Tetsuya Mizuguchi
From Sega Retro
"As a child I didn't have any aspirations to become a games producer. The first game I played was when I was 7 and I played Pong at a friends house. I played some videogames as a child but I also played baseball. I majored in media aesthetics at University which looked at how we would make media in the future. It was at this time that I wanted to join the games industry. I then started at Sega in 1990." — Tetsuya Mizuguchi
Tetsuya Mizuguchi was born in Sapporo, Japan, in 1965. He was educated at Nihon University's Faculty of Arts and joined Sega in 1990. His first work was Megalopolice, a Japanese motion ride with computer graphics. He then turned his attention to racing simulations, and in 1995 created the arcade game Sega Rally Championship. Mizuguchi is also known for his work on Manx TT, Rez, and Space Channel 5, among other best selling titles.
In 1996, Mizuguchi left Sega's AM3 division to form "AM Annex", where he and his team created Sega Touring Car Championship and Sega Rally Championship.
On April 9, 2000, Sega's amusement division "AM9" became "United Game Artists" (UGA). Mizuguchi was President and Chief Operating Officer of the studio. They produced Space Channel 5 and Rez, which were praised among gaming communities as fresh and innovative titles.
In September of 2003, Sega performed a company-wide reorganization of staff. This reorganization dissolved United Game Artists, placing its members within Sonic Team.
On October 7, 2003, Mizuguchi was a guest on "Tokyo Game Lounge", a webcast radio program produced in Tokyo. During the webcast, he announced his retirement from Sega. An article by Hirohiko Niizumi/Tor Thorsen for GameSpot claims that the restructuring prompted Mizuguchi to leave the company.
His official announcement of departure from Sega included this quote:
"Games are a very unique medium. They exist beyond language, beyond culture, and people are fascinated by games. I don't know how long I will live, but I want to learn more about games — and there is more to learn about creating better games."
Production History
- Sega Rally Championship (Saturn Version) (1995) — Producer, Game Writter
- Sonic Jam (1997) — Special Thanks
- Space Channel 5 (1999) — Producer
- Sega Rally Championship 2 (1999) — Producer
- D-2 (1999) — Special Thanks
- Shenmue (1999) — Special Thanks (Main Scenario)
- Rez (2001) — Producer
- Space Channel 5: Part 2 (2002) — Producer
- Space Channel 5: Special Edition (2003) — Producer
- Space Channel 5: Part 2: Special Edition (2003) — Producer