While Yu Suzuki, famed creator ofVirtua FighterandShenmue, has kept a relatively low profile of late — he’s been working on some arcade racing titles, but that’s about it — heisstill an employee of Sega Corporation, said Sega of America president Simon Jeffreyin a statement to Gamasutra.
Normally, this bit of non-news wouldn’t be that interesting; however, stories of Suzuki’s departure have beenpopping up everywheresince arecent Gamasutra interview, during which Jeffrey said that Suzuki was “doing some online stuff in China” and that he was “not an employee any more.”
Today, Jeffrey issued a correction: “I can safely say that Yu Suzuki is in fact still a Sega employee.” He also added that Suzuki “is a Creative Officer of Sega Corp.”
Unfortunately, you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up forShenmue IIIany time soon. Suzuki has been throwing around some ideas, but none of them seem to stick. “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,” said Jeffrey.
[ViaGamasutra]
