Sega Sammy published a press release in which it said it will ask 650 staff members to voluntarily retire. The company expects to see an extraordinary loss of around 10 billion yen in the full financial report of the current fiscal year that ends in March 2021, which is why it is pursuing these layoffs.
Sega Sammy employed a total of 9,051 staff members as of September 30, 2020. Both full-time and contract employees will be able to apply for voluntary retirement by December 25, 2020. They will receive extraordinary retirement allowances and support in finding new jobs after they officially leave the company on February 28, 2021.
The directors of Sega Sammy and its group will also take pay cuts to their monthly base salary for the rest of the 2020 fiscal year, between November 2020 and March 2021, as a means of taking responsibility for the operating results during the fiscal year and the layoffs. The group has seen many of its businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in November 2020, Sega Sammy sold 85.1% of Sega Entertainment’s shares to GENDA. While that means the task of managing Sega-related facilities will go to the latter, the iconic Sega arcade game centers will still retain their names. Sega also intends to focus on its Consumer business segment, which consists of console, PC, and mobile games.
