Interview: Michael Katz

[Melf]

Shortly after the Genesis launched in 1989, Sega experienced a shift in leadership. Michael Katz was its new president and quickly acted to make the young console a major player in the gaming market by taking on Nintendo in advertising and ensuring some big names for its sports line. His efforts set the groundwork for Sega's future success, though he hardly receives the credit he deserves. Sega-16 had an interesting little Q&A session (http://www.sega-16.com/2006/04/interview-michael-katz/) with Mr. Katz earlier this week, and he had a lot to say about how the company was run during that exciting time in its history.

[Joe Redifer]

Very entertaining interview. I always enjoy reading the thoughts of upper-level Sega employees. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and talk to them and either warn them or push them in a certain direction. What I found really interesting was that Katz was concerned about Sonic because he wasn't a recognizable character to US audiences. Can you imagine if Sega never took any chances and made sure that most/all of their games had previously established characters? That would be bad. I agree that names like Joe Montana and of course Tommy Fucking Lasorda (hell yeah) brings in the sports gamers and that was a good idea. But for videogame characters you HAVE to create new ones. Of course the industry these days has forgotten this. You need to e-mail Katz my Tommy Fucking Lasorda Sega ad.

[16bitter]

Q&As like this remind me why I used to read print mags.

Great job, Melf.

As an aside, I still miss those Next Generation interviews of the Playstation/Saturn era. The one with Rosen in late 96 was fun, insightful and frustrating.

[Elusive]

Hm. Nice to know SoJ weren't quite the demon-headed blooddrinkers they're made out to be. Nice work.

[kyouki]

That was great! I agree with 16bitter... this site reminds me of reading print mags back in the late 80s/early 90s. The articles here are well-written and aren't full of that "new games journalism" garbage nor the insulting "written by college frat boys" stuff.

I never had a Genesis growing up (I was more a Nintendo kid) but it's a pleasure to read good stuff on here. I check this site every day and I'm always impressed.

[GeckoYamori]

Might as well start a Sega-16 magazine.

[David J.]

Great interview, answered a lot of questions!

[Melf]

Hm. Nice to know SoJ weren't quite the demon-headed blooddrinkers they're made out to be. Nice work.

It's strange, because every piece of evidence I've read suggests that SOJ was pretty cool with the American branch up until sometime in 1994. They implemented all of Tom Kalinske's ideas, even though many Japanese Sega executives were calling for his head for being so radical, and then boom! A complete 180 degree turn.

[16bitter]

What makes it all the more weird, or plain ridiculous, is that the ideas from the American side tended to work out quite well for Sega as a whole.

And perhaps that was its own problem. A no-win scenario in many ways for SOA idea men/execs.

[Melf]

I think it had a lot to do with just HOW well they worked out for SOA. The Mega Drive was a distant 3rd in Japan, and it may have been too much for them to know that the American branch was doing a better job of selling a Japanese product than they were.

But that would be immensely petty and selfish, and I'd like to not think that Nakayama and the gang over there were that big a bunch of schmucks.

[Obviously]

Interviews like this are really increasing the credibility of Sega-16. Excellent work indeed.

[segagamer]

Very interesting interview!!! Now perhaps the next interview article should be on Tom Kalinske and his tenure at Sega America.

[janus]

Genesis does what Nintendon't was the best slogan ever. Great interview!

[Melf]

Very interesting interview!!! Now perhaps the next interview article should be on Tom Kalinske and his tenure at Sega America.

He's #1 on my most wanted list, but he's not the easiest guy to get in contact with.

[Joe Redifer]

I've always wondered how you get in contact with the many people you do. A lot of them I've never even heard of until I see your interviews. You must be a super sleuth (did I spell that correctly?) or some sort of evil stalker. :)

[j_factor]

Wow, I never thought such a big name as Michael Katz would be featured in an interview here.

Great work.

Also, kind of a side note, it's really awesome how you have this backlog of interviews that you can reference in your new ones. "So-and-so said this.." is just.... I love it.

[AmyDoesn'tDouche]

Edit: Have my facts mixed up.