Bernie Stolar, the founder and first head honcho of Sony Pc Leisure America (SCEA), has handed away aged 75.
Stolar loved a prolonged profession within the video video games trade, having began out in 1980 after co-founding Pacific Novelty Manufacturing Inc, who distributed arcades across the state of California. He then labored at Atari’s coin-op division and was ultimately transferred to the house console sector, the place he oversaw the Atari Lynx.
From right here, Stolar was snapped up by Sony as one of many founders and first president of SCEA, the place he secured main titles like Crash Bandicoot, Ridge Racer, and Spyro the Dragon. Nonetheless, he’s additionally remembered for controversially imposing a “no RPG” coverage whereas on the firm, as he needed to showcase the PSOne’s energy — and RPGs have been principally 2D on the time.
Following this, Stolar moved to Sega of America the place he served through the launch of the Sega Saturn, and ultimately turned COO of Sega of America in 1997 and its president in 1998. He was let go from the corporate forward of the Dreamcast’s US launch in Fall 1999.
[Source – GamesBeat]
