‘We are not a retro company’: Sega prepares to go back to the future Sega started as a rock’n’roll breath of fresh air in a Nintendo-dominated world – and America and Europe CEO Shuji Utsumi wants to shake things up once again.
Now, the man who managed Sega Japan’s developers at that time, Shuji Utsumi, is the CEO of Sega America and Europe – and he has a plan to restore the company to its creative heights.
Its arcade games, from Golden Axe to Virtua Fighter, were blockbuster successes; the Mega Drive brought a punk rock attitude to the home console scene, challenging Nintendo’s family friendly approach with eye-pummelling TV commercials and censor-baiting games such as Mortal Kombat and Night Trap.
He returned to Sega in 2019, eventually becoming co-chief operating officer during a challenging period for Sega Europe.
For more than a decade, between the late 80s and the dawn of the 21st century, Sega was one of the coolest video game companies on the planet.
