It is a sad day for the gaming industry regardless of the way you have a look at it, but for those who’re sufficiently old (and Sega enough) to have grown up with any of the corporate’s consoles, it’s a good sadder one. Hideki Sato has passed away at age 77.
For many who aren’t conversant in him, Sato is often called “the daddy of Sega hardware.” More on that in a sec, seeing as I pilfered the road directly from the tweet that is been spreading the news of the legendary creator’s passing. From most of Sega’s earliest days as a console manufacturer, all the best way up through its last hurrah with the Dreamcast, Sato was the leading figure within the design approach to each considered one of them.
We’ll Miss You
As GSK notes above—because the account re-tweets Japanese gaming magazine Beep21’s announcement—Hideki Sato also led Sega as its president from 2001 through 2003. It was a rough-tides time for Sega, which had made the difficult decision to exit the console market altogether, but Sato played a significant role in providing the leadership glue that held things together.
Today, Sega is viewed as considered one of the foremost software-side gaming giants on this planet, but many years ago, it was, in fact, cranking things out nonstop on the hardware side. I grew up with a hand-me-down Sega Genesis, and I’ve at all times been a tad envious of youngsters who had a Sega Saturn, as well. I went into the Saturn scene as a young adult, and rattling, what an exquisite machine it was.
All of that is to say, Hideko Sato’s contributions to my life are keenly felt. And I bet there are tens of millions on the market who feel all of them the more closely. Take a moment to read Beep21’s article for those who can (I like to recommend DeepL over Google Translate for those who aren’t a Japanese speaker). Let’s all rejoice the good things that Sato helped to bring to the gaming industry. Perpetually indebted, Sato-san.