Following the appointment of Hisao Oguchi as successor of outgoing president Hideki Satou, Sega announced a number of measures aimed at bolstering its development structure. The company's ten Japanese development studios will be arranged into 4 to 5 divisions each specializing in one particular field such as PC, game centers, etc. The company's workforce will be reduced by 10 to 20%.

Furthermore, in order to strengthen its position in the North American market, Sega is interested in talking with a foreign company regarding the possibility of a merger following the breakdown of the talks with both Namco and Sammy. Half of the 106 titles the company has published during the last fiscal year produced red numbers. During the current fiscal year, Sega aims to release 77 titles, with only 20% being projected to be unprofitable.

Sega's eleven development studios include Overworks, Sonic Team, Sega AM2, Hitmaker, Wavemaster, United Game Artists, WOW Entertainment, Smilebit, Sega Rosso, Amusement Vision and California-based Visual Concepts.

• Mainichi Interactive