1-2-12 Haneda, Ohta-ku
Tokyo 144-8531
Japan
History of Sega Corporation
SEGA Corporation is a developer of software and games for personal computers, wireless devices, and video-game consoles. SEGA, which once ranked as one of the largest manufacturers of consoles, exited the market in 2001 and began making games for platforms marketed by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. The company merged with Sammy Corporation in 2004, becoming a subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., the largest gaming software company in Japan.
Origins
For SEGA, success came at a price. The company did not begin to endure years of hardship until it evolved beyond its modest beginnings and stood as a global contender in a fiercely competitive industry. In its rise in the business world, the company earned esteem as a technological pioneer and, for brief periods, it held sway as the best in its class, but, ironically, its prize for achievement was to become ensnared in a market that nearly caused its own collapse. At those moments of the greatest despair, SEGA executives could be forgiven for wanting a return to the simpler days of the company's existence, back to the considerably less troublesome era that began when SEGA sprang from a small Hawaiian company founded in 1940.
Although SEGA was not incorporated until 1960, the company's roots stretched to a Honolulu-based company named Standard Games. SEGA's predecessor spent roughly a decade in Honolulu before moving to Tokyo in 1951, when it was renamed Service Games of Japan, the immediate predecessor of SEGA Enterprises. Once in Tokyo, the company began importing U.S.-made pinball machines. The pinball business marked the beginning of SEGA's involvement in operating arcades, an aspect of the company's business into the 21st century, but the core of the company--and the source of its much publicized troubles--was not created until the 1980s, when SEGA entered the video-game console market.
SEGA Entering the Console Market in the 1980s
The console market was in its nascence when SEGA joined the fray, years away from developing into what would become a more than $7 billion market. It would prove to be a difficult market for all competitors. A quarter-century after SEGA introduced its first console, no company dominated the market for consoles for more than one generation of machines. SEGA made its debut with the launch of an eight-bit console called the Master System in 1984, the same year the company's path crossed with an individual who would play an important role in SEGA's development. Isao Ohkawa, an enormously wealthy financier, founded an information-processing firm named CSK Corp. in 1968, a company that first invested in SEGA in 1984, eventually becoming the company's largest shareholder. SEGA became a publicly traded company in 1986, two years after the introduction of the Master System, debuting on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
SEGA struggled with its first entry in the cartridge-based console market, but it scored its first and greatest success with its second system. The company unveiled its Genesis console in 1988, introducing a product that represented a technological leap beyond competing systems. Genesis was built with a 16-bit computer chip, enabling it to provide more colors, faster action, and better sound than existing systems. At the time of Genesis' introduction, Nintendo dominated the industry, controlling the market in Japan and holding an 80 percent market share in the United States. An overwhelming majority of consumers--typically adolescents--were using the company's eight-bit console to play "Mario Bros.," Nintendo's most popular video game, but with Genesis SEGA had a formidable riposte. The company's "Sonic the Hedgehog" video game was hugely popular, tied to a 16-bit console that was superior to Nintendo's eight-bit console because it processed twice as much data at a time. To SEGA's further benefit, Nintendo had the capability to introduce a 16-bit console, but the company chose to wait while it milked whatever it could from the eight-bit market. Nintendo waited until the fall of 1991 to introduce its 16-bit system and SEGA took full advantage of the delay, quickly becoming one of the fastest growing companies in Japan.
Genesis gave SEGA a taste of the rewards a dominant console could deliver, whetting its appetite for similar success with its next generation of technology. By the mid-1990s, gaming had advanced to 32-bit consoles, with the competitive race intensifying as technological capabilities advanced. Both the games and the consoles--the software and hardware--were becoming increasingly expensive to produce, requiring vast sums of money and considerable labor to bring to market. SEGA, as it worked on developing its 32-bit console, faced its familiar foe, Nintendo, which had learned its lesson with the belated launch of its NES system, and a new, towering competitor. The industry was abuzz about the expected entry of Sony Corp. in the console market, a company whose enormous wealth and proven technological expertise gave SEGA and Nintendo little room for error. SEGA introduced its 32-bit system, Saturn, in Japan in 1994 and in the United States in mid-1995, but ineffective marketing coupled with a wait-and-see-what-Sony-introduces attitude by consumers doomed Saturn nearly from the start. After much fanfare leading up to the launch, Sony released its 32-bit PlayStation in September 1995 and quickly crushed all competitors. By December 1995, in the midst of the all-important holiday shopping season, PlayStation was outselling Saturn by a ratio of seven-to-one.
