The strangest things will just drop onto the internet's collective lap. As
highlighted on Twitter by MegaDriveShock, a whopping 272 page PDF of classified Sega of America documents from the mid-90s has simply materialised on the
Sega Retro wiki, a community-ran database full of info that aims to "cover everything possible about Sega from the 1940s to today."
One fascinating nugget of gaming history inside is an email sent by Tom Kalinske—former CEO of Sega America—on the subject of the Sega Saturn console. The Saturn was
a flop in the US, unfortunately releasing just before the Nintendo 64 a year later and coming with a host of troubles otherwise. As MegaDriveShock mentions in the Twitter thread: "The retail margin was only 6%! Meaning retailers made only $15 per Saturn sold."
In the email itself, Kalinske wrote: "We are killing Sony. In every [store in Japan], Saturn hardware is sold out and there are stacks of Playstation. The retailers commented they can't compare the true sales rate because Saturn sells out before they can measure accurately. [...] I wish I could get all our staff, sales people, retailers, analysts, media, etc. to see and understand what's happening in Japan; they would then understand why we will win here in the U.S. eventually."
They would not win in the U.S. eventually. In fact, Kalinske would go on to leave the company later that year—the email was sent March 28, and he tendered his resignation July 15, less than four months later. In an interview with
TimeExtension last year, he spoke about his departure after the Sega Saturn's drift from orbit.
