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disolitude on 12 October 2014
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Jon-Erich said:
The_Sony_Girl1 said:

You know, when they released it too soon with no games, and pissing off retailers.

- Sega of Japan destroying everything Tom Kalinske had built: Tom Kalinske was responsible for reviving Sega in the early 90's, transforming both the company and the brand. He transformed Sega of America from a 50 team group who's only responsibility was to market Sega of Japan's games in the US to a powerhouse of over 300 people who had it's own development studio and who had a kick ass marketing agency on their side. When Kalinske took the job, Sega of Japan's Hayao Nakayama promised Kalinske that Sega of America would be autonomous. For a little while, that promise was kept, but slowly Japan took over and eventually overruled everything Kalinske wanted and had said. Kalinske didn't think the 32X was a good idea, especially since it was so close to the Saturn release. Sega of Japan forced him to release it. Kalinske tried to form a partnership with Sony and felt it would be best if Sega's next system was a collaboration effort. Sega of Japan didn't want Sony's help. Kalinske then recommended that a simple single chip from SGI would be best for the Saturn. Sega of Japan disagreed and went ahead with their monstrosity. SGI would take their work to Nintendo for the N64. Kalinske formed a good relationship with the retailers, which Sega of Japan had destroyed. Kalinske had a really good marketing agency doing Sega of America's ads, but Sega of Japan felt the need to fire the agency when it came to making the Saturn's ads. Sega of Japan wanted the Genesis to be killed off in favor of supporting just the Saturn. Kalinske disagreed, saying that the Genesis had another good year or two in North America and the revenue from that system would be vital to Sega. Japan overruled him again.

While Im sure Kalinke had an awesome team around him helping him make these recomendations, its undeniable that Sega of Japan fucked him and the company in general after 1995.

Discontinuing all Sega products especially was beyond retarded. Sega was the highest selling console brand in North America in 1995 and it sure wasn't because of the Saturn.