Gaming legend Bernie Stolar passes away
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Video game legend Bernie Stolar, former president of Sega of America, has passed away at the age of 75, friends said.
Stolar became famous. I met him when he was president and chief operating officer of Sega of America, where he helped lead the development and launch of the Sega Dreamcast. He was one of the more blunt and honest — as well as memorable — executives that I met in the game industry.
Before that, Stolar was the first executive vice president and founding member of Sony Computer Entertainment America. He helped line up original games for the launch of the original PlayStation. At Sony, he signed game franchises including Crash Bandicoot, Ridge Racer, Oddworld Inhabitants, Spyro The Dragon and Battle Arena Toshinden. But he exited that job.
“I loved working for Sony,” Stolar told me in an interview. “I really did. But when the opportunity came up to go to Sega and help rebuild the business and come up with new hardware, I was very interested in doing it. I wouldn’t have left Sony if I hadn’t also lived in fear of getting fired along with everyone else, though.”
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I talked to him about that in 2015.
“1994 was when I did that, yeah. Unfortunately Steve (Race) got fired by Jeff Sagansky, who was running Sony Computer Entertainment America after others were fired. That changed the whole complex of the company because Mr. Maruyama, who was
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