Tom Kalinske was fired from SEGA? New insights from Shoichiro Irimajiri reveal what happened to Sega
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 ก.ค. 2023
- Recently a translation of a business presentation made by former SEGA CEO, Shoichiro Irimajiri, revealed new insights into the story about what actually happened to SEGA of America during the mid 90s. For many years to story about Tom Kalinske’s time as the CEO of SEGA of America has been dictated by the popularity of the business novel, “Console Wars,” which was based almost entirely upon interviews with Kalinske and other former SEGA of America top brass. Thus, the story as we know it, has always portrayed Tom Kalinske as a kind of hero, with SEGA of Japan serving as a kind of villain that stood in the way due to jealousy. However, Irimajiri reveals that not only did Tom Kalinske NOT voluntarily leave SEGA, without being first told to step down, but it turns out that SEGA of America was not profitable at all during Tom Kalinske’s time at the time…..indeed the company was bleeding tens of millions of dollars annually. But how can this be? When SEGA outsold the Super Nintendo from 1991 through 1993?
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One of the things that Nintendo never liked after the initial failure of the Game and Watch in the early 80s according to "Game Over" was the American Toy Industry concept known as Mark Down Margin. Basically on pages 127-128 of the book, it gives a brief overview of the concept that basically US Toy Companies get paid essentially around Christmas on December 10, and any unsold stock is then sent back or a toy company pays to put the items on mark down allowing for them to stay on the shelves for a couple of months at a lower price. Nintendo of America never followed the idea after the Game and Watch. However, Sega lead by a former US Toymaker in Tom Kalinske was well versed in the concept thanks to working for Mattel and Matchbox, and so probably didn't balk at the idea when asked by Walmart or Target who knew that Nintendo wouldn't agree to it. And what did we see when the 32X failed, we saw a marked down price almost immediately. Tom was undone by his own expertise in toys. Sony who came from the electronic industry probably got a similar deal as Nintendo who probably also did not consider the Playstation a toy. Sega for all of its hyping of being the one for older gamers got destroyed because it was being marketed like a toy logistically.
Indeed, this is an incredibly informative comment!
I was thinking about how Tom Kalinske as a toy executive was treating the Genesis the way Mattel treated Barbie or any other popular toy. What he didn’t seem to understand, and I don’t blame him, was the fact that the videogame industry is a moving target contingent (especially at the time) upon the rapidly evolving microprocessor and computing industry. As tech exponentially accelerated throughout the 90s, so too did videogames every so many years. He was trapped by the notion that the Sega Genesis was THE product for Sega to sell and thus he over invested in dressing it up….like how you dress up a Barbie doll with tons of accessories. Sell the doll cheaply, and then they will want the house, the boat, the horse, etc….
But the Genesis wasn’t a Barbie doll, and the game industry didn’t work the same way. He was focused on the wrong issues…..he missed the point.
Thank you very much for watching. Im going to look into that book. 😎
Seeing what was in the leaked documents surrounding the state of SOA circa 1996 and how many games and systems they had sitting unsold for years - including exclusive titles like Sonic & Knuckles - it’s really easy to see how Kalinske’s deal with the stores bit them in the ass badly in the long run (it is true SOJ isn’t blameless for the company’s failure as a console company, either, but that doesn’t mean Kalinske is a hero).
Sega of America wouldve been better off in the long run under Michael Katz imho
Indeed! The diminishing returns on Sonic the Hedgehog were noticeable even then. Sonic 1 was a big hit, but it largely rode on the coattails of the Genesis price cut. Sonic 2 was more of a legitimate block buster that got people going, but it seems to have sold far fewer copies still….and Sonic 3 + Knuckles just seems like a disappointment by comparison. I think people may have been turned off by the “buy two cartridges” thing, or perhaps the game simply came out too late in the consoles life cycle?
Something I’ve noticed about Genesis gamers, back in the day, was that they were heavy renters….not owners. I suspect that has a lot to do with things too.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
Yeah, that’s an interesting thought. He really didn’t get a fair shake. I was a Genesis 1989 guy…..I liked that iteration of Genesis more than the post-apocalyptic marketing campaigns of SEGA in the mid 90s. Genesis was a slick, classy console for arcade enthusiasts and anime nerds…..then it became “hip and cool”. I just never fancied that. 😎
@@creativecatproductionsAlmost seems like 2 different consoles, doesnt it? I love 1989/90 Genesis...Dont get me wrong, i love some Genesis/Mega Drive titles later in the life cycle ie Shinobi 3/Monster World 4, etc, but theree just something special about the games and the way the console was marketed in those early years that make it my favorite as well
Yeah it really does feel like a different console. Im definitely an early mega drive fan: phantasy star, Shinobi, ghouls n ghosts, super Monaco GP…..after Sonic came out, it felt like a different console. I still loved Phantasy Star IV and shining force, but no one cared about those games….it was all about Mortal Kombat and Madden football. I wasn’t so much a fan of those.
RIP Hudson Soft
If you can somehow link all of this with the Hokkaido Takushoku bank crash that led Hudson to go public and get partially acquired by Konami in 2001 I'd say you're golden
Hudson Soft was so wonderful! Everything about them was so fun, unique, original. It’s horrible that the industry lost them. It’s never been the same for me.
Given all these recent revelations of what went on at SEGA and how they got beaten by Sony, I cant help but wonder if the question we should be asking is not "Could SEGA have remained in the hardware business?" but rather "Should SEGA have been in the hardware business at all?"
That’s a great question
I was catching on that Tom Kalinske was a liar when it became apparent his narrative about the Sega Pico was in direct contradiction to the regional sales numbers.
Marketing guys just don’t know how or when to stop selling 😝
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
You get the most important fact wrong. SoJ called up SoA in January of 1994 and ordered the change from the $49.95 SVP Lock On cartridge (with Daytona USA, Star Wars Arcade, Virtua Racing, and Virtua Fighter already developed) ready to turn the Spring and Summer of 1994 into the Sunmer of Love for Flat Shaded Polygons, plus dozens of copycat titles...
into the Winter of 32X Discontent ($160 and rushed titles for co.pkex hardware). People waited to see what the 32X could do... until Saturn hit Japanese stores at the same time! Also care of SoJ.
Kalinske ran SoA from 1990-94 taking them from 3% marketshare to 55%. SoJ took over and quickly ran them back down to 3%.
Thanks for the information about this and thanks for watching dude 😎
@@creativecatproductions Hey, your material is good. I should've prefaced this by saying that your important points are on point.
@@MaxAbramson3 thanks dude! 😎
The truth is likely somewhere in between both stories. I maintain that both Sega of Japan and Sega of America made plenty of decisions that led Sega to leave the hardware market.
