SEGA West CEO to Depart in the Summer
Game Over, Yeah! CEO to pursue advisory and non-exec roles.
SEGA's charismatic CEO of European and American operations, Mike Hayes, will be leaving the company in the summer.
After eight years running the Western business - being strongly involved with the SEGA UK acquisitions of Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly, along with overseeing the landmark co-starring of once-rival mascots Mario and Sonic - Hayes has decided to pursue an interest in advisory and non-exec roles inside and outside the industry.
The executive was also instrumental in a number of other entertainment sectors, being responsible for the pan-European launch of Trivial Pusuit and Pictionary in the late 1980s, and the re-launch of the NES in 1989. He also handled the launch of the Game Boy and SNES in the 1990s, and at the Bandai toy company was behind the release of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles figures.
Hayes will remain in an advisory role at SEGA following his leave, and has become a trustee of the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust as a non-executive director. Don't expect to see him on stage any time soon though, much as we'd love to - he's bringing his technological know-how to the current Board.
His departure comes at a difficult time for SEGA, which is currently restructuring its business to focus more heavily on digital distribution and the strength of its most established IPs. The company announced a dramatic loss for the past fiscal year at the end of March, and both the US and European divisions were hit with redundancies.
A statement from the company confirms that current Senior Vice President EMEA Jurgen Post will continue Hayes' duties as COO.
After eight years running the Western business - being strongly involved with the SEGA UK acquisitions of Sports Interactive and The Creative Assembly, along with overseeing the landmark co-starring of once-rival mascots Mario and Sonic - Hayes has decided to pursue an interest in advisory and non-exec roles inside and outside the industry.
The executive was also instrumental in a number of other entertainment sectors, being responsible for the pan-European launch of Trivial Pusuit and Pictionary in the late 1980s, and the re-launch of the NES in 1989. He also handled the launch of the Game Boy and SNES in the 1990s, and at the Bandai toy company was behind the release of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles figures.
Hayes will remain in an advisory role at SEGA following his leave, and has become a trustee of the Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre Trust as a non-executive director. Don't expect to see him on stage any time soon though, much as we'd love to - he's bringing his technological know-how to the current Board.
His departure comes at a difficult time for SEGA, which is currently restructuring its business to focus more heavily on digital distribution and the strength of its most established IPs. The company announced a dramatic loss for the past fiscal year at the end of March, and both the US and European divisions were hit with redundancies.
A statement from the company confirms that current Senior Vice President EMEA Jurgen Post will continue Hayes' duties as COO.
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Comments
Arvind 19 May 2012 08:16
1/2
yeah i call them reaction cnomamds, because i swear you have the reflexes of a cat to react quick enough to pull them off.the only reaction cnomamds i can pull off but with moderate difficulty are the ones in infamous' first boss fight with sasha. but infamous is a game worth taking the time to learn them.i couldn't even play the goldeneye remake on the wii cause of those cnomamds, and i wanted to enjoy it but i got stuck on the runway. stickin cnomamds.
Devin 22 May 2012 07:19
2/2
well i have it and i like it the only problems with it is there is no caerrr modebut there is a rookie mode where u create urself and make him real good b/c u HAVE to win every game if u lose u have to play it over againbut its real fun and i say its worth it especially if there's someone u can play with when ur done with the rookie mode