The failure of Saturn to capture the interest of gamers delivered a crippling blow to SEGA. The company began to record devastating financial losses, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in the years immediately following the launch of Saturn. Vital financial support was provided by its chairman, Isao Ohkawa, who kept the company alive with cash infusions. The precarious financial state of SEGA put added pressure on the development of the company's next console, whose success or failure likely would determine whether SEGA would survive or not. "We wanted a return match," a SEGA employee remarked in a March 28, 2001 interview with the Financial Times. "We said, 'We'll get them next time.'"
Dreamcast Taking Shape in the Late 1990s
Work was underway on the company's next system one year after the U.S. launch of Saturn, a project begun at a meeting in Tokyo's shopping district, Shibuya, in 1996. The project was known to select SEGA employees under the code-name Katana (an ancient Japanese sword), a project that would produce a console known to the public as Dreamcast. As the project progressed, Dreamcast was developed as a 128-bit system with a built-in modem enabling online play and the ability to download supplements to existing software. Other console designers were shying away from developing systems capable of connecting to the Internet, theorizing that widespread broadband connections would be needed to make online gaming perform suitably, but SEGA executives charged ahead. As it turned out, however, the problem was that SEGA executives were not all charging in the same direction. The enormous pressure on the success of Dreamcast led to an extended decision-making process and to bickering among senior executives, setting the company up for another fall, one that had the potential of being fatal.
Between 1996 and 1998, the debates about Dreamcast's development occupied the attention of SEGA's senior management. Executives argued about the specifications of the graphics chip--the heart of a video game console--which represented 70 percent of the cost of a console. "We wasted three months on the chip debate," a SEGA executive said in a March 28, 2001 interview with the Financial Times. As management discussed which type of chip to use, memory prices swelled by 40 percent, greatly increasing manufacturing costs. Executives also mulled over whether to add networking capabilities for months, with some arguing that adding a modem would increase the cost of the console beyond the price consumers would pay. Other debates centered on the launch of Dreamcast, a battle fought between those who wanted to introduce the console in Japan first and those who believed it should be introduced first in the United States, the company's second largest market. By 1998, the bickering was over. The 128-bit, modem-equipped Dreamcast debuted in Japan in November 1998 backed by the exuberance of Shoichiro Irimajiri, SEGA's president and the second leader to oversee the Dreamcast project. "We're not really going to compete with Sony or Nintendo," Irimajiri explained in a December 7, 1998 interview with Business Week. "We're going to blow them out of the water."
Despite the protracted debates about various matters related to Dreamcast, critics found little wrong with the console. After the September 1999 launch of the system in the United States, American consumers found little wrong with console as well. Within 24 hours, a quarter-million units were sold. Within five days, 400,000 Dreamcasts were sold, double the company's expectations. Irimajiri's tone, however, contained less enthusiasm than during the console's launch in Japan. "If Dreamcast fails, there is no plan B," he told the Financial Times in an October 14, 1999, interview. Perhaps some of Irimajiri's hesitance stemmed from two problems that occurred before the console was launched. Because of the delay in providing chip specifications, the development of software for the console was stunted. Further, a week before the launch in Japan, the manufacturer of the graphics chip informed SEGA that it could supply only 25 percent of the requested amount of chips by the launch date. When Dreamcast entered the Japanese market, there were only 200,000 consoles available instead of the expected 600,000. Instead of 15 games being available at the launch, the delay in providing chip specifications limited new Dreamcast owners to an offering of only four games. In Japan, many gamers opted against purchasing Dreamcast, preferring to wait for the much heralded arrival of Sony's PlayStation 2, which boasted more memory and better graphics than Dreamcast.
Poor management again had tripped up SEGA, delivering a stinging blow to an already injured company. SEGA, largely because of Saturn, lost $412 million in 1999, while sales slipped 12 percent to $2.2 billion. In 2000, the company lost $398 million. Irimajiri stepped down as president in May 2000, replaced by Ohkawa, who was watching his 22 percent investment in Saga plummet in value. The company still ranked as the third largest console maker, but its size offered little solace to senior executives. "SEGA is now facing a difficult live-or-die stage," a video game analyst remarked in a July 1, 2000 interview with AsiaWeek. "The next year is crucial."