I think that’s right! I think the exact moment SEGA set their demise in motion was their 1993 decision to launch multiple parallel hardware using that Hitachi chip: 32-X, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. That was definitely SEGA of Japan’s call because SOA still believed in the Genesis, while SOJ feared the Jaguar and 3DO. But then SOA did nothing to soften that blow and failed to produce software. It was definitely a team effort!
thanks for watching dude! 😎
The turboduo was in Toys-R-Us I clearly remember seeing the console and a selection of games. The Saturn had a hard time at Mass retail because of that stupid early launch which pissed off a ton of retailers
The turbografx 16 was heavily supported by toys r us, but I believe the turboduo was only available by mail order or in specialty shops. NEC basically abandoned America by 1991
@@creativecatproductions The Turbo Duo was sold in Toys R us, but by the Fall 1992 launch of the Turbo Duo the TurboGrafx product was at the end of the aisle. I recall seeing Turbo Duo kiosks at Toys R us locations. Unfortunately, a little ways into 1993 it appears TRU pulled the plug on ordering any new stock and TTI's national retail market was limited to Babbages, Electronics Boutique, Software Etc, and their mail order business. NEC didn't really "give up" until early 92 prior to TTI forming when the writing was on the wall with Nintendo now being on the 16-bit market and Sega pulling ahead with the big "Sonic boom" caused by their new mascot and price drop.
@@creativecatproductions I used to really enjoy Toys R Us and think back to your "why the Turbo failed in the US" video and I'm pretty sure I was one of the kids who was stuck in the Nintendo aisle and never realized at the end of the aisle was a Turbo16 section. My only memory was a salesman in Radioshack trying to sell me a Turbo Duo and I only remember that because I was really impressed at how much was included in the pack in but I saw the controller only had two buttons and thought this must be a crappy Nintendo rip off. Boy I was pretty stupid as a kid because I would have LOVED the TurboDuo if I got one at the time.
Youre right about the Genesis reaching market saturation by 1994. I remember it being on sale here for $99 in early 94
Nice! And then there was all the other hardware too that I never touched on: the Game Gear was a fiasco….the SEGA CD, the Nomad (portable Genesis), the portable SEGA CD, the MENACER, the SEGA Activator (which I briefly showed)…..SEGA just had too much stuff on the shelves and no one really asked for any of it. I think we wanted more good games, and for the 32X and SEGA CD to get more game support….when they didn’t….I think people lost all confidence in SEGA. Sega people always opine that the Saturn failed because it had the wrong games, or cost too much, or had a bad surprise launch. All good points, but the BIG one no one mentions is that so many long time SEGA fans jumped ship due to a loss in consumer confidence. With the Saturn, SEGA basically had to start over with a new audience.
I know some SEGA die hards did get the Saturn, but I thought it was madness at the time. Buying the Saturn was like agreeing to marry a girlfriend who was pregnant with someone else’s baby…..it had better be the Son of God for me to agree to those kinds of terms.
@@creativecatproductions lol
He was very abrasive, but he did make Sega a powerhouse in America in the 90’s.
SONIC made Sega a powerhouse in America in the 90s. CON MAN Kalinske was just smart enough to ride Sonics coattails
Sega certainly became really cool, and that’s something to celebrate indeed! It’s just a bummer that being cool and getting paid aren’t the same thing….or else we’d have blown up by now! 😝
Thanks for watching dude 😎
Fair point….Sonic did most of the work.
@@Nostalgia9478 I can't agree with that, Sonic did fuck all for SoJ in their domestic market where the megadrive bombed. It was the aggressive marketing, the price cut, and the ditching of Altered Beast for Sonic as the pack-in - all of which were Kalinske initiatives. He's become massively overhyped for a reason he did have some early successes.
@@jimmydurante138 Thats pretty much what i meant when i said he was "smart enough to ride Sonics coattails"
He was smart enough to see the potential in Sonic as a game changer and market it to the max. But make no mistake about it, Sega wouldnt have become a powerhouse in the 90s minus Sonic.. And Sonic wasnt a Sega of America and/or Kalinske creation.. It was a Sega of Japan creation that Kalinske seized upon... No Sonic, and Kalinske is no more succesful than Michael Katz. All the price cuts and "cool" SEGA marketing/commercials in the World wouldnt have mattered minus Sonic imho. I dont think it took a rocket scientist to ditch Altered Beast for Sonic and go for a price cut. Seems like the basic no brainer move to make considering Sega had been desperately looking for a mascot to compete with Mario for years. Kalinske mirrored Nintendo in packing Sonic in with the Genesis as Nintendo had already been doing with Mario for years. Whoop de friggin do!! What a genius!! Kalinske acts as if he discovered electricity. It wasnt that innovative of a move, Bro. He just imitated the competition there
Btw, many people dont realize that it was Katz, NOT Kalinske, who was behind...
"Genesis DOES what NintenDON'T!"
The only reason that CON MAN Kalinske is massively overhyped is because many people fall for CON jobs. If they didnt, CON MEN would never succeed..lol
Interesting, Kalinske said in an interview that he was ordered by Hayao Nakayama to make the 32X and he protested with the surprise launch of the Saturn in NA. So a lot of ambiguity here.
Right! I’ve actually read a document, leaked sometime this last year or so, that showed Hayao Nakayama did in fact order a preemptive next gen console to compete with the Jaguar and 3DO….I think the idea was more in-line with the SEGA Jupiter/Neptune concepts. Kalinske’s contribution was to convince Nakayama that the Genesis was still the future of the company (in 1993) and to create an add-on instead of a whole new console. They are definitely both to blame for that decision. I also believe that it’s accurate that the surprise launch of the Saturn was Sega of Japan’s idea….I mean a surprise attack on the United States? Who else but the Japanese?!
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
Huh that's interesting. I've heard/read that Sega Japan approached Sega of America to make a new Genesis with more colors and improved graphics. An American executive whose name I forget was quoted in the meeting as saying that's the dumbest idea ever and Tom was on the record saying the Genesis had at least one more if not two more good years in the states. They eventually settled on making the 32X add on in place of a new console and then after the 32X launched and games were coming out slower than expected Sega of Japan announced the early release in spite of all the protests of not just Tom but pretty much all of Sega of America.
I guess this just shows how we'll never really have the full picture but I still enjoy hearing the different perspectives.
I think this version is more or less compatible with the one I read about. Sega of japan proposed a new console that would be less premium than the Saturn, but more advanced than the Genesis. Sega was convinced that Japan and USA were mutually exclusive markets at this juncture, based on how the different populations embraced the Genesis.
Kalinske made it known that low costs consoles were necessary for success in the US, and that the Saturn would certainly fail if imported…..probably keeping in mind the strictures of American retail.
The executive you have in mind was joe miller, the head of SoA r&d. He thought two competing consoles, or a seperste new console, was a bad idea….probably because the SoA philosophy was built entirely around the gillet strategy: cheap genesis….loaded with tons of extras ans upgrades. Get em in the door and load them up with accessories. The same strategy employed by NEC for the turbografx 16.
