[Updated 11 am 1/30/15 with more info from Sega]
Sega Sammy Holdings said in a filing today that it will shut down its San Francisco offices which were once the flagship of its Sega’s Western empire. The move is part of cutbacks that will affect around 300 jobs, or 4 percent of the Japanese company’s employees.
The San Francisco offices were the home to big events like the launch of the Dreamcast game console in the 1990s and the unveiling of designer Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue open-world game. Sega once occupied a huge office building on Eighth Street in San Francisco, but that building is now the headquarters for social mobile gaming company Zynga. Sega of America had since moved into the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco.
Sega said that the U.S. headquarters of Sega of America will now move to Southern California by this summer. Sega’s priorities are to improve its profits and invest in digital games and its resort business.
For digital games, Sega is focused on smartphone and PC online gaming. Sega said that it is offering voluntary retirement to about 120 of its regular employees in Japan. Sega of Europe is in consultation with a limited number of staff in the coming weeks. That is consistent with European laws requiring advanced notice and placement services before layoffs.