SEGA has just revealed that they are about to cut 300 jobs in order to shift their focus towards the PC and mobile market.

In addition, SEGA will also be closing its flagship San Francisco office to relocate to Southern California in an effort to downsize their company, as well as reduce operating costs.

“This move was crucial to keep SEGA operations moving forward throughout North America and to provide our millions of fans a strong pipeline of content across gaming, TV, merchandising, and more,” said John Cheng, SEGA of America President and Chief of Operating Officer, in a press release. “We are confident that by relocating to Southern California we will be able to thrive, grow and become a stronger company because of it.”

Of the 300 jobs being cut, 120 affect employees at SEGA of America, with the rest in SEGA of Japan where employees are at risk as the company looks for people who are willing to undertake “voluntary retirement.”

“Voluntary retirement will be solicited in the aforementioned businesses to be withdrawn or consolidated and downsized,” states a SEGA press release. “While at the same time personnel will be repositioned in Digital Games and growth areas of Group mainly as development personnel, in order to establish a structure which can constantly generate profits. The purpose of these measures is to improve the business efficiency of the Group.”

SEGA of Europe has commented on the recent news as well, and has reassured that its development teams, such as ‘Alien: Isolation’ devs The Creative Assembly and ‘Football Manager’ devs Sports Interactive, might not be affected by the consolation process. While most details are unclear, Sega of Europe stated that the downsizing is simply on the publishing side of the business. Below is a statement SEGA of Europe released to various outlets regarding the issue:

“We are under consultation with a limited number of staff in the European publishing business and will be able to confirm decisions regarding any potential redundancies in the coming weeks.”

Once a dominating force in the gaming industry, particularly during the 16-bit console generation, SEGA exited the hardware business after the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001. Since then, the company had been putting its focus on releasing titles as a third party software publisher. This refocus marks a new shift for SEGA that looks to be pushing them away from their console gaming roots.

Source: SEGA Press Release 1, 2