74 Facts About Sega

Sega Corporation is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

Sega was founded by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960; shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan.

The Genesis struggled against the competition in Japan, but found success overseas after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and briefly outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, in the U S Later in the decade, Sega suffered several commercial failures such as the 32X, Saturn, and Dreamcast consoles.

In 2001, Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004.

Sega has produced several multi-million-selling game franchises, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Total War, and Yakuza.

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Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers, with long-running series such as Virtua Fighter and Initial D Arcade Stage.

Sega is recognized for its video game consoles, creativity, and innovations.

Sega expanded over the next seven years to include distribution in South Korea, the Philippines, and South Vietnam.

Shortly afterward, Sega stopped leasing to military bases and moved its focus from slot machines to coin-operated amusement machines.

Sega imported second-hand machines, which required frequent maintenance, it began constructing replacement guns and flippers for its imported games.

The first arcade electro-mechanical game Sega manufactured was the submarine simulator Periscope, released worldwide in the late 1960s.

In 1969, Sega was sold to the American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, although Rosen remained CEO.

In 1981, Sega licensed Frogger, its most successful game until then.

In 1982, Sega introduced the first game with isometric graphics, Zaxxon.

For North America, Sega rebranded the Mark III as the Master System, with a futuristic design intended to appeal to Western tastes.

Sega partnered with Tonka, an American toy company, to make use of Tonka's expertise in the toy industry.

Sega released the Master System's successor, the Mega Drive, in Japan on October 29, 1988.

In 1990, Sega launched the Game Gear, a handheld console, to compete against Nintendo's Game Boy.

Sega launched the Mega-CD in Japan on December 1, 1991, initially retailing at JP¥49, 800.

Sega began work on the Genesis' successor, the Sega Saturn, more than two years before showcasing it at the Tokyo Toy Show in June 1994.

Sega began to develop the 32X, a Genesis add-on which would serve as a less expensive entry into the 32-bit era.

Sega released the 32X on November 21, 1994, in North America, December 3, 1994, in Japan, and January 1995 in PAL territories, and was sold at less than half of the Saturn's launch price.

At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles on May 11, 1995, Kalinske revealed the release price and that Sega had shipped 30, 000 Saturns to Toys "R" Us, Babbage's, Electronics Boutique, and Software Etc.

Sega underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis; 16-bit sales accounted for 64 percent of the market in 1995.

Sega advocated a similar policy for the Saturn, generally blocking 2D arcade games and role-playing games from release, although he later sought to distance himself from this stance.

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Sega partnered with GE to develop the Sega Model 2 arcade system board, building on 3D technology in the arcade industry at the time.

Virtua Fighter and Virtua Fighter 2 became Sega's best-selling arcade games of all time, surpassing their previous record holder Out Run.

In 1995, Sega partnered with Atlus to launch Print Club, an arcade photo sticker machine that produces selfie photos.

Atlus and Sega introduced Purikura in February 1995, initially at game arcades, before expanding to other popular culture locations such as fast food shops, train stations, karaoke establishments and bowling alleys.

From 1994 to 1999, Sega participated in the arcade pinball market when it took over Data East's pinball division, renaming it Sega Pinball.

In January 1997, Sega announced its intentions to merge with the Japanese toymaker Bandai.

However, in the fiscal year ending March 1998, Sega suffered its first financial loss since its 1988 listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as both a parent company and a corporation as a whole.

Shortly before the announcement of the losses, Sega discontinued the Saturn in North America to prepare for the launch of its successor, the Dreamcast, releasing remaining games in low quantities.

Sega announced that Sonic Adventure, the next game starring company mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, would be a Dreamcast launch game.

Sega hoped to sell more than a million Dreamcast units in Japan by February 1999, but less than 900, 000 were sold.

Sega set a record by selling more than 225, 132 Dreamcast units in 24 hours, earning $98.

Sega released the Dreamcast in Europe on October 14, 1999.

Sega announced an official company name change from Sega Enterprises, Ltd.

Sega stated in a release that this was to display its commitment to its "network entertainment business".