It works wonders for barbie dolls and doll houses, but not so much for rapidly evolving computer based entertainment.
Anwyay, joe miller proposed the 32X….which was had the disadvantage of not only splitting sega’s resources across two new consoles, but ensuring that the market potential would also be capped with the prerequisite of sega genesis ownership too.
I think the saturn was launched when the 32X failed. Supposedly holiday sales figures were good in 1994/1995 but I suspect that was nonsense. 3rd party developers jumped ship immediately and pretty much half the advertised catalogue was cancelled despite months of hype. I saw those suckers in huge bins for $50 at target by February 95’….i had paid $150 the previous November.
Im not convinced tom kalinske really protested the emergency launch of the saturn, but I know he always says he did. 🤔
@@creativecatproductions Thank you! Yes Joe Miller is who I was thinking of. The decision to split resources at a time when Sega seemed to realize they were bleeding money on too many failed endeavors certainly wasn't a good idea (understatement of the century) but the timing really seems to be a question.
I felt like the 32X had a decent start but never had the promised follow through and I wouldn't blame 3rd party companies from staying away since it wasn't clear how sold Sega was on keeping the 32X so it could be the other way around (third party lost interest first so then Sega pulled out) but since several of these games were discussed on the record (Aliens vs Predator, a new Castlevania game and so many others) I kind of feel it's more the former than the latter though it's likely a combination of the two.
Its about time we start getting Japans side of things in regards to CON MAN Kalinske
Thank you very much for watching dude! I really wish I could read Japanese. There’s a massive treasure trove of information over there. Thank goodness for sites like MD Shock and Shmuplations. They are heroes 😎
@@creativecatproductions You're very welcome, and well said!
@@creativecatproductions
I figured out how to get there documents translated if you have one in particular that you need done. People have to go over it with a fine tooth comb afterwards to make it clear.
The Japanese never like sharing their side of things with the public sadly. They just slide'em under the rug; until a snoop frinds'em and leaks'em online themselves privately!
Sega of America didn't suggest to the 32x. It was a mandate from the Japanese division because they were scared of the Atari Jaguar
I read some documents earlier this year, an old press release in Japan for investors (translated) and it confirms that nakayama demanded a new console to compete with the atari and the 3DO (which was worrying Japanese executives as well). But nakayama was suggesting a stand alone console….the sega jupiter (precursor to the neptune concept). Kalinske’s contribution was to convince nakayama that the sega gensis was still the future of the company in 1993, and sega of America engineers suggested the 32X add on instead. So they share the blame here: nakayama for jumping the gun and suggesting two next consoles simultaneously, and kalinske for making one dependent upon ownership of the genesis. A real two headed disaster!
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
Modern sega doesn’t have the capitol to make those kinds of ventures….but they still make mistakes. The segs genesis mini 2 was, almost certainl, s big flop.
Thats sega-sammy….the parent company, which is rich from pachinko parlors and vast investment across many industries, particularly hotels and casinos abroad. There have been multiple game divisions called sega within this companies larger portfolio and they are all tiny compared to the sega that used to be. They have a budget and they make due with what they have. There’s barely any output and most of what does get made is outsourced….theyre mainly a publsiher now, selling the Sega logo as a hopeful boost to sales.
@@joaofernandes8164 One of the main problems of the modern gaming industry is ‘Image’. A name can carry a lot of weight to investors and consumers who want a product from those serving it. In SegaSammy’s case the name “Sega” that had a history of cutting edge games and arcade experiences that are remembered to this day including Sonic, that’s the name Sammy retains to keep those invested in the loop. And the multimedia brand of Sonic does keep that brand alive too, since many still love the name and design. But, you can’t not disprove the amount of loss this company has gone through and while they are better standing now since then, it’s still a black mark on the track record. Let it be known that I would love nothing more than for Sega to come back strong like they did in the 90’s were EVERYONE respected the SEGA name. But they have a long…and I mean LONG way to go to get back to that point. Because in terms of population and quality reputation, it’s all over the place for both good and very knowingly bad.
There’s a reason why companies like Nintendo and Mario retain such a good track record for so long and survived a few of the problems of the gaming industry at large. And…it shouldn’t be too hard to ask for SegaSammy to try and do the same. Like we all want better products, right?
@@joaofernandes8164 They're forming it based on facts. You should try it sometime ;)
The Neo Geo had a lifespan from 1990-2003 it was hardly a failure, it's important to note that it was never intended to be a mass market console.
This is a great video!
Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
Been watching a few videos on this topic over the last few days, it's interesting to see the Tom Kalinske=Sega Messiah narrative being challenged.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
One thing to really consider is, would the Genesis have become as beloved in the long run if it didn't have it's unsustainable strategy? Would it have had the same fate as the TurboGrafx 16, only being seen as a niche cult classic that rarely gets any mainstream sort of recognition? Everyone knows Sonic, and Genesis and Sonic games are rereleased every other Tuesday, proving their longstanding appeal in the public eye. While it wasn't possible to keep such an unsustainable business model going, I feel that it worked out for keeping public interest, as opposed to something like the Master System that rarely gets much mainstream attention today. I know that it was much more popular in Europe, but to the best of my knowledge I don't believe the Master System gets more rereleases over there either. I could be completely wrong though!
I think that’s fair! It’s a real problem. Without getting the Genesis on the shelves it really didn’t stand a chance, but what a risk once sales started to go south! I really think SEGA could have done if they produced less hardware and add ons and focused on tighter quality control of their software. They sort of shot gunned it and then hoped for the best. I don’t think that was the best strategy. I also think the emphasis on too many brand and consoles at the same time really spread them too thin. AM2 famously had to work on both games for the 32X and the Saturn at the same time…..if they had been able to focus completely on a single task then I think the launch version of Virtua Fighter for the Saturn could have been much better than it was.
Thanks for watching dude!
This was certainly an eye-opener. It's surreal to see how much of what we thought we knew to be true turn out to be utter bogus. Seeing the dark side to the Genesis' success makes me wonder what other stuff we believe that's actually false or only a half-truth. It reminds me of the common "Toru Iwatani was inspired by pizza to create Pac-Man" story that gets tossed around -- the Pac-Man wiki has a great article on the various rumors and misconceptions regarding the franchise and that pizza story is covered on it; turns out it wasn't entirely true (citing an interview with Iwatani in the book "Programmers at Work: Interviews"), as Iwatani notes that he rounded out the kanji for "mouth" (口 "kuchi") and used its indented bottom as the mouth. But even _that_ explanation is called into question when the article notes that toy company Tomy had already made products of a round yellow character named Pac-Man (in the form of novelty coin banks, and later water and board games) as far back as 1974! Iwatani's never said anything about the coin banks, so we don't know if it was a weird coincidence or if he was inspired by the toys and covered his tracks with the pizza and kanji stories.
