Ryuta Ueda director of the first two Yakuza games is returning to Sega after nearly ten years away from the videogame industry

Ueda was the art director behind Jet Set Radio and its sequel Jet Set Radio Future, plus he was also the director of the first two Yakuza games for the PS2. He rejoined the company in May 2021, after working at Yahoo! Japan for over nine years.

Ueda’s history at Sega is long and diverse; he was creature designer for the Panzer Dragoon games and also directed a horror game for the Kinect titled Rise of Nightmares

He announced his return to Sega on his public Facebook page:

“I have decided to resign from Yahoo Japan and return to my old company, Sega, I am very grateful for the many people I met and the many lessons I learned through various projects at Yahoo!”

He is happy to be back and cannot wait to get back to making videogames once again, as per the below quote from his announcement:

“From now on, I will focus on making games again. Not only do I feel the excitement of making things, but I am also smiling a little at the thought of seeing old friends and meeting new people. I would like to fully demonstrate what I have cultivated through experience.”

Based on this rumours that the current boss of Sega – Toshihiro Nagashi, might be leaving the company could be true

As Nagoshi will set up a team and create new games for NetEase, Ueda might be coming back to take over the business as soon as Nagashi leaves Sega if the rumours become a reality (You can read about that over here!)

Source: VGC