TITLE
The Next Level: Sega’s Plans for World Domination
AUTHOR
John Battelle
Bob Johnstone
PUBLICATION
Wired
YEAR
1993
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
Hayao Nakayama was puzzled. His newly hired American president wanted to do the unthinkable: Launch a marketing campaign that directly compared his company’s breadwinner – the Sega Genesis game machine – to its main rival, the Super Nintendo System.[…]
Tom Kalinske expected this. Since he joined Sega of America the year before, the former president of Mattel had learned the reserve peculiar to doing business as a Japanese company. In Japan, Kalinske knew, direct comparisons just weren’t done. Kalinske explained the importance of aggressive marketing in the US, the biggest game market in the world. If Sega was going to beat Nintendo, Kalinske counseled Nakayama, we’d have to come out swinging and beat it in the US.
Nakayama turned that one over in his mind. There was nothing the autocratic, single-minded competitor wanted to do more than beat Nintendo. The multi-billion dollar company had redefined video gaming with its 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, but had been slow to react to Sega’s 16-bit challenge. With downright maverick style for a Japanese chairman, Nakayama delivered his decision. “It’s your call,” he told Kalinske. “That’s why I hired you. Do what-ever you think is right.”
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Sega
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Bishop Cheen
Peter Dille
Steve Eskenazi
Doug Glen
Bing Gordon
Clyde Grossman
George Harrison
Irina Heirakuji
Tom Kalinske
Judith Lange
Joe Miller
Hayao Nakayama
Greg Stern
Shinobu Toyoda
Tom Zito
TOPICS MENTIONED
Advertising
ALTERNATE LINK
Archived Copy @ Internet Archive
PRINT AVAILABILITY
December 1993 (Volume 1, Issue 6)