Indeed! So many of the stories have counter narrative upon counter narrative. Whats really true? At some level I dont think I even have access to it! Maybe a shadow of the truth.
Thanks for watching dude 😎
Great video dude!
Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
We try 😝
@@creativecatproductions your welcome!
after thinking about revelations, hayao nakayama kept kalinske around because he wanted a arcade themepark business model (hightech disneyland) examples of it being like frankie's funpark (arcadelike miniature themepark in nc/sc) it could have been easy for hayao to fire the guy, but he was really hoping to make his dream a reality after the sonic 1 pack-in deal and positive reception his company was getting at the time
Great Stuff! Knowledge about shelf space and it’s importance to the visibility and availability of a product is a blind spot for modern outlets and internet influencers. It’s the first thing on my mind though, and I’m sure anyone else when they think about a handheld competitor to Nintendo.
Edit: just another reason to dismiss influencers. They don’t know anything.
Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductions ‘love your stuff, and I’m always looking forward to more!
Thank you so much!
Thoughts on Yuji Naka getting arrested for insider trading?
Im actually working on a fairly massive video about that subject, which should be out later this year. 😆
Massive.
Thanks for watching as always dude! It’s always good to hear from you 😎
Hey dude! We are baking at 105 degrees + , here in DFW. (It's been like this all of June, July, and now August also.) Can't wait for Halloween weather.
Haven't watched your video, yet . Looking forward to it. Adios, my OU brother.
Indeed! Its been heat advisory here in Houston. To me it just feels like Houston but even the public pools are like jacuzzi’s right now 😆
I remember the sunmer of 1994 in my hometown of El Paso where it was over 100 for like two weeks straight. It got to like 115 on some days. It was wiked!
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
Let us know what you think!
Sooner boomer!
@@creativecatproductions Ahhh the summer of 1994... I was trading pogs and baseball cards... playing in-line hockey, and going to TexasRangers ball games. Last year of childhood, before my mind turned toward trying to be cool in front of girls. Great year, but yes... a HOT SUMMER.
I wore a lot of flanel….bad move at the time 😆
I definitely had a lot of pogs! And I rollerbladed 😎
@@creativecatproductions lol. Awesome!
I'm a big sega saturn fan now. Too bad I didn't have access to the japanese library back in the day.
For sure! I’ve been researching the Japanese library fairly extensively for a video Im working on…..and I always hear the secret to appreciating the Saturn more is the Japanese library, but so far
I just don’t get it. Im finding a lot of baseball games, dating sims, weird j-pop things, and tons and tons of mahjong and shogi titles, but its pretty bleak out here
Thanks for watching dude!
I was was a store manager for toys r us in the 90s and you're saying sega had to buyback systems and games. Maybe that was a walmart thing or kaybee toys but what i remember was our buyer's didn't have any agreement with them to buy back hardware or software what they did have was a discount given to them on the next new hardware and software. All those old systems got red stickers for massive markdowns. My store was in redwood city ca down the highway by 2 exits from Sega of America these guy's came into the store all the time until it moved to San Francisco and the person in question in this video visited the location a bunch of times.
If I recall correctly, from the Japanese sources quoted in this video, the issue with “buybacks” was mainly a problem with Walmart and Target. I think if Toys R Us never did anything like that with SEGA, then that would mostly explain why the Saturn and Dreamcast were Toys R Us/specialty store exclusives.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductions That's correct Toys had a exclusive contract with Sega in which they would heavy advertise for them and receive kickbacks from sega. This is why they took and pushed everything sega.I found myself on the sega side of the competition because of the friends I made with the reps and tech people who visited the store. By the time dreamcast hit I did not have any old sega hardware or software left in the store.
I remember vividly when the dreamcast was discontinued that toys r us had an awesome sale. I went and scooped up a dreamcast for $50 and like 5 or 6 games for like $30. It was the best videogame purchase I ever made. The games were awesome.
Toys r us and Sega together was awesome
@@creativecatproductions I know what you mean this new age is not what the bygone age was, you keeping making your videos because some of us who know what is lost today, do enjoy watching them.
@tyronedrane8394 thank you very much 😎
Fun video and really interesting. I'm such a nerd when it comes to Sega history and Tom has always been the hero in most versions like he was the one who drew Sonic and made the game (which of course he didn't) all without accepting the blame for how many junkie games were pushed forward by Sega of America (as well as other missteps we could name). I'm glad you got into the retail discussion though because that's where I give Tom credit. He seemed to really understand the retail side of the business and seemed to have good relationships with a lot of the major players. When the Saturn was launched early I do believe he tried to warn Sega of Japan that would alienate so many of the stores and I believe when Sega pushed ahead anyway several of the big stores that didn't receive any of the initial consoles just took all their Sega stuff off the shelves. KayBee is the main one I remember but I've heard about others that did this as well.
On a completely different topic, are you familiar with Antstream Arcade? I'm always looking for something new that appeals to retro gamers and I stumbled across this a week or so ago through Retro Gamer Boy who is very involved with the company. If you haven't checked it out yet I think it's at least worth a look (and I think this officially ends any interest I had in Evercade).
Ive never heard of antstream arcade but I’ll definitely check it out! 😎
@@creativecatproductions I'll be curious what you think. I would prefer mini consoles or hard copies of games but their service seems pretty cool and I'm not going to complain to whoever allows me to play games in the easiest way. I also like that Mike (Retro Gamer Boy) has said in a few interviews one of their biggest goals is game preservation and I always like that.
Antstream arcade is an interesting service. It’s the sort of thing I sort of wish SEGA had done by now with their old games. Sadly, I don’t have an Xbox or a PC so I can’t really access the service for now, but it is an interesting idea!
The sega genesis line up on this thing is kind of wacky 😝
@@creativecatproductions Yeah, the Genesis is a bit strange. Some new titles like Metal Dragon and Demons of Asteborg, a good number of the Piko and Renovation games also on Evercade and then a bunch of games that seem to be more known as Amiga games than Genesis games like Sensible Soccer and the Chaos Engine.
thank you covering this because i recalled making a angry comment in a previous video and feel like i need to apologize for that outburst
No worries! I love all forms of dialogue and conversation.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
one tibet from me back on here, kalinske had trip hawkins/ea reverse engineer the genesis, that cost them soooooo much money, i'm certain at that point confirms kalinske was hawkins's underling, much to say, hawkins also disadvantaged nintendo, 3do was big in japan with hawkins being featured in a jpn commercial, it's noted that hawkins loved to take shots at apple and nintendo, for his sake, trip was the one who started fueling the 'console wars' to begin - causing this massive heat between japanse game publishers and american ones,
Interesting! Thank you very much for watching and sharing this.
Trip Hawkins is an interesting dude. And the 3DO was quite ahead of its time.
