Bernie Stolar

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Fast facts on Bernie Stolar

Company(ies): Sega of America
Role(s): Executive

Bernard "Bernie" Stolar was a former president of Sega of America.

His career started at Atari where he worked initially in the coin-op arcade division and eventually moved over to the home division being in charge of platforms like Atari Lynx. Before the US release of the PlayStation game console, Sony made Stolar the first president of SCEA and in charge of the PlayStation platform. Stolar ruled with an iron fist and forced some unpopular policies with regard to titles licensed including a "no-RPG" policy seeing as RPGs at the time were almost all 2D, didn't sell well in North America and in his opinion failed to show the power of the PlayStation in a positive light.

After the first holiday season in the US the PlayStation was a success selling well. Bernie was then offered the opportunity to leave Sony and take the helm at Sega of America managing the Sega Saturn. Stolar subsequently became Sega of America COO in March 1997^[1] and president in March 1998^[2].

Stolar is fondly remembered for his "Saturn is not our future" remark at E3 1997, not to mention his "There is no more Tekken." line during a TV interview (which followed after Namco confirmed supporting Sega's console starting with Soul Calibur). The Tekken line was also Stolar's stab against Sony and its next generation plans, although Namco confirmed later that the PlayStation 2 will be getting Tekken games exclusively.

Aside from that, there were insider reports that he actually went against his Japanese superiors by pricing the Dreamcast with a launch price of $199 (which he unveiled in a speech in early 1999, to standing ovation). Reportedly, Sega Japan wanted to price the DC at $249 in order to be very profitable right from the start. Prior to the Dreamcast's American launch in 1999, Stolar was fired and received a $5,000,000.00 severance package from Sega.

Production history

AMOK (Saturn;
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1997) — Special ThanksMedia:Amok sat us manual.pdf^[3]
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (Saturn;
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1996) — Thanks to (as Bernard Stolar)
Dark Savior (Saturn;
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1996) — Speical ThanksMedia:Darksavior sat us manual.pdf^[4]
Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition (Saturn;
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1996) — Special ThanksMedia:Daytonausacce sat us manual.pdf^[5]
Enemy Zero (Saturn;
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1996) — Special Thanks toMedia:Enemyzero sat us manual.pdf^[6]
Fighters Megamix (Saturn;
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1996) — Special Thanks ToMedia:Fightersmegamix sat us manual.pdf^[7]
Last Bronx (Saturn;
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1997) — Special Thanks ToMedia:Lastbronx sat us manual.pdf^[8]
Manx TT Super Bike (Saturn;
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1997) — Special Thanks ToMedia:Manxtt sat us manual.pdf^[9]
NFL '97 (Saturn;
1996) — Special ThanksMedia:Nfl97 sat us manual.pdf^[10]
NFL 98 (Mega Drive;
1997) — Special Thanks
NHL All-Star Hockey 98 (Saturn;
1997) — OtherMedia:Nhlallstar98 sat us manual.pdf^[11]
Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn;
1998) — Special Thanks
Saturn Bomberman (Saturn;
1996) — Special ThanksMedia:Saturnbomberman sat us manual.pdf^[12]
Scorcher (Saturn;
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1997) — Special ThanksMedia:Scorcher sat us manual.pdf^[13]
Sega Touring Car Championship (Saturn;
1997) — Special Thanks
Sega Worldwide Soccer 98 (Saturn;
1997) — Special ThanksMedia:Sws98 sat us manual.pdf^[14]
Sky Target (Saturn;
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1997) — Special Thanks ToMedia:Skytarget sat us manual.pdf^[15]
Steep Slope Sliders (Saturn;
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1997) — Special Thanks^[16]
The House of the Dead (Saturn;
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1998) — Special Thanks ToMedia:Thotd sat us manual.pdf^[17]
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Mega Drive) (Mega Drive;
1997) — Sega Special Thanks to
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Saturn) (Saturn;
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1997) — Special Thanks To
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Saturn) (Saturn;
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1997) — Special ThanksMedia:Lostworld sat us manual.pdf^[18]
World Series Baseball '98 (Saturn) (Saturn;
1997) — Special ThanksMedia:Wsb98 sat us manual.pdf^[19]

Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 (1996) — Special Thanks
Virtua Fighter 2 (1997) — Special Thanks
Quake (1997) — Special Thanks
NBA Action 98 (1997) — Special Thanks
World Series Baseball '98 (Saturn Version) (1997) — Special Thanks
Sega Smash Pack (PC Version) (1998) — Special Thanks
Sonic Adventure (1998) — Executive Management
NFL 2K (1999) — Special Thanks

References

Presidents of Sega of America
David Rosen (19xx-198x) \| Gene Lipkin (198x-198x) \| Bruce Lowry (1986-1989) \| Michael Katz (1989-1990) \| Tom Kalinske (1990-1996) \| Bernie Stolar (1998-1999) \| Peter Moore (1999-2003) \| Hideaki Irie (2003-2005) \| Simon Jeffery (2005-2009) \| Mike Hayes (2009-2012) \| John Cheng (2012-)

[Press_release:_1997-03-17:_Sega_Promotes_Bernie_Stolar_To_COO-1] Press release: 1997-03-17: Sega Promotes Bernie Stolar To COO

[Press_release:_1998-03-24:_Sega_Promotes_Stolar_To_President-2] Press release: 1998-03-24: Sega Promotes Stolar To President

[:File:Amok_sat_us_manual.pdf_p23-3] File:Amok sat us manual.pdf, page 23

[:File:Darksavior_sat_us_manual.pdf_p18-4] File:Darksavior sat us manual.pdf, page 18

[:File:Daytonausacce_sat_us_manual.pdf_p26-5] File:Daytonausacce sat us manual.pdf, page 26

[:File:Enemyzero_sat_us_manual.pdf_p19-6] File:Enemyzero sat us manual.pdf, page 19

[:File:Fightersmegamix_sat_us_manual.pdf_p42-7] File:Fightersmegamix sat us manual.pdf, page 42

[:File:Lastbronx_sat_us_manual.pdf_p26-8] File:Lastbronx sat us manual.pdf, page 26

[:File:Manxtt_sat_us_manual.pdf_p22-9] File:Manxtt sat us manual.pdf, page 22

[:File:Nfl97_sat_us_manual.pdf_p19-10] File:Nfl97 sat us manual.pdf, page 19

[:File:Nhlallstar98_sat_us_manual.pdf_p-11] File:Nhlallstar98 sat us manual.pdf

[:File:Saturnbomberman_sat_us_manual.pdf_p42-12] File:Saturnbomberman sat us manual.pdf, page 42

[:File:Scorcher_sat_us_manual.pdf_p27-13] File:Scorcher sat us manual.pdf, page 27

[:File:Sws98_sat_us_manual.pdf_p37-14] File:Sws98 sat us manual.pdf, page 37

[:File:Skytarget_sat_us_manual.pdf_p26-15] File:Skytarget sat us manual.pdf, page 26

[:File:Steepslopesliders_sat_us_manual.pdf_p21-16] File:Steepslopesliders sat us manual.pdf, page 21

[:File:Thotd_sat_us_manual.pdf_p26-17] File:Thotd sat us manual.pdf, page 26

[:File:Lostworld_sat_us_manual.pdf_p22-18] File:Lostworld sat us manual.pdf, page 22

[:File:Wsb98_sat_us_manual.pdf_p31-19] File:Wsb98 sat us manual.pdf, page 31

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Bernie Stolar

From Sega Retro

Production history

References