Sega: Layoffs and a refocus on digital could save the company

Sega says layoffs will likely be limited to the West.

Blaming an "unprecedented change in our industry" Sega president told Vox Games today that its plans to slim the company could result in a number of layoffs "within the publishing business across the Western organisation."

Early this morning, Sammy Sega Holdings reported that it expects Sega's operating loss for the previous year to reach7.1 billion yen and that they planned to slim down the company.

Reached for comment this afternoon, Sega of America president and COO Masanao Maeda tells Vox Games that the company is consolidating its publishing business to focus on "developing digital content and driving its existing IP such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, Football Manager and the Aliens franchise."

That refocus is meant to bolster the publisher's digital business and its shift away from boxed games, Sega officials said.

"As a result of the SEGA Sammy Board decision to consolidate the business, many of our internal functions will be re-structured and this could result in a number of redundancies within the publishing business across the Western organisation," according to Maeda's statement. "The company will be entering into a re-structure phase to reflect the unprecedented change in our industry and to move the company forward appropriately."

While Maeda has not yet responded to our questions about which studios and business operations will see layoffs, nor which games maybe be directly impacted, the fact that they say the layoffs will be limited to the Western organization sounds like the company's Japanese developers will not be impacted.

The changes, Maeda added in its statement, will "benefit the company and make it fit for purpose within the changing nature of the industry over the coming years."