@@creativecatproductions more, after reverse engineering the genesis, they pirated the dev kit, and demanded a reduced fee structure for the games they developed for the genesis. ea got to manufactured their own carts for the genesis and outsourced the ports of those games (the sports titles) to other companies for the super nintendo
“Three sides to every story. His, hers and the truth” I suppose there’s some truth sprinkled around on both sides here. But let’s be honest, Sega was too quick to jump into the next console generation at that time. One, the Saturn should’ve waited. Two, never bothered with the 32x really. They developed the thing, to what abandon it for the Saturn anyways, it really was stupid. And it wasn’t just Sega of Americas fault for that plan
It’s remarkable how incompetent SoJ were for allowing SoA to operate so poorly. Some good sports things going on. But everything else went up in flames.
I think it could be a structural problem. Having SEGA split up between separate international entities seems to have caused a lot of unintended consequences. Sometimes big institutions create these entities thinking that they can solve particular problems, but they might not forsee that creating such entities, or subordinate departments, will come with new problems as agents leading those new departments are motivated by their own incentives to survive and expand their own sphere of influence within the larger company. For instance, why would Sega make a product as dumb as the 32X? Well, because SoA had a product development department and making up add ons for the Genesis was their reason for existing. They didn’t care about the long term strategy for Sega as a company, they just needed to demonstrate they did something and try and sell Sega executives on the value of their work. Sega probably got too big, too quickly, and they had too many idea guys pressing into competing directions. It was a mess.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductionsNo. It was all incompetance from SoA. Or rather, SoA never did anything right. The 32X was a great idea. SoJ designed and built it. Then SoA cancelled it. Whoever cancelled it is an idiot, because it pre-sold 1.5mill, sold 800k and was tipped to be the a best contender from the Jaguar or 3DO consoles. But when it was cancelled before the games could release, it lost all support overnight. Losing Rayman, AVP Arcade, AMOK, Capcom stuff. Surefire hits. It was poised for success. All the games were released unfinished with the exception of Virtua Fighter.
It's a false narrative to suggest that the 32X was a competitor to the Saturn. It is a new console, separate to the Genesis, that requires a Genesis. For cheap. The games it received do the hardware no justice at all.
It's churlish to suggest Sega were spending money frivolously on r'n'd when hardware is a major component of the business.
Losses happened, it would seem, largely in the retail side of manufacture and distribution. Stock buyback contracts. Volatile rental market and lack of customer awareness.
The MegaCD, 32X, Saturn and Dreamcast were overlooked by the general public for whatever reason.
@@iwanttocomplain
i don't even think 32x is ultimately that bad as a sort novelity or item, (it had zaxxon's motherbase, and that star wars arcade 'port' that actually felt like a tiefighter game back then) but i would be confused of it existing if i was old/aware at the time to release it back, my family wasn't rich
@@creativecatproductions i'm sorry my dude, where i apologized for a previous comment in another video, i can't say i'm agreeing what you are leading onto here, being that i'm a 90s kid but sick of references to it, those quips in previous vids related to 'power rangers' and your review disagreeing with siskel about that tmnt movie, does suggest to me an extreme amount of unease
and calling the sonic movies "bad" in another comment........no dude, those films are objectively one of the few videogame adaptions from hollywood done right
Its become very clear in hindsight that Kalinske's decisions were only able to help Sega grow as a company in the short run, but not viable to them in the long run.
This does seem to be the case
Thank you very much for watching! 😎
I think in SOA/STI you see a lot of the failings of these modern triple A gaming studios, which is that they seem to be massively bloated. Not much creative talent (Comix Zone is cool but c’mon they’re no AM2 lol) but a whole lot of money being funneled into them. It reminds me of 343, a company that’s crazy well-funded by their parent company despite being completely incompetent
Yeah its clear to me that STI was really bloated and yet lacking sound leadership or vision. It reminds me of Disney studios after Walt Disney died…..a bunch of talented and creative people, spending tons of money, and sprinting toward nowhere in multiple directions all at the same time. I think with STI they assumed if you put a bunch of young, educated artists and programmers in a building that magic would just automatically happen.
I think one of the biggest problems is that Kalinske was an ad man, and not an actual creator of products…..he wasn’t an artist, engineer, or designer himself. He didn’t have experience making things people want or need. He was all about taking those things and re-representing them in attractive ways. Useful, but probably blinding as it pertains to a supreme role in leadership. He didn’t have a firm grasp of what constituted a good videogame, what people actually wanted to play, or how these things came into existence…..to him, it was a given, and if you packaged it right, stupid kids would buy it.
@@joaofernandes8164 after seeing the revelations, Sonic Team has less issues being the blame for everything then the entirety of the American Division of SEGA. but i wouldn't expect nothing less from the same failed journos whom gave awards to Lost World at E3 -> only to give it negative reception, and failed Sonic Critics who have trouble getting by beyond leaving the gaming medium after the industry went the way it did after TLOU2
the sega saturn was sold at walmart. the one i have was bought there in 98 for 189$ when they was clearing out making way for whats next
That’s amazing! I wasn’t sure if I was right about this or not, but I was not able to find any evidence that it was so. My recollection was that the Saturn was given a premature, surprise launch at select specialty shops and toys r us in limited quantities…..which angered both SEGA customers (who couldn’t access the limited stock) and retailers like Wal-Mart and Target who were not informed…..allegedly, as the story goes, these retailers dropped SEGA over the decision, since they were not informed of an early release. So if you can prove you for sure got one at Wal Mart in 1998 then it would be something.
For my part, I couldn’t find any ads or flyers for Saturn from any major big box stores like walmart. There’s like hundreds of images of old flyers for the PSX, the N64, the X-box, etc….but absolutely nothing about the Saturn. Toys r us, however, did do a ton of saturn promotional flyers.
thanks for the update and thanks for watching! 😎
According to the wiki, Walmart and Best Buy specifically dropped SEGA over the early launch of the SEGA Saturn and it was only available at the mall or Toys R Us…..however, that story too, mostly comes from Tom Kalinske. It could be that SEGA pulled out of deals with big box stores because of the very things I mentioned in this video and not for the reasons Tom Kalinske always mentions. It also could be that SEGA was producing limited quantities of stock in order to quell costs and that, therefore, they no longer qualified for mass distribution at Walmart, Target….and freaking Best Buy? It’s an interesting question.
@@creativecatproductions Walmart was one of the few that received early copies of the Saturn. Babbages and KB received nothing. SEGA had a management structure where executives in charge of certain regions had to hold back on sales of money, losing Saturn's to make their division lookgood each quarter. Third party developers saw the writing on the wall and canceled their saturn ports.
It's telling, though, that Genesis continued to sell games, consoles, and accessories right up to 1998 when SEGA discontinued yet another expensive piece of hardware--the Saturn, leaving the struggling game maker with no games nor marketshare for a year.
