Kalinske, who played a large role in making Sega so competitive with Nintendo in the first place, vehemently disagreed with the decision. Originally scheduled to launch in September, the Japanese executives pushed the launch forward to beat Sony to market. Kalinske was not only tasked with introducing the Saturn, but also shocking the world with the announcement of its immediate availability. When president and CEO of Sega of America Tom Kalinske took the E3 press conference stage in May of 1995, he knew he was about to make the wrong move. Sega felt confident in the Saturn’s early Japanese performance, but that success didn’t translate to North America. Fans and critics alike praised the strong Virtua Fighter port. The Saturn hit Japanese stores in late 1994, and all 200,000 units sold out immediately upon release. Optical discs brought enhanced polygonal rendering, better sound, and advanced 3D graphics that veered much closer to what was available in arcades at the time. Sega broke ground on optical disc development with its Sega CD add-on for the Genesis, but the Saturn was the first standalone Sega console to rely on the medium. While gamers praised Genesis for its graphics and sound, cartridges were being phased out in favor of optical discs. After being turned down by Sega, Silicon Graphics formed a partnership with Nintendo for the N64. Miller and Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske were impressed by the chipset, but Sega of Japan hardware guru Hideki Sato said the chip was too big and wasted too much silicon. Unfortunately, Sega of Japan didn’t believe that Sony was serious about creating hardware, so the discussions fell apart and the two companies went separate routes.Īround that time, Sega executives also met with Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark, who pitched a new chipset the company thought would be great for gaming.
The team pitched the idea to Sony of Japan president Nobuyuki Idei, who agreed that it made good business sense. Sega of America worked with Sony on specs for a potential joint platform. Sega of -America’s head of R&D Joe Miller was unimpressed with the initial hardware specs of the proposed console, and he liked the idea of sharing the costs on the creation of the hardware since platform holders typically lose money on hardware. Before the creation of Saturn, Sega explored the idea of a joint-hardware platform.
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