Yu Suzuki is no longer R&D Creative Officer at SEGA... but he remains with the company in a diminished role having stepped down from the CO task.
The man responsible for
Space Harrier,
Virtua Fighter,
Virtua Cop,
Outrun and
Shenmue to name but several was,
you may recall, offed by SEGA of America president, Simon Jeffery, last August... before that turned out to be a mis-spoken statement rather than a fact.