Sega Corp. announced Wednesday that Vice President Hideki Sato has taken over the firm's presidency, following the death of Isao Okawa from heart failure Friday.
The announcement came after a Sega board meeting.
The company, which produces the Dreamcast console, added that Yoshiji Fukushima, a Sega board member and chairman of CSK Corp., has become Sega's chairman.
Sato, 50, also serves as Sega's chief operating officer. He said his mission is to revitalize the financially troubled company by shifting the corporate scope from the manufacturing of game consoles to software production.
Although Sega is expected to report consolidated net losses of 23.6 billion yen for fiscal 2000, which ends March 31, Fukushima said Sega does not need financial support from CSK, Sega's parent company.
Sega is planning to unveil its concrete restructuring plan next month, Sato said.
Tetsu Kayama, Sega's cochief operating officer and a special adviser who came from Recruit Co., was reportedly seen as Okawa's successor. He will remain in his current posts, however, and continue to take the initiative in the reform of Sega, company officials said.
With its sales of game consoles having declined in recent years, Sega announced in January that it would stop production of the Dreamcast consoles at the end of this month.