From Kotaku:

The creator of titles like Virtua Fighter, OutRun and Shenmue has "retired" from his Creative Officer position at Sega of Japan, Sega announced this week. But the company isn't done with Yu Suzuki just yet.

While Sega-Sammy notes that Suzuki has "retired" from his role as Creative Officer of the AM Plus R&D department, he'll still have some influence at Sega. The developer will continue on as manager of that group, in a role that GameSpot, by way of Sega reps, says is of "diminished capacity."

Suzuki's employment at Sega was called into question last year, when Sega of America boss Simon Jeffery indicated that the creator was no longer working for the company. Jeffery later corrected that, placing Suzuki in a Creative Officer role.

While Shenmue fans should really have given up hope of seeing Shenmue III a long, long time ago, we'd have to think that those still holding a candle for a third chapter should extinguish those hopes. Yes, Suzuki is still a Sega man, but it seems his creative influence is becoming increasingly, let's say, selective.

Yu Suzuki retires from AM plus [Sega Nerds]
Shenmue creator steps down at Sega [GameSpot]