Sega president Kenji Matsubara has abruptly resigned from the company.
Matsubara tendered his resignation on Friday, citing “personal reasons,” Sega parent company Sega Sammy said in an abbreviated statement. The company said the resignation is effective immediately and hasn’t announced who will replace the developer’s top executive.
It’s unclear what may have precipitated Matsubara’s resignation, but it doesn’t appear to have been planned. In April, he seemed to be fully involved in Sega’s operations and was given chief publishing officer duties in addition to his president role. He also served as a Sega Sammy board director — another role he’s vacating on Friday.
Sega Sammy did not immediately respond to Digital Trends’ request for comment on Matsubara’s departure and the events surrounding it.
Matsubara joined Sega’s networks division in 2014 as its chief technology officer. In 2017, Sega Sammy elevated him to president, where he oversaw all of Sega’s development operations. Before joining Sega, Matsubara was the president and CEO at Japanese gaming company Tecmo Koei. He also served as Zynga Japan’s CEO for two years.
Sega’s new leadership void comes as the company tries to reinvent itself in the ever-changing gaming industry. While Sega served as one of the most prominent game companies in the world in the 1990s, since it discontinued its Dreamcast console in 2001, it’s focused on game development and delivered a variety of titles from some of its most popular franchises, including the Sonic the Hedgehog.
Looking ahead, Sega has two publicly announced games in development — a PC title slated to launch on August 13 called Troy: A Total War Saga and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which will release on both current- and next-generation consoles. Sega hasn’t announced Like a Dragon‘s launch date.
Sega is also trying to capitalize on nostalgia and announced last month a slate of micro Game Gear handhelds. Each of the four devices will cost $50 and come in distinct colors — blue, yellow, red, and black. Depending on the model customers choose, they’ll find four different games, including Sonic the Hedgehog (black model) and Sonic Chaos (blue model). Players who want to play all 16 classic Game Gear games will need to buy each version. The Game Gear handhelds launch on October 6.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.