Before the next year was over, SEGA executives made a decision that marked a profound turning point in the history of their company. With Dreamcast failing to deliver expected results and Microsoft preparing for worldwide launch of its console, X-Box, management announced it would exit the console market. Production of Dreamcast systems ended in March 2001, removing what a SEGA spokesman, in a March 7, 2001, interview with Investor's Business Daily, described as a "ball and chain around our ankle." Instead of making consoles, SEGA officials decided to develop games for the other consoles, fashioning itself as a third-party software publisher.
After exiting the console business, SEGA officials expressed relief that the long-fought battle in the hardware market was over. The company's losses did not end immediately, however. The cost of ending Dreamcast production resulted in $689 million in extraordinary losses, contributing to another money-losing year in 2002, when the company's revenue volume was half the total generated a decade earlier. In 2003, thanks largely to growth recorded in its arcade equipment business, the company posted its first annual profit in six years, providing an encouraging sign that a turnaround was underway. As the company celebrated a return to profitability, attention turned to the intriguing announcement that a merger was in the works, an announcement that marked the beginning of another SEGA saga.
Merger Discussions in the 21st Century
In March 2001, just as the production of Dreamcast consoles was winding down, Isao Ohkawa died. The senior executives who replaced the founder of CSK began pressing for a merger, seeking to reduce SEGA's mounting debt by aligning their investment with another corporation. Toward this end, SEGA announced in February 2003 that it had agreed to merge with Sammy Corporation, the largest manufacture of pachinko machines in Japan. The merger was set to be completed in October 2003, when Sammy would gain entry into the game-publishing business in the United States and SEGA would receive the financial help it needed. Within weeks, SEGA officials began looking for a way out of the deal, reportedly because they felt pressured by CSK, SEGA's largest shareholder, to complete the merger. In April 2003, SEGA executives believed they had received the help they wanted when Namco Ltd., a Japanese developer of gaming software, submitted its own proposal to merge with SEGA. Both deals collapsed, however, with Namco withdrawing its proposal in May 2003 and negotiations with Sammy breaking down over numerous issues, including management control.
SEGA's merger with Sammy was revived in 2004. In January, Sammy acquired the 22.4 percent stake held by CSK, paying $419 million to become SEGA's largest shareholder. In May, a $1.4 billion merger agreement between the two companies was announced, with the completion date for the transaction set for October 2004. The two companies merged in October, creating Sega Sammy Holdings Inc., the largest computer entertainment company in Japan. As SEGA, with Sammy alongside it, prepared for the future, the company faced several years of integrating its operations with those of Sammy. The process was expected to take until 2007 to complete. In the years ahead, the value of the merger would be determined, revealing whether SEGA's role as a software developer represented a business foundation capable of reversing more than a decade of troubles as a console maker.
Principal Subsidiaries: SEGA of America, Inc.; SEGA Enterprises, Inc. (U.S.A.); SEGA Europe Ltd.; SEGA Amusements Europe Ltd.
Principal Competitors: Electronic Arts Inc.; Konami Corporation; Namco Holding Corporation.
Related information about Sega
is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console
manufacturer. The company has had success in both arcades and the home console
market, but in early 2001, they left the consumer console business
and began concentrating on software development for multiple
platforms.
Sega's main offices, as well as the main offices of its domestic
division, Sega of Japan, are located in Ota, Tokyo, Japan. Sega's European division, Sega of
Europe, is headquartered in the Chiswick area of London, England, United Kingdom. Sega's North American division, Sega of America, is
headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.
History
1940-1988
Sega was originally founded in 1940 as Standard Games
(later Service Games) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA www.sega.com/corporate/corporatehist.php?item=corporate_history,
by Martin Bromely, Irving Bromberg, and James Humpert to provide
coin-operated amusements for American servicemen on military bases.
Bromely suggested that the company move to Tokyo, Japan in 1951 and in May 1952 "SErvice
GAmes of Japan" was registered.
In 1954, another American businessman David Rosen
fell in love with Tokyo and established his own company, Rosen
Enterprises, Inc., in Japan to export art. Within a year, the new
company released a submarine-simulator game called "Periscope" that
became a smash-hit worldwide.
In 1969, Gulf+Western purchased Sega, and Rosen was allowed to
remain CEO of the Sega division. In the videogame arcades, Sega
was known for producing Frogger and creating Zaxxon. Sega's revenues would hit $214 million by 1982
and in 1983, Sega would release their first video game console (the
SG-1000), the first 3D
arcade video game (Subroc-3D, which used a special periscope viewer to
deliver individual images to each eye), and the first action-based
laserdisc arcade game
(Astron Belt).
