Toshihiro Nagoshi stepping down as Sega CCO; now a Creative Director [up: part of management restructure]

[cw_sasuke]

Well something like the botched revitalisation of Sakura Wars could definitely be a factor, but even then Switch is only one part of the equation there. The failure(?) of the mobile game is probably a more serious issue.

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Probably true, i think regardless of the reason everybody is gonna win. If its health related or he just wasnt up for the job for whatever reason he is gonna be able to focus on Yakuza and its Next-Gen transition, while having less workload.

I wasnt a fan of him in that position, so i think Sega is probably better off with another person - especially if it means securing that he can continue working on Yakuza.

The man had heart surgery but yes let's continue to bitch and moan about him not making enough Switch games. A totally normal and not at all pathetic thing to do.

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This was 2 years ago and we dont know if the stepping down is health related. All Nagoshi related topic of the past 2 years, where discussed assuming that he was able to do his job just fine after a successful operation. He still showed up to events/streams and didnt look worse or ill.

If its health related you can wish him the best while also recognizing that he probably had too much on his table considering some past decisions. In the end that was his job and his responsibility and claiming he wasnt able to do his job because of health reasons is just speculation.

Honestly using health as a reason for someone stepping down or a bad performance is quite questionable without any confirmation anyway. Speculating about his personal life/health in that way is more messed up than just going by his work related decisions.

 

[IIFloodyII]

Hopefully it's just he wants to focus on Yakuza/RGG Studio and not everything else that comes with being higher up the chain and not him preparing for retirement, be a sad day when Nagoshi calls it.

 

[Nanashrew]

Part of a CCO's job is managing teams, branding, and image. They can dictate how a game looks, they can choose the platforms, they manage budgets, they manage marketing, etc. etc.

Like, not even that long ago we learned all about Hascoet did at Ubisoft as its CCO due to everything that came out. He was responsible for all the changes made to Fenyx Rising after it was announced like the changes in art direction and story telling.

 

[Oregano]

Probably true, i think regardless of the reason everybody is gonna win. If its health related or he just wasnt up for the job for whatever reason he is gonna be able to focus on Yakuza and its Next-Gen transition, while having less workload.

I wasnt a fan of him in that position, so i think Sega is probably better off with another person - especially if it means securing that he can continui working on Yakuza.

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Sure, outside of just the Switch thing people have had plenty of bad things to say about SEGA Japan management in general.

 

[Glio]

While Atlus and Creative Assembly are in good shape, SEGA's internal studios have struggled lately. We all know the state of Sonic, Valkyria Chronicles 4 did not work very well, the rebirth of Sakura Wars has been very bumpy, Yakuza has a serious decline in Japan that we will see if it can compensate with the increased interest in the West, Shining Resonance was quite irrelevant. ..

They need changes.

 

[Mpl90]

Well something like the botched revitalisation of Sakura Wars could definitely be a factor, but even then Switch is only one part of the equation there. The failure(?) of the mobile game is probably a more serious issue.

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The failure of the mobile game was probably the last straw that broke the camel's back, assuming this isn't due to health reasons: it was the last element of the mismanagement of the Sakura Wars revival as a whole. Results for other SEGA Japan games didn't help either.

 

[Lelouch0612]

I think it is both best for SEGA and him.

 

[Deleted member 18324]

Sega Japan is a complete mess. I don't know how you can look at performance of Japanese games (including Sega's own) on Steam and keep doubling down on pushing PS4 exclusives when that's not even where customers are in the domestic market. Like, if they want to maintain studios in Japan that are just going to accrue losses they should at least beef up their internal PC conversion studio in Europe so there is little/no delay bringing over stuff like P5R/Sakura Wars/13 Sentinels, etc. To say nothing of Switch support, or what the fuck Sonic Team have been doing. Sega are hiding genuinely interesting and acclaimed games while the likes of Bamco and K-T can get pretty much everything from licensed arena fighters to their prestige stuff on multiple platforms without issue.

 

[Bard]

While Atlus and Creative Assembly are in good shape, SEGA's internal studios have struggled lately. We all know the state of Sonic, Valkyria Chronicles 4 did not work very well, the rebirth of Sakura Wars has been very bumpy, Yakuza has a serious decline in Japan that we will see if it can compensate with the increased interest in the West, Shining Resonance was quite irrelevant. ..

They need changes.

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Time for a Skies of Arcadia HD remake and the rebirth of arcade racers of course.

