The hopes of a Yu Suzuki led Shenmue III have just become ground into ever finer particles, as Sega of America president Simon Jeffery tells Gamasutra in a new interview that the legendary developer is no longer at the company.

Jeffery says of Suzuki's status that "Last I heard, he was doing some online stuff in China", saying that the Space Harrier and Virtua Fighter creator is "kind of his own man right now." Suzuki's recent projects, the arcade game Psy Phi and MMO Shenmue Online never made it to final production stages.

There's obviously much more to the Jeffery Q&A and, as you may be aware, we're fans of the frank Sega exec — and not just because he kept hope alive for a System 16 compilation. The entirety of the interview is worth your while.

The Evolution Of Sega: A Conversation With Simon Jeffery [Gamasutra - thanks, Jay!]

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