Sega joins Gamer’s Gateway in Irvine
Sonic the Hedgehog joined local Sega of America employees on Dec. 7 as they settled into their new digs at Innovation Office Park in Irvine.
“We are here to commemorate the ongoing achievements of our amazing employees, and we look forward to entering a new phase of our business as we continue to evolve our company environment and culture,” said Shuji Utsumi, co-chief operating officer of Sega Corp. and chief executive officer of Sega of America, in an address to the team at an opening ceremony on site.
The new 31,700-square-foot office for the company’s North American headquarters is home to 235 employees in Sega’s publishing departments and also the Atlus Games subsidiary.
Sega of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based Sega Corp., which creates interactive entertainment experiences for console, PC, mobile and emerging platforms. Besides Sonic, the franchise includes Yakuza, Virtual Fighter, Super Monkey Ball and Phantasy Star Online, along with Atlus’ Persona and Shin Megami Tensei series.
Innovation Office Park is a new Irvine Co. office property meant to foster creativity and collaboration through its open-air office village design. It is located along the Irvine business corridor dubbed “Gamer’s Gateway.”
“Irvine has an amazing concentration of STEM talent, and I think gaming is one of those concentrations in particular that Innovation [Office] Park was really built for, trying to attract and retain the best talent,” said Jonathan Brinsden, president of Irvine Co. Office Properties. “We are super excited about Sega as a leading gaming company kicking off their brand-new space here.”
Innovation Office Park‘s campus makes up 1.1 million square feet across 73 acres and is being built in four phases, with phase two recently completed.
“The sense of place and the pedestrian connection is really important,” said Brinsden. “You are not just standing in a sea of cars.”
Central pedestrian pathlines are intended to draw employees to the roll-up doors that open to fresh air or the park’s many amenities. An indoor/outdoor cafe with rotating cuisine and walk-up artisan coffee bar are available, as well as a private fitness center with a spin/yoga studio. The space also includes a tech-enabled conference center and event space and an event-ready outdoor pavilion, where Sega’s opening ceremony took place. The company’s new home is intended to not only be a place for the team to grow but also to come together.
“We have been expanding greatly over the last six or seven years, we have seen real accelerated growth in the gaming business and we have outgrown our old office,” said Ian Curran, the president and chief operating officer at Sega of America. “Everyone has been working from home for the past two years, and we wanted to bring everybody back and have a space that is going to be welcoming and safe for people to come back to and will prove to be a good collaborative space.”
Utsumi shared similar hopes for Sega of America and its new home.
“Since the company’s founding in 1960, Sega has harbored the spirit of quality, fun and ingenuity in all our works,” said Utsumi. “This new space helps to foster a genial and team-oriented culture to reinforce that purpose and create new stories and worlds that will entertain gamers for generations.”
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