{"id":49712,"date":"2025-07-03T17:33:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T08:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=49712"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:33:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T08:33:35","slug":"sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/","title":{"rendered":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recently appointed president and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi is set on reviving the prestigious game company. But unlike some who may think SEGA\u2019s success lies predominantly in its established franchises, Utsumi is working towards balancing both the old and the new.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SZDinRJa2C4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Game Business<\/a>, Utsumi spoke at length about his plans for Sega. Among these plans \u2013 which include a <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231005-22078\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">balanced focus towards the Japanese and global markets<\/a>, simultaneous platform releases, as well as a push for live-service and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-is-changing-its-global-strategy-to-become-an-ip-powerhouse-reviving-dormant-franchises-and-aggressively-pursuing-transmedia-projects\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">transmedia projects<\/a> \u2013 is a desire to take more risks with Sega\u2019s IPs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cLooking at Sega\u2019s IPs is like looking at a portfolio. We have some solid business lines that are less risky. While the production base for Sonic games is getting bigger, you can still count on a solid return. But some other IPs\u2026 we are trying to be wild. It is higher risk, but potentially higher return.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1348\" height=\"755\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1348px) 100vw, 1348px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-001.jpg\" alt=\"Sonic Racing Crossworlds\" class=\"wp-image-49715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-001.jpg 1348w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-001-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>To this end, Utsumi wants Sega to be known for creating high-quality games. Games that, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-sees-console-game-profits-grow-by-28-3-despite-halved-number-of-new-releases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">given their success<\/a>, will create stable revenue for the company. On top of game sales, he hopes that Sega IPs will <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-and-universal-pictures-announce-movie-adaptation-of-shinobi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">translate well into transmedia projects<\/a>. He cites the Sonic the Hedgehog films as one such successful venture, barring the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s4dYb-NTyKA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">infamous \u201cUgly Sonic\u201d design<\/a> in the first movie\u2019s trailer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utsumi routinely talks to developers to prevent Sega from becoming a \u201clegacy\u201d company that focuses on old IPs and nostalgic titles. He says that while there should always be respect and love for the lore of an existing IP, Sega games should strive to be innovative.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1348\" height=\"753\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1348px) 100vw, 1348px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-002.jpg\" alt=\"Yakuza 0: Director's Cut\" class=\"wp-image-49716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-002.jpg 1348w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-002-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-002-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The game industry is on a bit of a nostalgic run lately, with remasters, remakes, reboots, and sequels of classic games drawing new players into established franchises. Utsumi considers Sega lucky that it can enjoy such an era (the company is currently working on new games for older properties like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi), but he also wants developers to use these opportunities to show something new and exciting to players.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One such example would be <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/like-a-dragon-has-big-announcements-on-upcoming-stream-but-its-not-a-new-game-rgg-studio-lead-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Yakuza 0: Director\u2019s Cut<\/a> which, despite being an enhanced version of the 2015 title, includes new cutscenes, a new online Red Light Raid multiplayer mode, English and Chinese voiceover dubs, several localization options, and licensed tracks from the Japanese version of the original game. These additions, according to Sega, make the director\u2019s cut feel like a complete experience that newcomers and veterans will appreciate. Should Sega legacy IP titles like these resonate well with players, they might be more inclined to check out the company\u2019s more niche games.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1526\" height=\"853\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1526px) 100vw, 1526px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-003.jpg\" alt=\"Shinobi: Art of Vengeance\" class=\"wp-image-49717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-003.jpg 1526w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-003-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-003-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding Sega\u2019s new and lesser-known projects, Utsumi is happy that Sega has a hefty lineup of games that target specific audiences. Published titles like the upcoming Shinobi: Art of Vengeance and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/virtua-fighter-doesnt-intend-to-compete-with-other-popular-fighting-game-franchises-but-rather-stand-out-as-its-own-genre-according-to-dev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O.<\/a> are highly anticipated by hack-and-slash and fighting game fans respectively, allowing Sega to foster strong connections with a smaller audience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWe are targeting some specific audiences more deeply. You might think a particular game is very specific, but if it goes deep\u2026 then sometimes you have a chance to go bigger. So rather than having a huge target audience, we would rather target a narrow group, go deep and expand from there.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With over 30 years of experience working in the video games industry, Utsumi seems to have all the angles covered when it comes to leading Sega. Time will tell if he is successful but as of now, Sega fans have a lot to look forward to in the coming years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":49714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-49712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-03T08:33:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-03T08:33:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1352\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"759\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carlos &quot;Zoto&quot; Zotomayor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-07-03T08:33:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-03T08:33:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1352,"height":759,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/"},"author":{"name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31"},"headline":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-07-03T08:33:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-03T08:33:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/"},"wordCount":616,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/","name":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-07-03T08:33:32+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-03T08:33:35+00:00","description":"President and CEO of Sega America and Europe Shuji Utsumi talks about balancing the old and the new as part of his Sega revival strategy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20250703-49712-header.jpg","width":1352,"height":759,"caption":"Sonic x Shadow Generations"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/sega-president-emphasizes-importance-of-taking-risks-not-just-relying-on-legacy-ips\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sega president emphasizes importance of taking risks, not just relying on legacy IPs\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/2812ca8facd5f161edfbc531cf81eb31","name":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/display-pic-100x100.jpg","caption":"Carlos \"Zoto\" Zotomayor"},"description":"Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/carlos-zotomayor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49712"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49720,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49712\/revisions\/49720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}