive a shake up, the Chief Creative Officer role has been struck from the team and Former Chairman and Group CEO Hajime Satomi will now leave the CEO title and position in favor of is son Haruki Satomi, who has been for a while the face of the company as COO (Chief Operating Officer) and will be the new CEO as of April 1, 2021.
For now the outlook for SEGA group is strong with the firm confirming these changes should not adversely affect the groups ability to meet its earnings targets this year.
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