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liquidninja on 14 September 2009
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You know I think you guy are right. I jumped on the bandwagon too soon there.

I just read: "Tom Kalinske: American Samurai" and it seem like Sega ignored him despite his decisions bringing the company to 55% market share in the US and kept making bad decisions until he finally left the company in 1996.

Here's kinda a summary they made:

  • 1995: Sega of Japan decides to discontinue the Genesis in the U.S. and Europe, ignoring the installed user base of almost 30 million units the console has worldwide.
  • Sega of Japan then ignores everything that Kalinske has done for the company and strips him of all control, reducing him to a mere figurehead.
  • Sega of Japan rushes the Saturn's launch, leaving it without software for months and pissing off retailers and 3rd party licensees in the process. Most of them flock to Sony.
  • 1996: Tom Kalinske resigns (taking a lot of the staff with him, including the company's founder - David Rosen) Bernie Stolar is hired to succeed him.
  • Sometime in Late 1996: Sega of Japan cancels the one big name title that could have helped the Saturn - Sonic X-treme.
  • 1997: Bernie Stolar infuriates the few 3rd party companies left (most notably Working Designs) and reveals that July that the Saturn was no longer Sega's future and had been "stillborn." Moreover, his five-star policy tightens the noose around the Saturn's neck and leaves most of the great software in Japan.