Hayao Nakayama
| Hayao Nakayama | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 21, 1932 (age 86) Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation | Consultant Microsoft, Virgin Play, Former President Sega |
Hayao Nakayama (中山 隼雄 Nakayama Hayao?, born 21 May 1932) is a Japanese businessman and was the former President and CEO of Sega Enterprises, Ltd from 1983 to 1999.
Career
Early Years
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Sega
In 1983, he purchased the shares of Sega Enterprises from Bally with the head of a company Rosen purchased in 1979, David Rosen, and the CSK Corporation, led at the time by president and chairman Isao Okawa.
In October 1989, Nakayama hired Michael Katz to make the Sega Genesis a smash hit in America. The mild success of the Mega Drive in Japan gave SOJ high hopes for the success of the American release. The hopes were so high that Nakayama had the rallying cry: "Hyakumandai!" (One million units).
In 1990, Nakayama went to Hawaii to find Tom Kalinske, who had recently left Matchbox. He offered Kalinske the position as president and CEO of SOA [Sega of America]. It was Kalinske's daughter who made him decide to go to Japan. In Japan, they went to a geisha bar and then to Sega of Japan's R&D department. Here, he was shown the Game Gear and the Mega Drive. This convinced him to work at SOA.
Nakayama is also one of the main reasons why Sega pulled out of the home console market. Sega's release of the 32X, turning down Sony's offer to work with Sega to make a new console instead of releasing the Sega Saturn, and the surprise launch of the Sega Saturn were all his decisions. Nakayama based his decisions for Sega of America off of how Sega consoles were doing in Japan. The reason why the Sega Genesis was successful against the Nintendo Entertainment System was because Nakayama let Tom Kalinske do what he needed to do to obtain the public's interest in the Genesis. Nakayama stepped down from CEO of Sega of Japan before the launch of the Dreamcast, but by the time Sega could fix the damage done by Nakayama, it was too late. Sega was losing money fast. In order to avoid bankruptcy, they pulled out of the console market and became a third party developer for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.
Post Sega
Nakayama left SEGA in 1999 and has since served roles at Microsoft Japan and Virgin PLAY[1]
See also
References
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