A 272 page PDF containing classified SEGA of America documents from the mid-90s has been uploaded to the SEGA Retro wiki. Among the contents are various emails sent by Tom Kalinske, former CEO of SEGA America that go on to discuss the ill fated Saturn console throughout its marketing period among a treasure trove of internal and classified documents.

Beyond the emails, the PDF contains a wealth of insight in to the past inner workings at SEGA, including product planning reports, advertisement efforts, storyboards, business strategies, performance reports, brand and packaging mockups and a ton more. Notable findings include SEGA's advertising strategies for Nights into Dreams where Tom Kalinske goes on to suggest they analyse Sony's handling of Crash Bandicoot as baseline for the Nights campaign; a grim valuation of the Genesis 32X's scrap value as well as remarks on an unreleased Sega Saturn version of Shenmue.

The leak provides a fascinating glimpse into the past, showcasing the inner workings of a major gaming company in the 90s. The PDF can be found hosted at the SEGA Retro Wiki by following the link below.

Source and PDF download

 

[smf]

Hell, lets go further than that...lets retcon when Silicon Graphics approached Sega FIRST with utilizing 64 bit technology.

Sony also approached Sega to join forces on hardware. We might have ended up with only one games console in that generation (or the Jaguar might have survived)

 

[Bobsy]

"classified SEGA of America documents"

Classified? Since when is SEGA it's own country?

You mean "confidential," not "classified."

Sega was the country I lived in for a good part of my teen years

 

[SylverReZ]

Sega was the country I lived in for a good part of my teen years

8-bit computers were the main frenzy over here. I wasn't born when that time was around, but still awesome to look back.

 

[Ryab]

Sony also approached Sega to join forces on hardware. We might have ended up with only one games console in that generation (or the Jaguar might have survived)

Minor last second decisions can change a lot. Remember that Sony and Nintendo had a deal with the Super Nintendo. When Nintendo backed out of the deal, they created their biggest rival.

 

[Maximumbeans]

does it mention all the terrible sonic games they were going to make?

“The Oracle up in the Divination department made some grave warning about 2006 but we’re just going to ignore him for now. How bad can it be?”

 

[Bladexdsl]

sonics had enough of sega making him look bad his started a union