Hideki Sato, the chief engineer of SEGA consoles, has passed away.

Hideki Sato, Lead Engineer of SEGA Consoles, Passes Away

Once again, the gaming community is met with sad news about the passing of another industry legend. At the age of 77, Hideki Sato has passed away — the famous SEGA engineer who led the development of all the company's consoles.

Sato joined SEGA back in 1971 and since then participated in the creation of arcade machines and home consoles. By the late 80s, his team faced the difficult task of dethroning Nintendo and making SEGA the new leader of the console market. Thanks to Sato's efforts, the company held its ground confidently during the console wars era, although the failure of the Saturn and Dreamcast forced it to admit defeat and abandon further development of its own gaming devices. Despite this, gamers to this day fondly remember the diverse Dreamcast library. This public affection did not go unnoticed by SEGA itself, which in recent years decided to revive a number of old franchises, including Shinobi, Crazy Taxi, Golden Axe, and Jet Set Radio.

From 2001 to 2003, Sato served as president of SEGA, playing a crucial role in saving the company during financial difficulties. He left the company in 2008.