SEGA Europe has announced that their COO and President, Jurgen Post, is leaving the company. Post has been at the company for ten years, and it’s fair to say that SEGA Europe has done well under his leadership ever since he assumed the role of COO back in 2012. That said, the changes the company underwent were drastic. In this latest interview with gamesIndustry.biz, he explains how and why they made the changes that would end up reviving SEGA Europe. In particular, their strategy involved handing a lot of responsibility to their development studios, with SEGA Europe acting more in the role of a publisher. While this has caused the SEGA brand to remain more in the shadow of their own IPs such as Total War and Football Manager, Post believes the SEGA brand will flourish again as long as they get the games right.
While this strategy meant that their support for localized games from SEGA of Japan has been lacking after their internal restructure, SEGA Europe is still responsible for the PC conversions of Valkyria Chronicles, Bayonetta and soon Vanquish. It’s likely we’ll see more of those in the future, with Shenmue HD rumored to be planned for a release on PC as well.
SEGA Europe states that Post’s departure is a “huge loss” for them, but also added that he’s leaving the company with their business in a “fantastic position”. You can read the full press release below.
London, UK – 24th May, 2017 – SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced the departure of their COO and President, Jurgen Post. Jurgen had been with SEGA for over ten years, serving as Managing Director and Senior Vice President before being elevated to the position of COO and President for SEGA Europe in 2012.
Jurgen instigated and oversaw a seismic shift in SEGA Europe’s business operation back in 2012, making the very difficult decision to streamline the company’s European setup, closing the European offices and doubling down on a newly formed pillar structure. The pillar structure was at the time Creative Assembly, Sports Interactive, Alien and Sonic the Hedgehog, and the aim was, and still is, to focus on quality consumer experiences instead of quantity.
Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength, with SEGA Europe acquiring two new studios forming all new pillars in Relic Entertainment and Amplitude Studios, in addition to acquiring Crytek Black Sea (now Creative Assembly Sofia). Huge partnerships have been signed with the likes of Microsoft, Wargaming and Elex to license existing IP, release new IP and build new franchises. Additionally, a raft of fantastic best practice PC conversions have been released including Bayonetta and Valkyria Chronicles, much to the delight of fans.
“Jurgen leaving us is a huge loss, but he leaves SEGA Europe with the business in a fantastic position and in the capable hands of a superb team who will strive to keep moving it forward”, said Tatsuyuki Miyazaki, CEO for SEGA West. “We wish Jurgen all the very best for the future and in his new role and hope that his employees there will find him as inspirational and as motivating as we did here.”
The legacy Jurgen leaves behind is of a business transformed. A market leader in the PC strategy genre with one eye firmly on the console market and many exciting projects in the works. His tenure has seen Creative Assembly grow to become one the largest development studios in Europe, Sports Interactive to experiment with new ideas within the Football Manager franchise and nurtured the undeniable development talents of Relic Entertainment and Amplitude Studios. It’s a very different SEGA to the company many of us grew up with but it is once again, on the path to great things and SEGA Europe Ltd. would like to publically thank Jurgen for his leadership, his dedication to a vision and his tireless work to realise it.
SEGA Europe’s CFO, John Ward, will act as interim COO while Jurgen’s replacement is sought, with the full backing of the senior management team. For more information about SEGA, follow us on Twitter and Facebook or log on to www.sega.co.uk.
About SEGA® Europe Ltd.
SEGA® Europe Ltd. is the European Distribution arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Games Co., Ltd., and a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. SEGA Europe’s website is located at www.sega.com
I have really no reason to criticize his work, but I’m not a fan of today’s franchises, meaning Total War and co, they are still what they were before sega bought them (only with tons of extra DLC), so it’s really hard for me to say those are “sega” games. But then of course, “my tastes” are a minority, if they weren’t, Sega would have done much better in the past lol
It’s really a shame the only game I’ve enjoyed by them is Alien Isolation, and since I’m a sci-phy freak and stellaris hooked me last year, I had hopes with endless space, but after playing the first game I realised it was just a total war with starships.
I’m glad, of course, of every PC-console port, starting with Viking, followed by The Typing of the Dead, and many others, and hopping there are much more of them in the future (but hoping too for more localizations and new games, if not, there will be no games to port on the next decade lol). I really hope Atlus USA can compliment on what Sega West didn’t deliver, their first years have been awesome in that regard.