Bernie Stolar, the former president of Sega of America and one of the founders of Sony Computer Entertainment America, has died at age 75. Stolar was one of the most influential figures in the video game industry who oversaw a number of key occurrences in gaming history.
Following an unsuccessful bid to found his own arcade game business in 1981, Stolar joined Atari to work in its arcade division. Later, he moved to the company’s home console division and led the development of the Atari Lynx. Next, Stolar joined Sony Computer Entertainment on the heels of the now-infamous SNES CD-ROM deal between Nintendo and Sony. When Nintendo backed out of using the disc-based add-on for its consoles, Sony decided to go all-in on video games by making a console of its own — the PlayStation. Stolar helped to oversee the launch of the PlayStation, as well as the development of its library.
Stolar later accepted an offer to become COO of Sega of America, where he tried to replicate the success of the PlayStation’s launch with the Sega Dreamcast. While he eventually left Sega only one month before the Dreamcast’s famous 9/9/99 launch date, during his time there, he was instrumental in helping Sega acquire Visual Concepts and establish the 2K Sports brand. Although Sega would discontinue the Dreamcast only two years later, it enjoyed a successful launch thanks to Stolar’s work on the console’s marketing campaign and 18-game launch lineup.
Sherry McKenna, the CEO of Oddworld Inhabitants, had this to say about Stolar in his obituary: “When Bernie believed in you, he absolutely believed in you. There weren’t any questions, he just helped you succeed.”
