Toshihiro Nagoshi, general director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and creator of the Yakuza franchise, is no longer the Chief Creative Officer of Sega.

DualShockers reports after a board meeting on January 29th, Sega published the changes to Director and Officer roles [1, 2, 3]. This includes Nagoshi no longer being Sega’s Chief Creative Officer. Famitsu also reports that Nagoshi will retire at the beginning of Japan’s next fiscal year (April 1st), but will remain as a Creative Director.

The President of Sega Yukio Sugino will be taking over from Nagoshi, but as the new Chief Operating Officer. Other changes include CEO Haruki Satomi becoming the group CEO and President of parent company Sega Sammy Holdings, and his father Hajime Satomi (founder of Sammy Corporation) appointed as its Chairman.

Nagoshi joined Sega in 1989, and his first title was G-LOC: Air Battle in 1990. He became a chief designer with his third title Virtua Racing, and from then on in every game he produced he acted as a designer, director, or producer.

In recent news, Nagoshi revealed why Yakuza‘s protagonist Kazuma Kiryu has not and likely will not be a guest character in fighting games. He also offered his high praise of Sucker Punch Production’s Ghost of Tsushima. “It’s the kind of work made by non-Japanese people that makes you feel they’re even more Japanese than us. I think it’s amazing.”

Image: Wikipedia