Former Sega President and SCEA Founder Bernie Stolar has died

Bernard Stolar, also known as “Bernie”, has passed away at the age of 75. He oversaw the founding of Sony Computer Entertainment America and served as President of Sega of America.

A veteran left us

Reported on the death of this video game great GamesBeat. Friends of Stolar confirmed his death and told the publication that Stolar passed away in his home state of California.

Bernie Stolar’s career in the gaming industry began in the early 1980’s and spanned through 1999. In the early 1980’s, Stolar helped found Pacific Novelty Manufacturing Inc. – a slot machine company that supplied arcades throughout California. Stolar then worked for Atari’s coin-operated division before moving to the company’s home console division.

There he oversaw the Atari Lynx and was soon recruited by Sony Computer Entertainment America. As a founding member and first president of the company, he was instrumental in bringing games like Crash Bandicoot, Ridge Racer and Spyro the Dragon to the platform.

During his time at Sony, he reportedly opposed the development of role-playing games, which at the time were almost exclusively found with 2D graphics and were therefore unable to showcase the power of the PlayStation.

The end of Stolar’s video game career

After PlayStation’s first successful year, Stolar switched to Sega. There he oversaw the launch of the Sega Saturn and became COO of Sega of America in 1997. Just a year later he became president of the company.

In 1999, Stolar angered Sega of Japan when he announced in a speech that the Sega Dreamcast would only cost $1999. In fact, however, Sega of Japan wanted the console to launch at $249. Even before the console was launched, Stolar was fired – but received a $5 million settlement.

He accepted the job at Sega because of discussions with Hayao Nakayama, Stolar said in a 2015 interview. “We would develop and introduce a new hardware system that would enable online multiplayer games. That became the Dreamcast. I have that Unfortunately, at the end of 1999, Nakayama was pushed out of the company by Mr. Okawa, and when he was kicked out, I also got into a dispute with Japan. I was kicked out too.”