Sega's ex-CEO has joined up with... who?

When Sega West's CEO Mike Hayes said earlier this year he'd be leaving the company, the news came out of nowhere. Now we know at least one thing he's up to, and it's not about making games for the GameStop crowd.

Hayes led the vast European and American operations at Sega, where he was navigating the company through the difficult transition from packaged goods to digital. Now he has joined a small, relatively unknown start-up developer specializing in mobile and Smart TVs called Caperfly as a non-executive director.

Hayes left Sega last month after working there for eight years and managing the company's transition out of the console hardware business. As the publisher has struggled recently, he helped Sega adjust its strategy to produce primarily digital content instead of retail releases.

This move to a smaller studio is a significant change for someone who's previously worked at traditional and major game publishers like Sega, Codemasters, and even Nintendo in the past. Few had heard of Caperfly, the developer Hayes has joined, until today's announcement of his appointment.

Based in England and founded this year, Caperfly makes interactive titles for iOS, Android, and Smart TV platforms. Hayes expects to mesh well with the studio's digital focus, having helped Sega release its first mobile games.

At Caperfly, Hayes will head a management team to develop its business model. He'll report to the company's CEO and former Codemasters vice president Gavin Cheshire.