In the same year, Sega was hit hard by the video game
crash. Nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, and Rosen became
head of its subsidiary in the United States.
In 1984, the multi-billion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega
Enterprises Ltd., headquartered it in Japan, and two years later,
shares of its stock were being traded on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange. Sega would also release the Sega Master System
and the first Alex
Kidd game, who would be their mascot until 1991 when Sonic the
Hedgehog took over.
1989-2001
With the introduction of the Sega Mega Drive in 1989, Sega launched itself
internationally as the second-largest vendor of consumer video game
products, behind their former main rival, Nintendo. In addition Sega
would use the reallocated Sega Master System rights from Tonka to help expand the size of
its game library. By reviving 8-bit
titles, Sega was providing ready-to-go budget titles sold at half
the price of 16-bit games. The Power Base
Converter allowed existing Sega Master System owners to keep their library of
games for the 16-bit era. Other additions include a first-party
magazine called Sega
Visions.
To carry the momentum to the 2nd generation of games, Sega of
America launched a direct anti-Nintendo campaign with slogans such as "Genesis does
what Nintendon't". Sega also rebranded themselves with a new
mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog and implied that Sonic (given his
attitude-focus and
fluid gameplay) was cooler than Mario, Nintendo's mascot. However, Sega's share of the
market would plummet in 1994 to 35% after Nintendo released key
franchise titles for the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System such as Donkey Kong
Country and Super Metroid, as well as bad public reaction in
Sega's eventual business decisions when releasing poorly sold
add-on features to the console such as the Sega 32X and the Sega CD.
In 1994 Sega, in association with TimeWarner, launched The Sega Channel, a
subscription-based cable network in the United States that provided
video games to owners of the Sega Genesis. On July 20, 1994, Sega
launched its second theme
park Joypolis in
Yokohama with a complex measuring 12,000 square metres, over 8,250
of which is dedicated to amusements.
Sega also released the Sega Saturn in Japan in 1994 and later in North America
in 1995 (and also planned to release the Sega Neptune). With one
last effort for Sega to redeem themselves from overwhelming debt
they launched the Sega Dreamcast in Japan in 1998 and in North America
later on September 9, 1999 (with the marketing ploy 9/9/99). The
Dreamcast at the time became the fastest-selling video game console
until the 2000 launch of Sony's PlayStation 2 (which was one of the many reasons Sega
discontinued the Dreamcast).
Robert Deith was the Chairman of Sega Europe throughout most of
this time.
Although the Dreamcast had a relatively successful release, it
failed to gather a foothold in the market against the Sony PlayStation, the Nintendo 64, and the release
of the PlayStation
2, which had the market to itself until Microsoft and Nintendo entered
the sixth generation of video game consoles, although the
PlayStation 2 would continue its market lead throughout the
era.
In 2000, Sega Enterprises, Ltd. was renamed Sega
Corporation. In 2001,
Sega discontinued the Dreamcast and ended its run as a video game hardware
manufacturer. The company has since evolved primarily into a
platform-agnostic software company (known in some gamer circles as
a "third-party publisher") that creates games that will work on a
variety of game consoles produced by other companies, including
Nintendo's GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and
Nintendo DS,
Sony's PlayStation 2 and PlayStation
Portable, and Microsoft's Xbox
and Xbox 360, and the
soon-to-be-released Playstation 3 and Wii.
In 2003, Sega fell on extremely hard times, and after the death of
CSK founder Isao Okawa in 2001, who spent over US$40 billion to
help Sega, CSK put Sega on the auction block. Discussions also took
place with Namco, Bandai, Electronic Arts and
Microsoft.
During the middle of 2004, Sammy bought a controlling share in Sega
Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion, creating the new company
Sega Sammy
Holdings, one of the biggest games companies in the
world.
Sega recently bought the rights to all output from Sports Interactive,
makers of Football Manager (the old Championship
Manager).
On January 25, 2005, Sega sold Visual Concepts, a second-party
developer known for many Sega Sports games including the
ESPN NFL
Football series (formerly NFL2K) to Take Two
Interactive for $24 million. Take Two subsequently announced
the start of the publishing label 2K Games because of this purchase.
On March 9, 2005 Sega acquired developer Creative Assembly best
known for their strategy games Medieval: Total
War and Rome: Total War.
On September 12, 2005, It was announced that Sega would be working
with Petroglyph to create a Modern Military/Sci-fi Real-time strategy
game for PCwww.petroglyphgames.com/press/segaann.html. The SG-1000
was never released in North America, however, it was released in Australia, New Zealand, and many
European nations such as Italy and Spain.