The idea that Collins key could say that they were jealous of him at say of your pan is insane! The marketing of the way too many add-ons with too few decent titles. That was the beginning of the end starting with the Sega CD and 32x. Also, the quality of the turbo Duo machine itself is terrible! The original multi-component version was much better quality. Anyway, another really well researched video from you guys. Thank you.
That’s a good point! The duo hardware itself was pretty cheap. Thanks for checking out our other videos dude! 😎
It blows my mind that after mistake after mistake , Sonic is still somehow popular , I’d even argue it’s just as popular as Mario
It is amazing that Sonic retains its popularity, and the movie was indeed a surprising hit, but I don’t think Sonic is anywhere near as popular as Mario. I say this because while doing research for this video I made sales comparisons between Sonic Superstars, Mario Wonder, and other games. I was surprised to see that the estimated sales figures for Mario Wonder were many, many times greater than the Sonic game even though they both presented similar content. Indeed, Mario Wonder was the hit game of the Christmas season and even I had a hard time hunting down a physical copy to get my kids for Christmas.
I think Sonic has the potential, but they need to give the series the same polish and dedication Nintendo gives to Mario. I wish SEGA was more dedicated to fewer games of a higher quality.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
@lilfeminist7911Maybe because people lying to themselves about being skeptical of Sonic's "quality" after years of gamers being embarrassing on the internet, It's weird how many hateart and "just die" articles made by angry adults screaming into the void about a kid series about a animal character, Lost World is just as fine of a game like Uncharted or "Metroid Prime" after personally playing, i am not shitting on Mario to some extent, but it's rather amusing how much of the Mario Internet Community like to throw 'gimmick' insults particularly when Mario doesn't have a distinctive gameplay mechanic that is fundamental to his character design, and A Lot of Mario releases inbetween the mainline and some RPGs are just throwaway sports games on a similar surface level of shovelware
*Signs* i love hurting Sonic Bashers on the internet's FeeFees!
Sounds like alot of these retails had a huge bias towards Nintendo back then and just thought of Sega as an after thought!
Indeed! Its a miracle that Sega of America got the Genesis in big box stores.
I wondet if it wouldnt have made more sense to lure in one retailer at a time?
It may habe worked out for them if they were more careful about what they put on the market.
Thanks for watching! 😎
All this was happening meanwhile Sega of UK and Europe was doing much better because they had no issues getting games in stores and instead was using the money on ad ons like the 32x was focusing on Master System and Game Gear software instead. I do not think Sega of Europe back then created any original hardware instead just funded Sega of Japan and other Developers to make Master System and Game Gear titles alot which was never sold outside Europe instead.
Sega of Europe now are just mostly the PC game Division of Sega though.
Yeah it’s weird that SEGA of Europe became more of a PC Division than anything. They saved the Master System. I’d love to see a master system mini, as I’m sure you know. Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductions Sega of america treated Master System so poorly games like Enduro Racer and Captain Sliver are missing half of the game the rest of the world got because they used lower sized cart memory. But they got one game no one else did which was alf.
Along with doing other odd things like skiping out on Super Fantasy Zone for genesis or geting third partys to sell games like Crackdown and Gain Ground in US yet was by Sega everywhere else.
Yet you look at sega of america Developed games and only ones that Skiped Europe are a few Sega CD FMV games,Wild Woody,The 32x Spidernan game and X perts.
Though the only Mega CD JRPG in Europe was Shining Force. All the rest skiped europe though the Western Rpgs did not.
Ok, you blew my mind. I really believed his lies. These new data sound so much more realistic.
I am so ashamed of myself, I thought I knew what I was talking about when I said that "the conflict between Japan and America was to blame". Tom Kalinski just lied and hid an awful situation, in practice, it really looks like some kind of scam O.o
It’s always good to hear the same story told from another perspective. I think it’s possible that Irimajiri’s version could have issues as well. But I’ve long had doubts about the grandiose claims of Console Wars….a book I read twice, I liked it so much. Still, the situation seemed too convenient for Tom Kalinske. There’s still a lot of information out there, much of it in Japanese, or filed away in boxes. One thing we know for sure after this last year though is that SEGA of America just wasn’t financially successful in the 90s…..not actually, yet they projected a lot of apparent success. I’m really blown away by that revelation…..but it also explains how the company could fail with the Saturn, and then die, even after the Dreamcast was so well received by fans and critics.
Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
This is a great video. It seems like Tom came into Sega convinced them to spend alot of money. That gave them a couple years of success on paper but left Sega in debt with millions of unsold stock. But the narrative is that Tom saved Sega and SOJ destroyed what he created .
Thank you very much for watching dude! 😎
Japan is very rarely ever public about their side of the story when it comes to stuff like this. Tom was the only one willing to come out with his side of the story. So I don't think it's "unbiased" in a sense that we only hear Kalinske's side because Japan never likes to share their side voluntarily like their American/Western branches do!
It's basically one of those "be greateful enough that we hear part of the story that was happening behind closed doors, rather than nothing at all" kind of things! Then others form their opinions about it; until someone from the other side dumps THEIR side of the story anonymously!
I would be interested to see how big retail is dealing with video game companies these days. They certainly would be shooting themselves in the foot with draconian deals like this as it would push developers to go more in on online purchasesand downloads, cutting them out of the profits picture even more.
I really would be great to know. I suspect it’s similar? I think companies are a lot more careful about what they are willing to manufacture. SEGA really was not. They treated the Genesis like a doll you could endlessly accessorize, without foresight to the future or quality. They weren’t gamers. They didn’t know what people were actually looking for.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
That's a really good question (if the industry follows the same practices) and if it's even close to the same I wouldn't be surprised if that's extra motivation for Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony to push everything digitally and skip out on making hard copies.
Tom and his team in SOA is the only reason anyone really had a Genesis and are also the reason Sonic was EVERYWHERE in the United States in the early to mid 90s. 32X and a Saturn launch with a games no one wanted in the US was what ruined Segas image here in America, the only place Sega had any brand loyalty. SOJ also turned down Sony, truly the kiss of death. TL;DR Fuck Japanese business men
I think that’s definitely true. Tom Kalinske and SOA definitely deserve credit for popularizing Sonic and SEGA in North America and I think the two reasons they succeeded was the drastic price cut of the Genesis and the fact that they managed to get shelf space at the big box stores. But this same “going big” mentality also cost SEGA in the long run and thus it’s probably also true that SOA’s short term success (followed by a huge downturn) is the main reason SEGA is no longer in the console business at all.
Im not sure it’s really true SOJ actually had anything to do with Sony after Sony split from Nintendo to develop the PlayStation. The Saturn was in development pretty much as soon as the Genesis was launched in Japan in 1988, and SEGA’s R&D team always designed their own hardware on the basis of their own established legacy of motherboards. I think Kalinske brings up this idea in interviews and this was a major story point in console wars but outside of what Kalinske says is there even a shred of evidence this is a thing that actually happened? Im not sure.
