Rez creator leaves Sega News

PC PlayStation 2 GameCube Xbox
News by Games Industry.biz

8 October, 2003

One of Sega's most innovative game creators has announced his decision to leave the company following the dissolving of his in-house development team.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi was the man behind cult classic titles such as Rez and Space Channel 5, both of which are considered to be sterling examples of innovation and creativity in modern gaming despite enjoying limited commercial success.

His internal team at Sega, United Game Artists, was a casualty of the recent development reshuffle at the company - with the team being broken up and the staff being merged with Sonic Team.

Mizuguchi-san now plans to pursue new opportunities in game development, and speaking to a Japanese radio station yesterday, he expressed relief at being free to explore new ideas following his 14 year tenure at Sega. Fans of Mizuguchi's innovative fusions of audio and graphics are bound to watch keenly to see what one of the greatest creative minds in the Japanese videogame industry does next.

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damondill

08/10/03 @ 18:28

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I wonder where he will go next??

otto [mod]

08/10/03 @ 20:45

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My steve-ballmer's-chequebook-sense is twitching

Zero Beat

08/10/03 @ 23:20

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"Ladies and Gentleman STEEEVE BALLMERRRRRR!"

Woooooo-wooooooooo-awoo-wooooo. WOOOOOOO-woooooo. I'll 'ave you too.

beep

08/10/03 @ 23:41

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Rez 2!!! PLEASE!!!

suj

09/10/03 @ 00:59

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rofl, to purse other opportunities

skalmanxl

09/10/03 @ 07:49

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Give us Rez 2, on the Xbox, with the possibility to alter the music on your harddrive the same way you did the tracks in REZ. Just dreams of course, but REZ is to me, one of the best games ever.

Lutz [mod]

09/10/03 @ 08:07

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Rez was a truley stunning game. Basically a techno version of Panzer Dragoon, it was just so addictive...

Shivoa

09/10/03 @ 08:38

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>Basically a techno version of Panzer Dragoon

But it was also so much more!

>Rez 2!!! PLEASE!!!

We can but hope but as Sega control the IP (AFAIK) it'l take a new boss as rich as MS to pay them for the rights/chance to expand the series 3rd party.

Tiger_Walts

09/10/03 @ 08:58

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"We can but hope but as Sega control the IP (AFAIK) it'l take a new boss as rich as MS to pay them for the rights/chance to expand the series 3rd party."

But Rez was not a commercial success, and though critically acclaimed will not have a greater value (in the eyes of a publisher) as say, the Sonic or Panzer Dragoon IPs.

hahakid

09/10/03 @ 10:20

#10

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But wouldn't it still be worth for Microsoft just for the street cred ?
I'm sure he's a lot more well known in Japan as well, where it seems they need a bigger profile.

(edit, no spelling before coffe)

Edited 1 times, most recently on 09/10/03 @ 11:20

disc

09/10/03 @ 10:30

#11

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come on go to sony....

Freelancer

09/10/03 @ 11:31

#12

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Sega seems determined to walk the path of mediocrity, following in the footsteps of EA it seemingly has discovered as its industry idol recently.

BartonFink

09/10/03 @ 11:42

#13

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Reckon he is MS bound.

Treze

09/10/03 @ 12:44

#14

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It's all our fault... Who among us has bought the games he created? We should be ashamed of ourselves.

Enter the Matrix 2 for everybody.

Edit: spelling

Edited 1 times, most recently on 09/10/03 @ 13:46

Shivoa

09/10/03 @ 13:23

#15

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>Who among us has bought the games he created?

On EG probably quite a lot of us.

mal

09/10/03 @ 19:59

#16

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Yep, I bought...er...both of them that Sega Europe deigned to release over here. Actually, I'm only counting Rez and SC5 since I haven't the foggiest what he was doing before that.

This news does make a lot of sense though. The marriage of Sonic Team and UGA always seemed a little ill fitting. He could do anything now he's free of Sega's new 'no more fuckups - Sonic titles all the way' mantra.

Eldritch

09/10/03 @ 21:30

#17

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To quote UK:R: "Rez, a wank, then bed."

speedjack

10/10/03 @ 13:35

#18

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