Putting the mega drive back into Sega: how the company wants to return to creating video game "rock & roll", compared to Nintendo's "pop music"

The name Shuji Utsumi might not be as well-known as some other video game execs, but Sega Corp’s recently-appointed president and COO is an industry veteran who’s been toiling behind the scenes since Sony’s early planning of the first PlayStation.

At Sony in Japan, Utsumi helped PlayStation enter the already-heated battle for console supremacy – back then, between established industry players Nintendo and Sega. Next, he became one of the two original staff members at Sony Computer Entertainment America, tasked with expanding PlayStation’s reach in the US with games like Crash Bandicoot and PaRappa The Rapper. Indeed, it was his success joining the fray against Sega that saw Utsumi recruited to do the same for Sega Saturn.

So began Utsumi’s long association with Sega that continues today. Rising through the company quickly, Utsumi wound up in charge of Sega’s first-party games in Japan in time for the launch of Dreamcast, helping to oversee the release of Sonic Adventure, Jet Set Radio, Rez and Space Channel 5 with future collaborator Tetsuya Mizuguchi. Stints elsewhere saw Utsumi oversee Disney’s Japanese game division and work on Kingdom Hearts, before working again with Mizuguchi at Q Entertainment on cult classics such as Lumines and Child of Eden.

After the closure of Q Entertainment, Utsumi ultimately returned to Sega in 2019, building a fresh portfolio plan for the company with a global focus, becoming its chief strategy officer, then CEO of Sega of America, then chairman of Sega Europe. By 2022, Utsumi oversaw Sega’s global output, and was ultimately crowned its overall president in April this year. Utsumi was part of the braintrust that made the difficult decision to sell Relic Entertainment, cancel Creative Assembly’s unreleased shooter Hyenas, and eliminate around 240 jobs as the company refocused around Total War, Football Manager and Two Point.