We brought you breaking news last week that Sega president Hisao Oguchi was embarking upon a considerable restructure of Sega's research and development teams, in a move looking to stem the flow of lost cash constantly endured by Sega and its shareholders.

Initially, Sega Overworks will merge with Wow Entertainment, resulting in the somewhat rubbishly-named WowWorks. However, we are advised by Sega that this is likely to change. Hitmaker will consume Sega Rally developer Sega Rosso, with both development teams now referred to as Sega Hitmaker. Certain parts of Smilebit will merge into Monkey Ball studio Amusement Vision, though Smilebit will still exist independently. Sonic Team will devour UGA, leaving Sonic Team looking after all former United Game Artists operations.

The final line-up of studios looks like this:

Wow Works (tentative)
Hitmaker
Amusement Vision
Sonic Team
Smilebit
AM2
Cinematic Online Games (tentative)

In interesting news, Yu Suzuki will now oversee the newly-formed Cinematic Online Games studio. Now let us think for a moment. Is Shenmue cinematic? Would Shenmue suit online play? Given that name of the studio as it stands, we're guessing that Shenmue may well be heading online under the direction of Sega's chief money spender, Yu Suzuki.

All very interesting. As soon as we know more, you'll be the first to know.