In 1984, Sega released an updated version of the SG-1000 called the
SG-1000 Mark II and a computer version called the
SC-3000. The SG-1000 and the SG-1000 Mark II, while having
some minor success were both overshadowed by Nintendo's Famicom, which was released in
Japan in 1983.
Master System
In an attempt to compete with Nintendo's popular Famicom, in 1985 Sega updated
and released the SG-1000 Mark III in Japan. The Master
System was discontinued in 1992 in Japan and North America, having never achieving any real foothold
on the console market in these regions; Due to its success in
Europe, Sega supported
the Master System there until 1996.
Additionally, Sega also released the Master System II and
Master System III, which were less-expensive and
less-popular retooled successors to the Master System. The Master
System III was only available in Brazil and, as of 2006, is still being manufactured by
Tec Toy and being
constantly updated. It was a 16-bit console created to rival the TurboGrafx 16. Even though
it was released earlier than the SNES, Sega had a hard time
overcoming Nintendo's dominating foothold on the video game console
market, which in the late-1980s was 95% in North America and 92% in
Japan. The Mega Drive also
did well in Brazil,
Europe, and Australia; Similarly, the Mega
Drive has been kept alive in Brazil by Brazilian company TecToy as an ultra-low-end console to this day.
Throughout its lifetime, Sega developed and launched two
unsuccessful well-known add-ons for the Genesis, the Sega CD and the Sega 32X. It also released a
peripheral, Sega
Meganet, which was a modem for the Mega Drive. Its main rivals were the
Sony
PlayStation (also released in 1995) and the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System until the 1996 introduction of
the Nintendo
64.
In North America, the Saturn was a failure partly due to its
initially high $400 price tag, (compared to $300 for the PS1 and
$200 for the N64), and perhaps because of the poor support for
previous Sega Mega Drive/Genesis add-ons, the Sega 32X and the
Mega/Sega CD. Though some highly regarded games were released on
the console, such as Sonic Team's NiGHTS into Dreams... and Burning Rangers, the
Saturn was never really a success in the West. Some of the system's
high points were its numerous arcade ports from the Model 2 hardware, the Sonic
Team offerings, Dragon
Force, and the legendary Panzer Dragoon and Shining Force series. The Saturn never received a
proper 32-bit platform game of the Sega mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog,
since Sonic Xtreme
was cancelled after a long and troubled development process.
The general public may remember the Saturn as a console that failed
because of poor business decisions and a changing market, but many
"hardcore" gamers remain loyal to the console, considering it the
absolute peak of 2D gaming, thanks to its extensive library of 2D
fighters and "shmups".
The following are some of the more notable, highly sought-after,
and expensive games on the Saturn: Radiant Silvergun,
Panzer Dragoon
Saga (AKA AZEL: Panzer Dragoon RPG), Street Fighter
ZERO3, NiGHTS
into Dreams..., Burning Rangers, Super Vehicle 001: Metal Slug, Shining Force 3,
Guardian Heroes,
Astal, Saturn Bomberman,
Vampire Savior,
Christmas NiGHTS, Fighters Megamix, X-Men vs. Street
Fighter, Soukyugurentai, and The House of the
Dead.
Dreamcast
Sega's final video game system was to be the Sega Dreamcast,
released in Japan in 1998
and in the United
States on September 9th, 1999. However, the Dreamcast failed to
recapture the market share lost to Sony's PlayStation and other
"next-gen" systems including Nintendo's N64. For many people who only had game systems it
was their first taste of the Internet, and Sega attempted to
capitalize on the fact that it was the only Internet-capable
console at the time by releasing games that could play over email
including Sega Swirl,
playable online titles such as ChuChu Rocket and Phantasy Star
Online (which is still a popular online series on multiple
consoles) and offering online features for other games. As of
mid-2005, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox both feature online gameplay
for numerous games, however, the GameCube's only online games are
Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II, III, and Plus.
The Visual Memory
Unit memory module used for saving game data also functioned as
a portable gaming device playable away from the console. Some
console games allowed the player to load a mini-game onto the VMU -
Skies of
Arcadia's Pinta's Quest for example had the player collect
items which they would receive when they went back to the full
game. Software support in Japan, however, continues into 2006, with
the upcoming release of Radilgy and Under Defeat.
Handhelds
Sega Game Gear
In response to Nintendo's Game Boy release in 1989, Sega developed and released
their first handheld to the market called Game Gear.
