After a board meeting, Sega published some changes in its director and officer roles on January 29, most notably revealing Yakuza series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi will retire from his CCO (Chief Creative Officer) role at Sega. Toshihiro Nagoshi will stay at Sega as a Creative Director, and will retire as CCO at the beginning of the next fiscal year in Japan, on April 1st, 2021. (Thanks to Famitsu for pointing it out). Yukio Sugino is replacing Toshihiro Nagoshi as new COO.Haruki Satomi, current CEO of Sega, will also be appointed as group CEO and president of parent company Sega Sammy Holdings. His father and founder of Sammy Corporation, Hajime Satomi, will be appointed as chairman. Other changes are happening as well, the usual when the new fiscal year starts in Japan.Sega, however has been going through several big changes lately. Such as selling the ownership of its amusement and game centers in Japan, and going through several restructuring moves, all due to the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The news was shared by Sega through its official Japanese Twitter, with a notice on the official site of Sega Sammy group.

Toshihiro Nagoshi joined Sega in 1989 and was involved in several Yu Suzuki games such as Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. He also made several iconic Sega titles such as Daytona USA and the Super Monkey Ball series.

Nowadays, Nagoshi is known worldwide as the main creator of the Yakuza series, also known as Ryu Ga Gotoku in Japan. The Yakuza series celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2020 and is incredibly popular, with over 14 million copies sold worldwide as of December 2020. The latest game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, is available on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, with a PS5 version coming March 2. The Yakuza Remastered Collection, already available on PS4, just launched on Xbox and PC as well.

Toshihiro Nagoshi became CCO of Sega in 2012 and heavily participated in the comeback of several cult Sega IPs such as Sakura Taisen and the new Sakura Wars game on PS4. Nagoshi most notably directed the game's reveal trailer himself, using his knowledge in film production.

Toshihiro Nagoshi also appears on monthly live stream SegaNama together with Ayana Tsubaki. We regularly cover these on DualShockers, as Nagoshi often shares interesting insight. Be it on the design of the PS5, working conditions at Sega, game and console sales, or popular games such as Ghost of Tsushima.

Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Masayoshi Yokoyama both already stated the next Yakuza game is in development. Lastly, in Japan, the mobile and PC gacha game Ryu Ga Gotoku Online is still ongoing.

To learn more on Toshihiro Nagoshi, I'd first recommend reading this chapter of Passion of the Game Designers by Keiichi Tanaka, romanticizing Nagoshi's early days at Sega.