The other big thing that killed SEGA, and which SEGA of Japan bears all the blame for, was the insistence on changing the hardware specs of the Saturn at the last minute in 1993 (when they realized everything was going 3D) and then insisting on rushing a mid tier 32 bit console to the market to compete with Jaguar and 3DO…..SOA made that worse by insisting it be an add on to the Genesis, but the core bad idea was plainly from Japan. You can’t split your own market. You can’t rush a console without planning it with must have games. Sega of America and Sega of Japan were BOTH a total mess…..of course…..in hindsight.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
10:56 wow, lex luger testing games for sega
The total package!
Just a quick note. The Neo-Geo actually was sold at Toys R us, though this was apparently only at select locations (presumably in higher income areas). I recall seeing AES systems and a small number of games in the area of the electronics section where the vid pro cards, and purchase tickets were for systems. The few AES games they actually carried had no vid pro cards and were behind the glass case with the tickets to purchase the carts next to the system itself.
No I don’t think so, your thinking of the Virtua Boy, common mistake.
Thank you very much for the support dude! We really appreciate it very much. 😎 This made our day.
Confession: I actually had a virtual boy…..it gave me serious eye strain headaches. 😝
@@creativecatproductions I have not just a Virtual Boy.. but all of the US and most of the Japanese games for it.
Wario Land was really good!
At least in 90%.
Properly a mix of the two
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductions it is interesting how much Sega did bad business. Even in the 80s in Japan. Thank you for sharing
@justinsherman9633 it really is wild! 😆
@@justinsherman9633 During the 80's Japanese 3rd parties avoided the Master System of their own volition because of Sega of Japan's extremely harsh licensing policies.
If you thought Nintendo of America's and Nintendo of Europe's licensing policies were bad, Sega of Japan's was even worse than Nintendo of America's and Nintendo of Europe's, combined!
@@G.L.999 didn't know that. I should look into that. What were their conditions?
Kalinske saved a dying Sega and made it the top console on the planet. The US was by far their largest market.
I'd argue Game Over, which spoke to more folks than just Kalinske, is the more accurate telling. Game Over does acknowledge the struggle with buy backs, but the decisions Sega of Japan made were most guilty.
1. Kalinske introduced SoJ to both Silicon Graphics (who contributed heavily to the N64) and Sony (after Nintendo ditched them) for collaboration. Another timeline could easily have seen the Sega Playstation. Sega of Japan was more concerned Sony would eventually try and buy them out if they partnered. Hindsight is 20/20, but it is easy to see how the future could have been different.
2. Kalinske fought both the early Saturn launch that was a disaster as well as the 32X. That is well documented. Both were devastating to consumer faith in Sega.
3. I'll give you STI burned money in development of new games and tech. Sega's main perk in the 80s and 90s is they were the "cutting edge". Their CD based add on, Sega Channel, and so many other accessories were waaaay ahead of their time. Think about the Sega Nomad - a hand held that played main console games that you could hook right up to your TV. That's the Nintendo Switch 20 years early.
4. Sega of Japan hamstringed STI numerous times. The legendary Mark Cerny left the company after being vital in Sonic 2's development because of Hayao Nakayama's constant interference and mistreatment of American staff. Furthermore, STI was quasi-independent of both SoJ and SoA and had a special status in the company. SoJ also trumped Kalinske when Kalinske pushed for STI to begin development of Saturn games instead of Genesis and 32X titles. This ate valuable time needed for STI to learn how to program for the complicated Saturn.
Ive never seen any evidence that Sega was actually on the verge of making a deal with Sony to generate some sort of “what-if-sega-PlayStation” that never existed outside of the narrative of console wars and interviews from Kalinske himself. Maybe he met some people, maybe they through around the idea, but I have little reason to think he got very far with it, especially when Sega hardware and global strategy was more or less restricted to Japan.
And I’m not sure such an arrangement would have actually garnered success for Sega.
Thank you very much for watching and for the thought provoking comment! 😎
There’s something to be said about “The survival of the fittest” around the time of high capitalism and the infancy of market economy. Sega just has a bad habit of flying too close to the sun to gain in actuality…little to no benefit. Don’t get me wrong, Tom deserves some of the blame…but you can’t argue with companies who hold an influence.
Sega was definitely all over the place! Do you think some of those guys ever did, I don’t know, a ton of coke?! 😝
Probably. It was the 80s. Thanks for watching dude 😎
@@creativecatproductions On that note, quite interesting that you’re talking about marketing as Sega just announced Sonic & Friends that looks to be a new plush line for kids. Their current strategy is looking to aim the crowds on all sides…even if they put in least of the work. However…
- The sudden union may bring more harm than good because hurting for jobs.
- All these projects with rushed quality isn’t doing anyone favors
- Toxic positivity and casual online gamers is very much the only income for SEGA in regards to Sonic, which is polarizing
There are more issues present, but it’s clear that Sega is trying to cover all bases with little effort as possible, including in-house. Do you think what they’re doing now is better or worse than trying to sale their products in the 90’s? And is it better than current modern day Nintendo?
I personally think things are worse now, from the perspective of a fan, insofar as current SEGA simply milks the likeness of Sonic the Hedgehog….and I was never that big of a fan. They still don’t know what to do with the brand.
@@creativecatproductions You have a point, they kinda have Sonic all over the place without much planning or direction. It’s just more messy than Mario’s. And it’s becoming more and more noticeable, maybe even to investors.
Do you have a good idea of how much investor confidence and stock has been boosted to Nintendo Ltd. after the Mario movie and Nintendo World? They’re about to become the next Disney, not just in video games. For Sega to get back into that real, you’re looking at nearly 2 decades…and that’s if they can improve their track record.
Yeah it seems like Nintendo may actually diversify into a full blown media and family entertainment empire just as Disney is crashing and burning. The timing is impeccable
Hi
Hey dude! 😜
i've seen former sega fans shift narratives when a revelation comes out, here. you're clinging to the ''narcissism of American exceptionalism' of gen Y ethos while smearing at the japanese side of the company to ensure they share an 50/50 percent of blame with kalinske, as if you were glad about them leaving the hardware business or something
ya'know in this age where videogames are homogenized for lousy adults with mental issues, sega was cool for pushing things like the sega naomi, joypolis, dragon's dream, while the modern companies the same adults advocate for, fit an model of adult gamer mental illness, nintendo charged gamers for expensive cardboard (labo) sony has the most faulty systems despite being top dog, microsoft cultivated angry gamer culture with halo machinima, value were the ones who popularized internet metahumor with the cake was a lie bs
videogames are a slowly dying medium anyway, no skin off my nose when twitter communities get exposed for what's been happening behind the scenes these past couple of years
I have no interest in broad categories like “American exceptionalism” or “Gen Y ethos”, nor am I interested in smearing Sega of Japan or the Japanese people. The only purpose I have, regarding this video, is to revisit and question the story about how and why Tom Kalinske left SEGA…. because up until now the only version of the story anyone heard was Tom Kalinske’s. Further, I think the information provided about the role that American retail played in the commercial failure of SEGA is useful because it explains exactly how it could be that such a popular and well known brand could also fail so spectacularly in such a short period of time. Indeed, it really explains a lot, like why the Saturn and Dreamcast were exclusive to specialty store.
