Bernie Stolar died, he was a key figure of PlayStation and SEGA
Bernie Stolar died
As reported by GamesBeat and VGC, Bernie Stolar, a former executive in the video game sector, who contributed to the success of PlayStation and became president of the US division of SEGA, has passed away in the past few hours. Stolar was 75 and passed away at his home in California after a life in the industry.Stolar began his career in 1980 when he founded Pacific Novelty Manufacturing , a company that distributed arcade cabinets in California. He later worked at Atari, overseeing the work for Lynx. He soon joined Sony as a founding member and first president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. The man at that point became a key figure for the Japanese giant, contributing to the success of the first PlayStation, launching games such as Crash Bandicoot, Ridge Racer and Spyro, while trying to oppose role-playing games. In fact, according to his vision, 3D did not go well with the genre, being predominantly 2D sprites at the time.| ); }
Stolar's career came to a halt shortly after. “I joined SEGA after Nakayama, chairman of the company, called me. Unfortunately at the end of 1999 Nakayama was fired by Okawa and soon after I had discussions with the Japanese division. And so I was fired too ", the words stated in an interview in 2015. However, leaving SEGA earned them a good $ 5 million as a benefit. We are far from the good releases of today, but at the time it was definitely a decent sum.
Sega of America and SCEA founder Bernie Stolar dies at 75
Former Sega of America president and founding member of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Bernie Stolar, has died aged 75 years old.
According to GamesBeat, Stolar - whose career started in 1980 when he set up his own coin-op arcade company - died in California. He had always been a very candid and transparent executive who talked openly about his triumphs and mistakes over the years.
'I loved working for Sony,' Stolar once said, according to GB. 'I really did. But when the opportunity came up to go to Sega and help rebuild the business and come up with new hardware, I was very interested in doing it. I wouldn’t have left Sony if I hadn’t also lived in fear of getting fired along with everyone else, though.
“When I got to Sega I immediately said, ‘We have to kill Saturn. We have to stop Saturn and start building the new technology.’ That’s what I did,' he added. 'I brought in a new team of people and cleaned house. There were 300-some-odd employees and I took the company down to 90 employees to start rebuilding.'
“I’ve been doing this since 1980. I love this business,' Stolar also said in a 2015 interview, reflecting on the industry and how it's changed. 'I love it because I get to work with people who are young and passionate. I’m one of the old gray-haired guys in the industry, but it’s wonderful to work with all this young talent.”
Bernie Stolar is perhaps best known by players for announcing at E3 in 1997 that 'the Saturn is not our future'. Here is a 'forensic retrospective' of the Sega's Dreamcast.
