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6d ago

Hideki Sato, Architect of Sega’s Consoles, Dies, Beep21 Says

Tributes note his arcade‑to‑home vision that defined systems from Master System through Dreamcast.

ega Corp. Chief Executive Hideki Sato speaks during a press conference May 17, 2002 in Tokyo, Japan. Sato spoke about the group net loss of 17.83 billion yen in fiscal 2001, down from the previous year's loss of 51.73 billion yen for the company.
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Overview

  • Japanese Sega history publication Beep21 announced that Sato died on Thursday, February 13, describing him as the “Father of Sega Hardware.”
  • Outlets including VGC, Eurogamer, and PC Gamer reported the news and published career retrospectives following Beep21’s announcement.
  • Reports differ on his age at death, with some citing 77 and others 75.
  • Sato led engineering on Sega’s major hardware from the SG-1000 and Master System to the Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast, as well as arcade boards.
  • He joined Sega in 1971, served as acting president from 2001 to 2003, and departed the company in 2008, later reflecting that Dreamcast’s guiding idea was “play and communication” with features like its built‑in modem and VMU.