TOKYO--Following today's stockholder meeting, Sammy president Hajime Satomi has been appointed as chairman of Sega. Effective February 17, Satomi will take over the top management slot at the company, thus pushing former chairman Hideki Sato in to the vice chairman's seat. Sega's current president, Hisao Oguchi, will continue to hold his position in the company.

　　In a related story, Yoshiharu Suzuki, Sammy's executive in charge of arcade games, has also been appointed to Sega's board of directors. Suzuki’s position at Sega will be also effective on February 17. To accommodate the changes, CSK chairman Masahiro Aozono and CSK director Makoto Kaneshiro resigned from their positions at Sega the day before the meeting.

　　Sammy Corporation, Japan's leading Pachinko machine manufacturer, acquired a 22.4 percent stake of Sega from CSK in December, thus becoming Sega's top shareholder. Satomi previously commented that Sammy is considering the acquisition of additional Sega shares and will possibly make Sega a full-blown subsidiary in the future.

　　Sammy has been aggressively extending its reach in to the arcade market by developing and releasing a library of new titles for its arcade cabinet, the Atomiswave. While Sega has been relatively silent about its relationship with Sammy, Sega president, Hisao Oguchi, announced earlier this month that Sega will be working with Sammy in the arcade game business by merging its overseas operations and possibly developing titles for Sammy’s Atomiswave platform.

　　Satomi’s inauguration as chairman of Sega comes only three days before the February 20-21 AOU arcade show kicks off in Japan. Sammy is expected to make a number of announcements regarding its Atomiswave at the show, although it is unknown if the information will be related to Sega.