Hajime Satomi

Hajime Satomi
Place of birth: Fukushima, Gunma prefecture, Japan
Date of birth: 1942-01-16 (age 81)
Role(s): Executive

Hajime Satomi (里見 治) was the founder of Sammy Corporation, an entertainment equipment manufacturer, which currently owns Sega, a world-renowned producer of arcade and software games. His son, Haruki Satomi, is also involved within the executive structure of Sega and Sega Sammy Holdngs.

History

Hajime Satomi withdrew from Aoyama Gakuin University November 1975 and founded Sammy Corporation as an entertainment equipment manufacturer. Sammy experienced significant growth when it began manufacturing machines for the pachislot and pachinko industry (one of Japan's most popular forms of entertainment) and was successfully listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in March 2001. Sammy Corporation is now the leading manufacturer of pachislot and pachinko machines.

Sammy Corporation, Japan's largest slot machine maker, bought out ailing videogame maker Sega Corporation in 2004 for $394 million. Hajime Satomi heads the newly combined $4.5 billion (sales) group, now called Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. with its main businesses being those of Sammy Corporation and Sega.

Production history

• Twin Cobra (Mega Drive; 1991) — Publisher
• Yakuza (PlayStation 2; 2005) — Executive Producer
• Yakuza 2 (PlayStation 2; 2006) — Executive Producer
• Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 31: Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (PlayStation 2; 2007) — Executive Producer
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (Wii; 2007) — Executive Producer
• NiGHTS into Dreams (PlayStation 2; 2008) — Executive Producers
• The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (Wii; 2008) — Executive Producer
• Yakuza 3 (PlayStation 3; 2009) — Executive Producer
• Yakuza 4 (PlayStation 3; 2010) — Executive Producer

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Hajime Satomi