Executive Vice President · Sony Computer Entertainment America / Sega of America · b. 1943 · 1995–1999
Bernie Stolar built the PlayStation's North American third-party software portfolio as SCEA's EVP of Third Party Software and Licensing, then moved to Sega of America as president and made the controversial decision to discontinue the Saturn.
Stolar joined Sony Computer Entertainment America in 1995, just before the PlayStation's North American launch, and was responsible for securing and managing relationships with the third-party publishers and developers whose software would determine whether the platform succeeded. His background was in Atari's coin-op division and later arcade operations, giving him relationships across the industry that proved valuable in convincing publishers to commit to the new platform. The PlayStation's North American library in its first two years — including key Capcom, Konami, Namco, and Square titles — reflected Stolar's recruiting work, and the platform's launch is widely considered the most successful console launch in North American history to that point. Stolar left SCEA in 1996 and was hired by Sega of America as president in 1996. He arrived at a company whose Saturn was struggling against the PlayStation he had just helped establish, and whose Japanese management was planning a next-generation console. His most publicised decision was his refusal to support several Japanese Saturn titles for North American release — including several RPGs and the first Shining Force III chapter — on the grounds that the platform's future was the Dreamcast, not the Saturn. The decision alienated the Saturn's core audience and is still debated among Sega fans. He oversaw the Dreamcast's North American launch in September 1999 before being dismissed by Sega later that year.