In an interview with Gamasutra, Simon Jeffery, CEO of Sega of America, let out that Yu Suzuki is no longer with the company. Yu Suzuki was the creator of Virtua Fighter, Outrun, and his bank-breaking project Shenmue, as well as other games.

Virtua Fighter 5 was not directed by Suzuki so that series should be safe to continue, but it adds another nail to Shenmue III’s coffin — the game fans have been clamoring for since the sequel barely made it stateside on Xbox.

This writer dug the first Shenmue on Dreamcast in 2000 which made use of a cheesy soap-opera story and quick-time events that were later used in God of War and Resident Evil 4. It also had probably the best forklift racing, if only, in a video game. What do you guys think of the series? Or is further proof of its “never being released” status meaningless to you?

Via Gamasutra

written by Carlos Macias \\ tags: America, CEO, company, Creator, Fighter, gamasutra, game, God, III, Interview, nail, Outrun, project, Sega, series, Shenmue, Simon Jeffery, Suzuki, Virtua, Yu Suzuki

“I don’t think the investors give a sh*t about our quality. They care about our earnings per share. They wait for it to happen. We had three years where we didn’t make our expectations. If I were an investor, I would wait and see. That’s fine with me.” - Electronic Art’s CEO, John Riccitiello

While some people may not believe Riccitiello’s statement, I certainly do.  It’s sad that video games have gotten so mainstream that quality may no longer be a primary concern for the companies.  I see the gaming industry becoming more and more like the Hollywood movie machine every day.

Quote via GoNintendo

written by Will Snizek \\ tags: Art, CEO, Concern, didn, Don, Electronic, fine, gaming, Hollywood, industry, investor, mainstream, make, quality, Riccitiello, share, statement, video