Topic: Yuji Naka Leaves Sonic Team

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Sonic’s creator founds his own development studio, Prope, with Sega’s backing.

SEGA PARTNERS WITH PROPE, LTD. TO CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT FOR NEXT GENERATION CONSOLES    

Yuji Naka and SEGA Partner to Create New Intellectual Properties    

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON (May 8, 2006) - SEGA® of America, Inc. and SEGA® Europe, Ltd. today announced a new partnership with PROPE, Ltd., a new video game development studio based in Tokyo, Japan. PROPE, Ltd. will develop original content for the next generation consoles.    

Effective June 1, 2006, Mr. Naka will leave his post as Creative Officer for Research and Development at SEGA Corporation and will become CEO and President of PROPE, Ltd. Mr. Naka has been the creative force behind such SEGA brands as Sonic The Hedgehog and Phantasy Star. SEGA will make a 10% investment in PROPE, Ltd. and will be the company's exclusive global publisher. This landmark announcement between SEGA and Mr. Naka is the first arrangement to emerge from SEGA's Game Creator Independence Program, which will be organized to promote entrepreneurial business spin-offs with its internal development talent.    

"We named our company PROPE in the hopes of bringing game entertainment much closer to users, establishing closer ties between users and us, and creating near future entertainment," said Yuji Naka, CEO and President of PROPE, Ltd. "I am looking forward to the challenge of embarking on this new entrepreneurial venture supported by such a powerful global publisher as SEGA."    

"Mr. Naka is an incredible industry visionary and as SEGA continues to align itself with top development talent, we are extremely excited to partner with PROPE." said Naoya Tsurumi, Chief Executive Officer, SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe, Ltd.    

The agreement is the latest in a string of similar announcements from SEGA that underscore the company's increased emphasis on external content development. Previously, SEGA announced partnerships with developers Obsidian Entertainment, Silicon Knights, Bizarre Creations, Monolith Productions (Condemned: Criminal Origins™), and Pseudo Interactive (Full Auto™). SEGA also acquired development powerhouse The Creative Assembly (Total War series) in 2005 as well as US developer Secret Level and UK based studio, Sports Interactive in 2006.    

   

"PROPE" (pronounced "pro-pe") is a Latin word which means "beside" and "near" future. Future information for PROPE, Ltd. will be announced on their website at http://prope.jp

[Crimm]

Well, that's one half the NiGHTS rumor.
Then again, hasn't his departure been rumored for quite some time?

[Knoxxville]

Wow...the end of an era....and hopefully the beginning of great things to come.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Flop like Clover.

[cubist]

He's still bound to SEGA.  If he was funded by a new company, especially Sony, MS, or Nintendo...then it would be news.

[Ian Sane]

So now instead of complaining about crappy cameras in Sonic Team games we'll complain about them in Prope games.  Nothing changed really.

[ruby_onix]

With only $100,000 at his disposal, it's a safe bet that his first game is going to be for either the GBA, PS2, DS, or Revolution/Wii.

Does that make another portion of the Nights rumor (that it's Nintendo-exclusive) possibly true?

[Nephilim]

well sonic team turned into a joke, will be interesting to see how this studio goes
will see if it was him or management that made it collpase

[joshnickerson]

Does this mean the end of the raping of the Sonic series? Seriously, the trailer for the new game makes me sad.