Sega have experienced a major management reshuffle, and Sammy features heavily in the new line up.

Segas upper management has gone through a sea change, the new chairman and director is to be Hideki Satomi -CEO of Sammy, the Japanese pachinko machine manufacturer.

Effective immediately, Satomi will take over the direction of the company. Two former managing board members of the group have resigned as of yesterday. Masahiro Aozono and Makoto Kaneshiro were heavily affiliated with the Sega parent company CSK.

Last year, Sammy became the majority share holder in the company after CSK decided to sell it's remaining 22% in the compoany. The purchase has made Sammy the largest individual share holder in the company. This sort of high-level change was therefore inevitable.

What does this mean for Sega? In truth, only time will tell for the company. It's too early to relegate the company to pachinko-only manufacturing line and certainly the recent sell-out figures for Sonic Heroes in Europe should be something of a large boost in the sofware department for the company. Right now, however, the future is uncertain.