On January 31, 2001, Sega announced the discontinuation of the Dreamcast after March 31 and the restructuring of the company as a "platform-agnostic" third-party developer.

Sega announced a Dreamcast price reduction to eliminate its unsold inventory, estimated at 930, 000 units as of April 2001.

Sega held failed talks with Microsoft about a sale or merger with their Xbox division.

In 2003, Sega began talks with Sammy Corporation–a pachinko and pachislot manufacturing company–and video game company Namco.

The day after Sega announced it was no longer planning to merge with Sammy, Namco withdrew its offer.

Satomi said Sega had been operating at a loss for nearly ten years, while Sammy feared stagnation and overreliance of its highly profitable pachislot and pachinko machine business and wanted to diversify.

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Sega introduced trading card game machines, with games such as World Club Champion Football for general audiences and Mushiking: The King of Beetles for young children.

Sega introduced internet functionality in arcades with Virtua Fighter 4 in 2001, and further enhanced it with ALL.

Sega gradually reduced its arcade centers from 450 in 2005 to around 200 in 2015.

In 2012, Sega began acquiring studios for mobile development, studios such as Hardlight, Three Rings Design, and Demiurge Studios becoming fully owned subsidiaries.

In 2012, Sega established Sega Networks as a subsidiary company for its mobile games.

From 2005 to 2015, Sega's operating income generally saw improvements compared to Sega's past financial problems, but was not profitable every year.

At the Tokyo Game Show in September 2016, Sega announced that it had acquired the intellectual property and development rights to all games developed and published by Technosoft.

In October 2018, Sega reported favorable western sales results from games such as Yakuza 6 and Persona 5, due to the localization work of Atlus USA.

Sega blamed the loss on market miscalculations and having too many games under development.

Projects in development at Sega included a new game in the Yakuza series, the Sonic the Hedgehog film, and the Sega Genesis Mini, which was released in September 2019.

In May 2019, Sega acquired Two Point Studios, known for Two Point Hospital.

In other regions, Sega has contracted distributors for its games and consoles, such as Tectoy in Brazil.

Sega has had offices in France, Germany, Spain, and Australia; those markets have since contracted distributors.

Under this structure, Sega Games was responsible for the home video game market and consumer development, while Sega Interactive Co.

Sega includes Sega Networks, which handles game development for smartphones.

Sega Corporation develops and publishes games for major video game consoles and arcade cabinets, and has not expressed interest in developing consoles again.

Sega Toys inherited the Sega Pico handheld system and produced Pico software.

Since the late 1960s, Sega has been affiliated with operations of bowling alleys and arcades through its former Sega Entertainment Co.

Sega has acquired third-party studios, including ordered by assigned division:.

In what has been called "a brief moment of remarkable creativity", in 2000, Sega restructured its arcade and console development teams into nine semi-autonomous studios headed by the company's top designers.

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Toshihiro Nagoshi, formerly the head of Amusement Vision, recalls this period, "in many ways a labour of love" from Sega, teaching the creatives the experience of managing a business.

Sega still operates first-party studios as departments of its research and development division.

Sega is one of the world's most prolific arcade game producers, having developed more than 500 games, 70 franchises, and 20 arcade system boards since 1981.

Sega Genesis is often ranked among the best consoles in history.

Kalinske felt Sega had innovated by developing games for an older demographic and pioneering the "street date" concept with the simultaneous North American and European release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Sega's console gave hope that things were not about to change for the worse and that the tenets of fast fun and bright, attractive graphics were not about to sink into a brown and green bog of realistic war games.

Travis Fahs of IGN noted that since the Sammy takeover Sega had developed fewer games and outsourced to more western studios, and that its arcade operations had been significantly reduced.

Nonetheless, he wrote: "Sega was one of the most active, creative, and productive developers the industry has ever known, and nothing that can happen to their name since will change that.

Sega argued that its most serious problems came from the loss of its creative talent, particularly Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki, after the Sammy takeover, but concluded that "as of this writing, Sega is in its best financial shape of the past two decades.