Full interview hereWhat do you think is the importance of names in the industry right now? Sega had a lot of its name developers in Japan go away. Right now, there's Toshihiro Nagoshi, and not a whole lot else, though you do have the Platinum guys to rely on right now. But is it important right now, or is it not? It seems to be for some companies.
SJ: I think it is still important. We're still working with [Yuji] Naka. The Prope relationship exists. They're building content. Nothing's been released yet, but we still work with them. The Platinum relationship is definitely part of it. We want to work with big-name people.
But part of that is not just because they're a name. It's because we know they're going to build great games, and that's the most important part. [Ed. note: Prope is ex-Sonic Team head Yuji Naka's independent Tokyo studio. No titles have been announced since its formation in 2006.]
Can you give any more details on the Prope thing? Does he have an actual studio now?
SJ: There's not much being talked about right now or announced on that yet, so we probably can't say anything, other than we're working with Naka-san still.
Speaking of names, what has happened to Yu Suzuki?
SJ: Last I heard, he was doing some online stuff in China.
He's spearheaded an arcade racing title. Is he just really off in his own world?
SJ: Yeah. He's kind of his own man right now. Every now and again, he'll come up with an idea, and I don't think anything has come out of that yet, but we're still working with him. He's not an employee anymore, but...
I wasn't sure if he was still actually a Sega employee.
SJ: Not as far as I know.
Here's a ridiculous question that of course I must ask. Would Sega ever return to the console market?
SJ: No. A categorical no.