 

[Sasliquid]

Nagoshi seems like a pretty committed dude to his vision. I can see why he'd rather be less involved in the business side of things and go back to being more of a creative figure.

 

[KtSlime]

I wish Switch owners would be a bit more subtle.

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Can't all be as subtle as SEGA about support.

 

[entremet]

Sega Japan is a complete mess. I don't know how you can look at performance of Japanese games (including Sega's own) on Steam and keep doubling down on pushing PS4 exclusives when that's not even where customers are in the domestic market. Like, if they want to maintain studios in Japan that are just going to accrue losses they should at least beef up their internal PC conversion studio in Europe so there is little/no delay bringing over stuff like P5R/Sakura Wars/13 Sentinels, etc. To say nothing of Switch support, or what the fuck Sonic Team have been doing. Sega are hiding genuinely interesting and acclaimed games while the likes of Bamco and K-T can get pretty much everything from licensed arena fighters to their prestige stuff on multiple platforms without issue.

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Yep, Sega of Japan is a mess. Not sure if Nagoshi helped much in his COO role, but they clearly need new direction. Sega is a marquee Japanese developer historically and when you compare them to Bamco and KT is it night and day. They're being outclassed easily with strategy.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Nagoshi seems like a pretty committed dude to his vision. I can see why he'd rather be less involved in the business side of things and go back to being more of a creative figure.

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Yeah, especially with Yakuza 8 or general next-gen transition. Probably doesnt wanna be bothered by the boring business stuff and just push his teams games.

 

[Kazooie]

Good, now make Monkey Ball and F Zero.

 

[Oregano]

Whilst people are putting too much weight on it/taking a bit far it's not out of nowhere that people are relating this to Nagoshi's decision making, including in regards to Switch support.

He was one the major figureheads and decision makers on the Sakura Wars reboot and it was a big project for SEGA. It doesn't seem to have gone very well and arguably part of that was the decision to reboot a franchise that was only popular in Japan and ignore the market leading console in Japan(Switch), a decision Nagoshi himself gave a weird unprompted defence of.

 

[Deleted member 18324]

Time for a Skies of Arcadia HD remake and the rebirth of arcade racers of course.

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There isn't a magic game or group of games that will fix Sega Japan, the problem is the vision and quality. They're being regularly outperformed by indies with their own licenses like with Streets of Rage 4 and Sonic Mania. To have contractors and licensees show a better understanding of your own properties should be damning, and it doesn't look like they're demonstrating any learning from it. Their flagship mascot is constantly underserved by their internal team and compensated for and worked around by licensing partners at the comics/animated shorts/movie/externally-developed games.

 

[mudai]

I wonder if Nagoshi's infamous "They look like they eat chi-gyu" comment played a role here too. That was actually an insult, albeit quite the weird and somewhat funny one (from a non-Japanese perspective, I guess. I haven't heard about that expression before he said it for example). Sega did apologize for it and removed the section from the broadcast. I wouldn't hold that comment against him. He was probably trying too hard to sound funny. I kinda doubt that it's related though and I think the theory that this might be related to health reasons make a bit more sense. If that's really the case, I really wish him well and less stress going forward. That being said: I'm looking forward to what he'll be directing next.

 

[Capra]

Time to bring the Yakuza 1+2 HD ports from Wii U over to Switch.

I unironically want this.

 

[Bard]

There isn't a magic game or group of games that will fix Sega Japan, the problem is the vision and quality. They're being regularly outperformed by indies with their own licenses like with Streets of Rage 4 and Sonic Mania. To have contractors and licensees show a better understanding of your own properties should be damning, and it doesn't look like they're demonstrating any learning from it. Their flagship mascot is constantly underserved by their internal team and compensated for and worked around by licensing partners at the comics/animated shorts/movie/externally-developed games.

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I understand your point, but it's not like what I said would make them a good team again, it's just what I want Sega to do but know they won't.

 

[mopinks]

Time to bring the Yakuza 1+2 HD ports from Wii U over to Switch.

I unironically want this.

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if they'd released it over here I would've bought it and singlehandedly saved the yakuza series

 

[Chief Malik]

Switch folks tried they hardest to ruin the thread God damn, let that salt go.

 

[LiquidSolid]

Part of a CCO's job is managing teams, branding, and image. They can dictate how a game looks, they can choose the platforms, they manage budgets, they manage marketing, etc. etc.

