Today, Sega announced that Yakuza executive director and producer Toshihiro Nagoshi will step down from the corporate board of directors. He will, however, remain at Sega.
As reported in Game Biz, Nagoshi will leave the board from April 1, when the new Japanese financial year begins. He will step down as Sega’s Creative Director but he will function as a creative director.
there is speculation online in Japan that Nagoshi was pushed out following a controversial comment he did last year, seeming to scoff Puyo Puyo sports players. The producer said they looked like they were eating beef and cheese bowls. The term chiizu gyuudon gao (チ ー ズ 牛 丼 顔) or “cheese meat bowl face” circulated online. Shortened to Chiigyu (チ ー 牛) or “steak cheese”, this slang is used to refer to people who live in rural areas, look very young, wear glasses and don’t have much ambition. It is a negative and mocking term for ridiculing people who may not be considered “legal”.
Nagoshi apologized for the comment, saying, “Since the comment was directed at players who are giving their all to play a Sega title, Puyo Puyo, and how it got all sports dirty, so I’m sorry. It was really unforgivable. “
The famous producer continues to appear on Sega’s YouTube live streams (pictured above), so maybe Nagoshi is stepping down for other reasons. Hopefully, he will be able to focus his energy more on Yakuza games and not corporate policy.