Ryuta Ueda, Art Director of both titles of Jet Set Radio, announced his back to SEGA nearly a decade after his passing. A news that has literally left the fans of the video game industry speechless. Just last May, in fact, Ueda shared the news in a post published on Facebook in which he warmly thanked his Yahoo colleagues before announcing that he would return to producing games in SEGA. On the other hand, the last collaboration with the Japanese multinational dates back to 2012, the year of release of Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed.
Jet Set Radio: Art Director Ryuta Ueda returns to SEGA
Ryuta Ueda returns to SEGA, re-embracing the collaboration with the company he worked for Jet Set Radio e Jet Set Radio Future. And not only. Ueda is also known for his role as Director of the first two titles Yakuza, released on PlayStation 2 in 2005 and 2006 respectively. The timing of its return is certainly interesting, given some reports that reveal that Toshihiro Nagoshi, creator of the Yakuza series, will leave SEGA to join the Chinese company NetEase.
Other titles on Ueda he worked on during his first stint at the company include 2011’s Rise of Nightmares, the Panzer Dragoon series (Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Panzer Dragoon Orta) and Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. For the moment, however, we do not know exactly which project he will return to work on. Of course, Nagoshi’s passing makes us think that Ueda could replace him in the works on the Yakuza series. On the other hand, it is quite certain that SEGA has absolutely no intention of reworking Jet Set Radio. And this gives us a clear idea of what dear Ueda will do on his return. In any case, one thing is clear: we must expect great news from the Japanese company.