Like, not even that long ago we learned all about Hascoet did at Ubisoft as its CCO due to everything that came out. He was responsible for all the changes made to Fenyx Rising after it was announced like the changes in art direction and story telling.

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SMH. Just because one publisher operates that way, doesn't mean they all do. As far as I'm aware, that's something that's unique to Ubisoft, with their editorial team that oversees development of every game in the company.

Anyway, wow I wasn't expecting this thread to be such a shitshow. LOL at using "market leader" as an excuse though, as if this shit hasn't been happening since 2017.

 

[BBboy20]

The grudge that some people have for Nagoshi over his Switch opinions is real pathetic. He was still heavily involved in Yakuza so I wouldn't be surprised if he just wanted to focus more on development day to day.

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Oh is that why Switch beggers are in here?

 

[Comic Obsessed]

I hope Nagoshi's health gets better. One of the members of my family is under a pretty dangerous disease currently and is pretty hard for everyone involved.

 

[Chief Malik]

I wonder if Nagoshi's infamous "They look like they eat chi-gyu" comment played a role here too. That was actually an insult, albeit quite the weird and somewhat funny one (from a non-Japanese perspective, I guess. I haven't heard about that expression before he said it for example). Sega did apologize for it and removed the section from the broadcast. I wouldn't hold that comment against him. He was probably trying too hard to sound funny. I kinda doubt that it's related though and I think the theory that this might be related to health reasons make a bit more sense. If that's really the case, I really wish him well and less stress going forward. That being said: I'm looking forward to what he'll be directing next.

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😭😭😭😭 I'm officially a fan of folk, silliest shit I've seen all week

 

[ShaggyLobo]

Could be nothing, but I find the creative director title pretty interesting - mostly because I've looked at the credits of plenty of Sega games and have never seen someone with that credit before. Also, before being the CCO Nagoshi was credited as producer of the Yakuza series (then executive director after his promotion).

I wonder if he's gonna be like a general creative director for Sega Japan (or at least just the RGG studio as a whole) but without the management stuff? I dunno, corporate terminology can be weird.

 

[Oregano]

I wonder if Nagoshi's infamous "They look like they eat chi-gyu" comment played a role here too. That was actually an insult, albeit quite the weird and somewhat funny one (from a non-Japanese perspective, I guess. I haven't heard about that expression before he said it for example). Sega did apologize for it and removed the section from the broadcast. I wouldn't hold that comment against him. He was probably trying too hard to sound funny. I kinda doubt that it's related though and I think the theory that this might be related to health reasons make a bit more sense. If that's really the case, I really wish him well and less stress going forward. That being said: I'm looking forward to what he'll be directing next.

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It's probably not a great thing to be in that situation as a member of the C-suite. It really does reflect poorly on the company.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Switch folks tried they hardest to ruin the thread God damn, let that salt go.

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Oh is that why Switch beggers are in here?

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That's the current level of the discourse ? Antagonizing users ? That's the extent of your contribution to this thread ?

SEGA is in a rough situation, expanding the reach of their games by adding a platform is a reasonable stance. Thats not the only problem tho.

 

[Samus95]

Maybe is also because of Sakura Wars?

 

[Korigama]

Still have no idea what he was thinking with his logic behind making Sakura Wars PS4-exclusive (especially after Valkyria Chronicles 4's performance even when it launched on everything), and I say that as one of the few people who actually bought it.

 

[Pokémon]

And like always there are more posts from people complaining about port begging than actual port begging posts.

I have no idea what this will bring in the future but if Nagoshi felt it was the right decision then so be it.

 

[Oregano]

Kouriozan posted this in the Media Create thread


The way it's being put there definitely seems to imply that upper management isn't happy with how that part of the business has been performing and is cleaning up.

 

[Sander VF]

I hope this has nothing to do with his health.

 

[Chief Malik]

Still have no idea what he was thinking with his logic behind making Sakura Wars PS4-exclusive (especially after Valkyria Chronicles 4's performance even when it launched on everything), and I say that as one of the few people who actually bought it.

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Shit reviewed well, launched on the same platform as fire emblem and still bombed yet they think yakuza on switch is somehow going to bank. Shit is hilarious.

