Sato, who has been with Sega since 1971, has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company as the company's co-COO, a title he shares with Tetsu Kayama. Kayama remains co-chief operating officer.
Last year Sato worked with Okawa to fashion Sega's strategic exit from the console business and its transformation into a platform-neutral game publisher.
Yoshiji Fukushima, a Sega board member since 1996 and the chairman of CSK Corp., becomes the new chairman of Sega. CSK was founded by Okawa, and has a 24.5% stake in Sega.
