As Sega prepares to merge with Sammy under the Sega Sammy Holdings Corporation, new details indicate this preparation isn't exactly painless. It was revealed today that under the new company, Sega's seven development subsidiaries - Sega WoW, Sega AM2, Hitmaker, Sonic Team, Smilebit, Amusement Vision and Digital Rex - will be merged into a single entity.
"I feel that Sega has high individual capabilities, but it's too separated into different subsidiaries," commented Hajime Satomi, chairman of Sammy and Sega. "Sega wasn't able to create an overall corporate strategy or uniformity because of that, which is a major reason behind the company's stagnation. Oguchi himself has been feeling the same way. It's about time that we returned back to the old Sega."
Sega's boardroom will also see changes as four board members will be stepping down this October, to be replaced by three new members. For the curious, Hajime Satomi, Hisao Oguchi, and Yoshiharu Suzuki will retain their seats.
"Unfortunately, Sega has been in the red for nearly 10 years. It would tighten things up if the members that had directing position and representative rights took responsibility," justified Satomi. "Oguchi is still young, so he should be able to do more things with new board members."
So what does this all mean? Well, we just don't know yet. There have been rumors hinting at an exodus of talent from Sega, but for now they're still rumors. We'll have to wait until this fall to get a grasp on how this really affects things, but for now we know one thing: this certainly isn't the Sega we once knew.
6/2/2004 Chris Faylor
