Yu Suzuki

Yu Suzuki (鈴木 裕, Suzuki Yū; born June 10, 1958) is a Japanese game developer who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. He created a number of successful Sega arcade games, including Hang-On (1985), Space Harrier (1985), Out Run (1986) and After Burner (1987), which used motion simulator cabinets, and Virtua Racing (1992) and Virtua Fighter (1993), which pioneered 3D graphics. As a hardware engineer, Suzuki led development of arcade system boards including the Sega Space Harrier, Model 1, Model 2 and Model 3. He was involved in the development of the Dreamcast console and the NAOMI arcade hardware. In the late 1990s, Suzuki created the Shenmue series of action-adventure games. The original Shenmue (1999), for Dreamcast, was the most expensive video game ever developed at the time. The Shenmue games attracted a cult following, but were commercial failures. After Shenmue II, Suzuki produced OutRun 2 (2003), Virtua Cop 3 (2003) and Sega Race TV (2008) and worked on various projects which failed to see release. In 2008, he established his own development company, Ys Net, and left Sega in 2011. He developed Shenmue III (2019) following a successful crowdfunding campaign. In 2003, Suzuki became the sixth person to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. IGN named him the ninth-greatest video game creator. In 2011, he received the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.