Sega president Shuji Utsumi, who previously worked on the original PlayStation and was responsible for Disney and Square Enix joining forces for Kingdom Hearts, says he wants to be remembered for "Reviving Sega."
2024 was undoubtedly Sega's year. Launching the year with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload, and capping it off with the game of the year nominated Metaphor: ReFantazio, it's no wonder it was the best publisher of 2024 on Metacritic. And even outside of games, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 did extremely well in the cinema, becoming the second video game movie to ever be certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Speaking to The Game Business, Sega president and COO Shuji Utsumi was asked what he thought his greatest achievement was throughout his career, which has included the likes of the original PlayStation, Dreamcast classics, making Kingdom Hearts happen, and, most importantly, co-founding Q Entertainment, which led to Lumines existing. But for Utsumi, it was none of the above. "Now I've rejoined Sega and I'm working on reviving Sega… I want to say this is going to be my greatest achievement in my career."
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After leaving Sega in 2000, Utsumi rejoined the publisher in 2020, noting, "when I rejoined Sega, the Japanese studios [were] somehow paying attention to the domestic market, like the Japanese market more, even though Sega is such a beloved company among [the] western audience." He says that Sega then decided that Japanese and international releases would launch simultaneously, as well as all platforms, including PC, at the same time. We've seen this pay off with recent releases like Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload.
Utsumi added, "by changing the system, studios started to think 'oh we have to prepare in the early stages', and that somehow helped their thinking process to develop a game." And clearly this has worked out well, because Sega is now at its brightest point since the Mega Drive era.
It's so over: Sonic boss Takashi Iizuka says there are "currently no plans" for Sonic Adventure remakes as they would take "as much time and energy as it would to make a new title."
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