The 8Hours Foundation has been going from strength to strength with our unique blockchain-enabled gaming console and Smart-NFT gaming ecosystem. Our products, PlayTable and VIMworld, have been turning heads at the very highest levels. Today, we are extremely excited to reveal the latest advisor to join us in our mission to propel them both to mainstream adoption.
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Michael Katz is an industry titan, with 25 years experience in the video game entertainment sector. He is well-known for his effective marketing campaigns, having helped major brands bring novel products to mass market with great success. His wealth of experience will prove indispensable to the 8Hours Foundation and our own mission of launching our next generation gaming platform.
Career
In 1975, Katz served as Director of New Product Category Marketing at Mattel, helping launch their portable hand-held game line, leading to $400million in annual business and ultimately facilitating the launch of the Mattel Electronics Division and Mattel’s Intellivision video game system.
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Michale Katz also served as Vice President of Marketing at Coleco, helping launch ColecoVision, a console that would go on to beat out Intellivision and Atari, rapidly becoming a bestseller with classic titles like Donkey Kong and Pacman.
He would later become President at Epyx, where his aptitude for product placement saw the company outperforming Electronic Arts in game sales, taking the company from a specialized game software company to one of the leading mass market game publishers. Katz also spent time as President of Atari’s video game division, spearheading its resurgence and public offering under Jack Tramiel.
In 1989, Katz became President of SEGA Entertainment USA, launching the SEGA Genesis and spearheading a console war against Nintendo, giving rise to the now legendary “SEGA does what Nintendon’t” marketing campaign. Michael oversaw the sale of 29 million console units during his tenure.