yu suzuki

Shenmue Creator Yu Suzuki ‘Retires’ From Sega

11:40AM Michael McWhertor | The creator of titles like Virtua Fighter, OutRun and Shenmue has retired from his Creative Officer position at Sega of Japan, Sega announced this week. But the company isn’t done with Yu Suzuki just yet. More »

Yu Suzuki Still Gainfully Employed At Sega

6:40AM Michael McWhertor | Sega president Simon Jeffery appeared to have misspoke on the employment fate of famed game designer Yu Suzuki when he told Gamasutra that the Outrun creator was no longer employed at the company. Turns out, he is! Hooray! Said to be bearing the title Creative Officer of Sega Corp., Suzuki may be (extremely) low profile and the opposite of prolific, but it appears he’s still getting his checks signed by Sega. In Jeffery’s defence, the man isn’t in human resources. And no one wants a second visit from Sega of Japan’s correction ninja squad. They’ll cut ya. Jeffery: Yu Suzuki Still With Sega As ‘Creative Officer’ [Gamasutra] More »

Shenmue Creator Yu Suzuki No Longer At Sega

6:40AM Michael McWhertor | The hopes of a Yu Suzuki led Shenmue III have just become ground into ever finer particles, as Sega of America president Simon Jeffery tells Gamasutra in a new interview that the legendary developer is no longer at the company. Jeffery says of Suzuki’s status that “Last I heard, he was doing some online stuff in China”, saying that the Space Harrier and Virtua Fighter creator is “kind of his own man right now”. Suzuki’s recent projects, the arcade game Psy Phi and MMO Shenmue Online never made it to final production stages. There’s obviously much more to the Jeffery Q&A and, as you may be aware, we’re fans of the frank Sega exec — and not just because he kept hope alive for a System 16 compilation. The entirety of the interview is worth your while. The Evolution Of Sega: A Conversation With Simon Jeffery [Gamasutra - thanks, Jay!] More »