The lights are on
Sega has announced that western CEO Mike Hayes is leaving the company this summer and taking an advisory role with Sega and other companies.
Current COO Jurgen Post will take over for Hayes as CEO in both Europe and America.
Said Naoya Tsurumi, Sega president and COO of Hayes, "Mike has achieved a huge amount during his time at Sega and we thank him for the amazing things he has accomplished. Mike is a great character and very passionate about the industry; he helped steer the extraordinary growth of Sega and has built an exceptional team of professionals that will stand us in good stead for the future."
Despite the fact that Hayes is credited with bringing over Total War developer The Creative Assembly and moving the company toward digital distribution, we speculate whether Sega's recent layoffs and project cancellations were a factor in the situation.
[via GamesIndustry International. Photo of Mike Hayes: JesseAngelo.com]
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Capcom + Sega + Ubisoft = apocalypse from pure awesome.
Oh lord!
As long as he doesn't release a console 5 months before anyone else is ready for it.
Best of luck to him
One thing that sucks when you are a multinational company is how forces are split between regions, which can either be crippling or effective. In all honesty, Sega should just have their main Japanese office with head offices in each region. At least that is the old Japanese approach. Japan is the real leader while everybody else is more like puppet heads.
i would say maybe the new guy'll give us shenmue 3....but i think thats a jp branch decision not western
Getting out before he goes under
I honestly think this has to do with their lack of success. I can see Sega and THQ dying by 2013, and its a sad thought.