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Those of you who grew up in the '80s and '90s will likely remember the heated marketing wars that took place between Nintendo and Sega, with both companies vying publicly for control of the video game market while trading barbs in the press.
It's a chapter of video game history that's been pretty well-documented in the past, not only serving as the inspiration for a 2014 book but also a documentary film released in 2020, co-directed by Jonah Tulis and the book's original author, Blake J. Harris.
While the foundations for the conflict were ultimately laid under the very first Sega of America president, former Nintendo of America vice president of sales, Bruce Lowry, it later escalated under Mike Katz's tenure, with the launch of the now-famous "Genesis Does What Nintendon't" campaign. That's before reaching its peak under the supervision of the former Matchbox CEO and Katz successor, Tom Kalinske, who finally managed to dramatically reduce Nintendo's market share before departing the company in 1996, following the disappointing performance of the Sega Saturn in North America.
Back in 2022, I interviewed Kalinske about taking the battle to Nintendo, and his relationship with his rival, Nintendo of America president, Howard Lincoln, and during our chat he made reference to a "very nice" letter Lincoln sent him once he announced his departure from Sega — one he still treasures and keeps in his office to this day. Try as I might, though, I couldn't find any record of its contents online. That's despite its historical significance and the fact it was previously published at the end of Console Wars.
So I asked Kalinske and the Console Wars author Harris for our own copy to publish, in the hopes that more people would see the moment where two bitter rivals put aside their differences and made peace, drawing this memorable chapter of the Console Wars to an end. Fortunately for me, they agreed, with Harris even sending me the original scan that I've been told has never been published anywhere before.
The incredible letter, signed by Lincoln, reads:
"Dear Tom,
I was saddened to learn that you are leaving Sega. You've done a great job over the last six years, both in dramatically increasing Sega's market share (at our expense!) and also in representing the video game industry. You were the driving force behind the formation of IDSA and the E3 Show. Neither would have happened without your leadership.
Let me wish vou the very best of luck in your new venture.
All my best...
Sincerely,
Nintendo of America, Inc,
Howard C. Lincoln
Chairman"
What's remarkable to me about this letter isn't just seeing Lincoln congratulate Kalinske on his success at Sega (at Nintendo of America's expense), but Lincoln's insistence that the Interactive Digital Software Association (the predecessor to the ESA) and the E3 show (once a staple of the video game year) figure wouldn't have happened without Kalinske's leadership.
Speaking about the initial discovery of the letter while writing The Console Wars more than a decade ago, Harris echoed this sentiment, telling me:
“When Tom Kalinske first told me about the existence of this letter, I thought surely he must have been embellishing. After all, the corporate rivalry between Sega and Nintendo was as brutal and personal as can be. So the second I saw the actual letter—with those compliments and class-act behavior from Howard Lincoln—I knew that had to be the final moment in my book. And for what it's worth, my favorite part—as the world’s biggest Tom Kalinske fan—was that beyond just Sega’s sales and success, Howard cites Tom as the 'driving force' behind the infrastructure we now know as the videogame business."
Were you already aware of this letter? Let us know in the comments below.