Sega appoints Dreamcast and PSOne veteran Shuji Utsumi as new Western boss

Shuji Utsumi has been appointed as President/COO and CEO of Sega America and Europe.

The change was announced by Sega’s parent company Sega Sammy on Wednesday.

Utsumi has had a storied career in the video game industry including being instrumental in the founding of Sony Computer Entertainment and launching the PlayStation in North America.

He also helped launch the Sega Dreamcast outside of Japan, and served as the executive producer of dozens of Sega’s largest hits over the last two decades.

Utsumi originally departed Sega in the early 2000s where he went on to work at Disney Interactive. Utsumi is said to have been key to bridging the gap between Disney and Square Enix to establish the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Utsumi would then found Q Entertainment with Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who he developed a relationship with during his time at Sega working on Rez.

Utsumi returned to Sega in 2020, serving as the CSO of Sega of Japan, as well as the general manager of Sega’s Game Contents & Service Business HQ. His most recent title was Co-COO, President of Consumer Game and Transmedia, Representative Director, CEO, Sega of America, Inc. Chairman, Sega Europe Ltd.

Sega recently provided some new details about its reboots of classic titles.

At The Game Awards in December, the company said it was developing new entries in the Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Shinobi and Crazy Taxi series.

Using the slogan “Power the Next Level”, Sega released a debut trailer showing all five games in action.