I’m definitely not glad that SEGA left the hardware business, and I’m even less glad they were bought by Sammy almost 20 years ago. To me, that was the death of SEGA and the end of one of my favorite game companies.
I agree, however, that the contemporary gaming scene has a lot of issues and that video gaming itself has become (or perhaps always was) generally unhealthy for the mental wellness of people. And Sony really has lost their former emphasis on high quality. I don’t even buy Sony products anymore. However, I’ll defend Nintendo for their continued success in producing very good games. I think LABO was a crazy idea, but I admire how inventive it was too. SEGA was also very inventive and experimental, when the SEGA name was still relevant.
I don’t think videogames are dying or are going to die. However, like the film industry, I think that the game industry is essentially sick and bloated. But people will continue to make and play games probably for just as long as people continue to understand computing. I kind of hoped that indie gaming would be a revolution of sorts, but that never really came to be. For myself, I prefer to look to the best games of past. I think we can learn from them. I think their simplicity offers, potentially, a better future for gaming.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
You might want to change CCP ininials with full name, because of past pandemic CCP is often shorthand for China Communist Party.
We want to be the CCP that people remember! Let’s to do the CCP what the World Wild Life Foundation did to the WWF! In 5 years, they’re going to have to change their name to Chinese Communist Entertainment 😂
I love China! But their government just really isn’t for me if you know what I mean
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
Sega of Japan were such xenophobes.
In a way I think this is probably true. In that time period a large swath of America was very xenophobic against Japan. There was still a lot of fear that the Japanese economy and manufacturing might be a threat to the US and people were still alive that remembered the horrors of WW2.
There was a lot of resentment and xenophobia of Americans too, by the Japanese. I remember the national outrage when a Japanese politician described American workers as "fat and lazy".
There's been a lot of cultural crossover over the last 30 years. A lot of Americans have become Japanophiles and it's pretty obvious that Japan isn't poised to be much of a threat to anyone in the future. I think we have learned to live more harmonious alongside each other.
Thanks for watching dude!
In a way I can’t really blame Sega of Japan for being xenophobic, or Japanese people being xenophobic in general. I think, fundamentally, liking things similar to yourself and distrusting or even hating things different from ourselves is just part of the human experience …..as this kind of animal. Japan is such a unique and yet relatively homogenous country compared to so many places off their islands. From their vantage point, everything on earth is just wacky different, and their Shinto religion has it that they are literally the children of the sun….a superior people destined to bless the earth with greatness. That’s the sort of stuff xenophobia is made of. I’d be blown away if they weren’t like that…..like the guys from Hudson soft. Those guys were something else.
Sega of America has no excuse though, since America has always been just about the most diverse and multicultural society on earth, maybe ever. Thus from our point of view, everyone is supposed to be just as open minded and it’s hard to imagine it any other way.
Who knows maybe of Sega of Japan still are xenophobic.
@@creativecatproductions Well Mobius was good idea and Micromobius would be great idea,but it was idea of Sega of America(Sega Technical Institute).
It’s Japan, so probably 😆
Tom was against the 32x and the early release of the saturn. He had great ideas and opinions, but was stoped again and again by sega of japan. This is no secret. I think you made up this video just for views. Shit talk sells better than facts.
There is a lot of controversy regarding this, particularly because of Console Wars and Kalinske’s late interviews, but I think the record shows that Tom Kalinske was not opposed to the 32X and there are instances, especially from the time, where he adamantly defended it.
I think the Sega of America preferred the 32X because they were invested in the idea that the Sega Genesis had more commercial potential and they strongly believed the Saturn was unmarketable in the US due to the price.
Tom Kalinske essentially tried to make the trick he worked at Mattel work for Sega. He was a legend im the toy industry for one specific reason: he helped salvage the relevance of Barbie.
He did this by introducing the concept of price tiers and he introduced cheap, entry level barbies, along with the enticements of endless accessorization.
This is exactly what he did with the Genesis. Lower the price, introduce tiers, and then pump out as much accessorizing as possible. The 32X was just one way of doing this. It was like a Barbie dreamhouse for boys.
In abstract this is reasonable, but in reality the videogame industry is a poor analogy to the doll industry and Kalinkse and Sega lost sight of the only consideration that mattered to their consumers: the games. What games were going to be on offer and were they really any good?
This was an afterthought and they suffered the consequences.
I was under the impression the 32X as an add on peripheral to the Genesis instead of a new separate console, was Joe Miller of SOA suggestion.
@@jetfrog4574 yes, because sega of japan wanted them to make "stop gap" in the form of a new budget console, while consumers where waiting for the sega saturn. Sega of japan belived this only because the mega drive did poorly in japan. Tom tried to explain to the japanese that the genesis were doing great in the us and no such "stop gap" were needed. But the did not listen. Sega of america was at least finally able to make it an ad on instead of a entire console. Tom left sega because sega of japans dumb ideas.
The 32X was the suggestion of Joe Miller! Sega of Japan wanted a stand alone console, but Sega of America was invested in the Genesis as the foundation of their business model.
Joe Miller was the head of r&d at SOA, his entire reason for existing was to create peripherals for the Genesis: the menacer, the acvtivator, the 32X….if it could be added to or required a Genesis then it was his job to conceive it.
According to more recent revelations, which I talk about in this video, I think it is far more probable that he was asked to resign. That way he could save face and sega could be rid of him.
Sega should have made the Sega CD games compatible with the Saturn.
That’s a really great point! The SEGA CD library was actually really great too.
Thanks for watching dude! 😎
@@creativecatproductions Do a video of the different PC Engine even the South Korean version.Also did you do a video on NEC Home Electronics USA and a list of all the games they wanted to make for the TurboGrafx-16. I heard Pit Fighter was a game they wanted to port. Was there a demo of Adventure Island 2 plan for the PC Engine. They had a demo for Japan Warrior 2 for the Supergrafx. I wonder did they make it a Super CD game.
There’s an old rumor that NEC USA had the chance to make Mortal Kombat an exclusive…..but I sincerely doubt it! 😝
I love the PC Engine/Turbografx. We’re currently reviewing TG-16 games in a series called turbo time!
@@creativecatproductions NEC of Japan didn't have a clue what kind of games Americans like. Just who approve some of the games for the TurboGrafx-16. Didn't they have any quality control of the games they release. It doesn't take a person with a PhD to pick out good quality games. But apparently it took a person with a PhD to pick out bad games.
Did someone really have a PhD over there?! That’s pretty funny. Do PhDs ever do anything right? 😝