Sega Arcade Development Chief Quits
- December 18, 2003 19:01 PM PST
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Sammy's huge stake in Sega likely influenced the move.
Sega WOW President Rikiya Nakagawa has resigned from his position after serving the company for 20 years. Although no official explanation has yet to be given, the move follows Sammy's recent purchase of 20 percent of Sega. After the purchase, Sammy made it known that Sega should change its focus to arcade-only, and using Sammy's Atomiswave platform (similar to Sega's old Naomi platform) instead of Sega's (technologically superior) Xbox-based Chihiro platform in development.Rikiya Nakagawa has worked for Sega since 1983, joining as a programmer, and has serving as president at Sega WOW (Sega's arcade subsidiary) since 2000. He will be replaced by Kazunori Tsukamoto, who worked on arcade titles such as House of the Dead and Super GT.
Given the past rock history between the two companies, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that the abrupt resignation has to do with dissatisfaction over Sammy's influence in power over Sega.
