Yu Suzuki steps down from his position in Sega

[Wolf Kanno]

Feature - The Rise and Fall of Yu Suzuki :: playmagazine.com :: your source for games, anime, media, and more

What are your thoughts?

I'm a little sad to hear one of the father's of Sega won't be as active about creating titles anymore. Wonder if this means a chance for a Shenmue sequel is even more unlikely.

[Bolivar]

I thought this happened a while ago?

In any case, it is a little sad, the gaming community needs more people like him. I really long for a game development community with premiere Japanese developers like him, Hideo Kojima, Hironobu Sakaguchi who weren't afraid to stand at the fore of new technology in gaming, to do it better than the rest, but most importantly, combine it with state of the art game design, innovative ideas and generally pushing the industry forward in terms of gaming experience and storytelling.

Sakaguchi not so much anymore, but Lord knows guys like that would be doing it a hell of a lot better than all these western developer clowns who hold the reigns of HD Gaming today. Its truly sad.

On a personal note, I came up with the Sega Genesis during the 16-bit era. I have fond memories of After Burner, Sword of Vermillion, and remembered how crazy it was when Virtua Fighter came out. Although I also was more into games like Sonic and Shining Force, I definately respect him and thank him for the great memories he allowed me to have during my childhood.

[Dreddz]

Shame to see he has left Sega. Yu Suzuki never got the recognition he deserved in my opinion. But I guess after the arcades died his name went with it, considering most of his games were aimed at the arcade audience. Still, with Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter and the legendary Shenmue under his belt he definitely made a reputation for himself.

This probably also means Shenmue Online has been cancelled. It probably wasn't going to come out even if Suzuki stayed at Sega but still.

[Bolivar]

Shame to see he has left Sega. Yu Suzuki never got the recognition he deserved in my opinion. But I guess after the arcades died his name went with it, considering most of his games were aimed at the arcade audience. Still, with Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter and the legendary Shenmue under his belt he definitely made a reputation for himself.

This probably also means Shenmue Online has been cancelled. It probably wasn't going to come out even if Suzuki stayed at Sega but still.

Well, the arcade scene is still big in Japan, I think SEGA just announced a new Shining Force one last week or the one before.

But I could understand the US decline having a big impact on it.

[Madame Adequate]

Yeah Yu Suzuki is pretty legendary. He's made some of the best games ever, tbf, and as Dreddz said has never really got the recognition he deserves for it all.

The real shame is that his magnum opus didn't get through to completion. And it's not even like it was a pile of hubristic bollocks - Shenmue is a compelling, deep, unique, involving experience that is a hell of a lot of fun. It deserved to succeed.