Jun Taniguchi

From Sega Retro

Jun Taniguchi.png
Jun Taniguchi
Employment history:
Sega Enterprises (1993-04[1] – )
Divisions:
Sega Rosso (2000-06[1] – 2003-10[1])
Hitmaker (2003-10[1] – 2004-06[1])
Sega (2004-07[1] – 2006-02[1])
Divisions:
DeNA
Role(s): Producer
Education: Kokugakuin University

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Jun Taniguchi (谷口 潤) was a producer at Sega who usually dealt with licensing, most notably on the Sega Rally franchise, early Initial D games and many more one-off games developed by Sega Rosso. He currently works at DeNA.

Career

Sega

Jun Taniguchi joined Sega in April 1993 and worked in Overseas Dept.'s Export section and the Asian Sales Section. In 1995 he became involved with publicity/PR for AM Annex's Sega Touring Car Championship, followed by Sega Rally 2, where he also attended licensing negotiations with Mercedes Benz, Fiat, Opel, Toyota, Castrol, CIBIE and Michelin. He once again was a license coordinator for Star Wars Trilogy Arcade, this time negotiating with Lucas Arts Entertainment, but now also managed the game's 3 directors[1].

With the establishment of Sega Rosso in 2000, Taniguchi was put on the company's board of directors, producing the company's various titles from NASCAR Arcade to Cosmic Smash to Soul Surfer, with various licenses to negotiate for, and was also responsible for subcontracting the development of certain titles like Sega Rally Championship. While he was not credited in most entries, the greatest success of his tenure at Sega Rosso was the Initial D Arcade Stage games, which, despite low budget, was able to spawn a franchise that continued on for several decades. On the less public side, Taniguchi was responsible for budgeting Sega Rosso's game lineup, quality assurance and scheduling, as well as managing the company's 3 managers and up to 50 developers[1].

In October 2003, Sega Rosso was merged with Hitmaker and Taniguchi was demoted to producer. The only Hitmaker title he was involved with was Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Card Builder, working with publisher Banpresto. He remained producer when Hitmaker became AM R&D Dept. #3, with his final title at Sega being Sega Rally 2006. He would leave Sega in February of 2006, a month after said game was released.

Post-Sega

In March 2006, Jun Taniguchi joined Microsoft Game Studios Asia as a Group Senior Manager, Senior Program Manager and Art Manager, involved with the Artoon-developed game Blue Dragon. He moved to US-based Microsoft in June 2007 and worked in their Turn 10 Studios as a Senior Game Designer and Lead System Designer to Forza Motorsport 2 through 4, with minor contributions Forza Motorsport 5 before leaving Microsoft in November 2012, a year ahead of the game's release.

Taniguchi moved back to Japan and started working as an executive producer for Bandai Namco Studios. However, his main role there was in establishing Bandai Namco Studios Vancouver a year later, in Canada, where he was involved with mobile games like Tap My Katamari and Tekken Mobile. He remained at Bandai Namco Studio Vancouver until it was closed in November 2018[2].

In July 2019, Taniguchi joined DeNA, as the General Manager of their Global Strategy Department. In April 2022 he became PM/PdM of IRIAM, a subsidiary of the DeNA Group.

Production history

Games

Music

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Jun Taniguchi

External links

References