 

[Shoshi]

Probably because he had no interest in Japanese history with Kenzan and Ishin ;)

 

[ZeroX]

Everybody in this thread talking about like Yakuza when Nagoshi was more active in developing Judgment. Write Judgment 2 for us King

and also along with Harada and Kamiya please keep trolling

Yakuza is in decline ? I thought it had never been more popular since 0 made the series more mainstream, and that 7 was rather well received.

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People really gotta stop assuming Yakuza is bigger than it is

Western sales are helping keep the series going, but the series "blowing up" in the West is taking it from like five digit sales to six digits for most of the titles, rather than millions. Y0 sold well but the bulk of that was as PS Hits, Gamepass or $20 on Steam. Basically it's making up for the series contracting in Japan with each entry (a lot to do with their console market shrinking) but it's not like NieR Automata which sold 3+ mil. It went from basically dead to cult classic, not mainstream.

 

[Macross]

Is he a yakuza?

 

[Ravenwraith]

Shit reviewed well, launched on the same platform as fire emblem and still bombed yet they think yakuza on switch is somehow going to bank. Shit is hilarious.

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Weren't Catherine's sales underwhelming on Switch too? There's precedent to believe niche Japanese games aimed at an older audience won't do well there.

 

[entremet]

Shit reviewed well, launched on the same platform as fire emblem and still bombed yet they think yakuza on switch is somehow going to bank. Shit is hilarious.

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It bombed everywhere.

I don't care about the Switch port begging myself. But it's clear Sega of Japan is rudderless right now. Especially compared to their Japanese contemporaries.

 

[Deleted member 3017]

Switch folks tried they hardest to ruin the thread God damn, let that salt go.

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It was like two or three users on the first page, as usual. Many of you are really good at blowing a couple comments out of proportion and completely ruining discussion in the process. It's not Switch fans still discussing this on the third page, it's you.

 

[Nanashrew]

SMH. Just because one publisher operates that way, doesn't mean they all do. As far as I'm aware, that's something that's unique to Ubisoft, with their editorial team that oversees development of every game in the company.

Anyway, wow I wasn't expecting this thread to be such a shitshow. LOL at using "market leader" as an excuse though, as if this shit hasn't been happening since 2017.

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He was a figurehead and decision maker on Sakura Wars as the CCO, which was PS4 exclusive. Doesn't stop there either, Sakura Wars revival was a multimedia endeavor with an anime and a mobile title to go along with it. The mobile title isn't doing well, and I have no idea how the anime performed as I don't keep track of that industry.

 

[Adulfzen]

Well hopefully it's not health related.

Is CCO the kind of position that can stays vacant for awhile or should we expect a replacement soon ? (also for people in the know is there any likely candidate)

 

[Charamiwa]

Shit reviewed well, launched on the same platform as fire emblem and still bombed yet they think yakuza on switch is somehow going to bank. Shit is hilarious.

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Not in Japan it didn't.

 

[Glio]

He was a figurehead and decision maker on Sakura Wars as the CCO, which was PS4 exclusive. Doesn't stop there either, Sakura Wars revival was a multimedia endeavor with an anime and a mobile title to go along with it. The mobile title isn't doing well, and I have no idea how the anime performed as I don't keep track of that industry.

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I think the anime was the biggest disaster of all.

 

[Oregano]

Weren't Catherine's sales underwhelming on Switch too? There's precedent to believe niche Japanese games aimed at an older audience won't do well there.

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Catherine released over a year later on Switch. Valkyria Chronicles 4 was also late in Japan. Outside of Japan the Switch version pulled its weight.

Also Atlus is releasing Shin Megami Tensei on Switch, and Nocturne did better on Switch than PS4 in Japan...

 

[Audere Est Facere]

Good he can focus on games when Sega joins MS.

 

[Sander VF]

Doesn't seem like it had anything to do with health.

 

[Aostia82]

I think it is both best for SEGA and him.

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I agree

More creativity poured into Yakuza by him and more conscious commercial management of other projects and IPs by others in the company

Hopefully

 

[i-Jest]

I'd like this to lead to a Shining Force HD Collection and more Sega Ages, but I doubt it.

 

[Nanashrew]

Well hopefully it's not health related.

Is CCO the kind of position that can stays vacant for awhile or should we expect a replacement soon ? (also for people in the know is there any likely candidate)

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It's a high ranking executive position. We'll hear about a replacement sooner or later. April 1st is the start of a new fiscal for Japanese businesses, and that isn't very far away. SegaSammy's Q3 will be February 12th so we might even hear more about it then.