Initially released in 1990 in Japan, it was later released to the North American market in
1991 and subsequently to Europe and Australia in 1992. It also generated its own light
without the need for attachments, which Nintendo did not do until
the Game Boy
Light came out in Japan, but not until the Game Boy Advance SP
for the United States. Since the Master System and the Game Gear
were both based on a similar Z-80 architecture, a third party released a peripheral
called the Gear Master Converter, which allowed the Game Gear to
play Master System cartridges.
Sega Nomad
The Sega Nomad was
released in 1995 in North
America only; Sega attempted to get back into the handheld market
with the Sega Nomad, which was essentially a portable Sega Genesis.
Other systems
- Sega Multi-Mega/Sega CDX - an Audio CD portable with the
functionalities of a Sega Mega
Drive/Sega Genesis and Sega Mega-CD/Sega CD. Only two empty cases are known
to exist.
- Sega Pico - an
educational computer.
- Sega PC - a division or label of Sega that produced PC versions of Sega
games.
Arcade system boards
In addition to home consoles and portable handhelds, Sega has
been a major proponent of games and hardware in the arcades. in collaboration
with Nintendo and
Namco
Franchises
Sega developed several well-known game franchises over the last
fifteen years:
-
Panzer
Dragoon - 3D linear shooting series (rail shooter) similar to
Star Fox in
gameplay.
-
Phantasy Star series - Role playing games, in
single player and MMORPG versions.
-
Sega
Sports - Football, basketball, hockey, and tennis games
(formerly published under the ESPN label)
-
Sonic the Hedgehog - 2D and 3D platform games
starring Sega's well-known mascot, Sonic.
-
Shinobi - Ninja action 2D and 3D platform
games.
-
Virtua
Fighter - One-on-one fighting games, released in arcades
and at home. (You can find info on Shining Force at Xtremesega's website)
- Streets
of Rage - also known as Bare Knuckle, a 2D side-scrolling
beat em up set in a
city filled with crime
- Golden Axe - a
side scrolling 'hack 'n' slash' beat em up with a swords and sorcerry
setting
- Shenmue acclaimed
role-playing games featuring hundreds of Sega Cameos
-
The House of the Dead - A 3D light gun shooter with
zombies.
-
Crazy
Taxi - A mission-based driving game.
-
Sega
Rally - An arcade oriented 3D driving game.
-
Alex Kidd
- Sega's mascot before Sonic. Popular action games from the
1980s and 1990s.
-
Fantasy
Zone - The player controls a sentient spaceship named
Opa-opa who fights
nonsensical enemies.
- Ecco the
Dolphin - graphically impressive series of games featuring a
dolphin as the playable character
-
Wonder
Boy - The "Wonder Boy" is a caveman-like character who
must save his girlfriend who has been captured by a
monster.
-
Virtual On
- A robot themed simulation/fighting arcade game series, with a
unique control layout. In 2000 Sega decided to turn their AM
teams into second-party developers that would focus on software
development for the Sega Dreamcast video game console.
Additionally, after the first Sonic the Hedgehog game
was released, Sega AM8 changed its name to Sonic Team and have since
maintained this name.
Original name
|
New name
|
Notable titles
|
AM1 |
Wow
Entertainment |
House of the Dead series, Sega Bass
Fishing series, Die Hard
Arcade, Dynamite Cop
|
AM2 |
Sega-AM2 |
Virtua
Fighter series, Virtua Cop series, Daytona USA, Out Run series, Shenmue series,
Space
Harrier, After Burner, Ferrari F355
Challenge, Fighting Vipers
|
AM3 |
Hitmaker |
Crazy
Taxi, Virtual On and Virtua Tennis
series
|
AM4 |
Amusement Vision, Ltd. |
Super Monkey Ball series, Virtua
Striker series, F-Zero GX/AX
|
AM5 |
Sega
Rosso |
Initial D Arcade Stage racing game
series
|
AM6 |
Smilebit |
Jet Set
Radio series, Panzer Dragoon
Orta
|
AM7 |
Overworks |
Streets of Rage series, Shinobi
series, Skies of Arcadia, Phantasy Star
series
|
AM8 |
Sonic
Team |
Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS Into
Dreams, Burning Rangers, Chu Chu
Rocket, Phantasy Star Online, Puyo Pop,
Billy
Hatcher, Samba de Amigo
|
AM9 |
United Game Artists |
Sega Rally Championship, Sega Rally 2,
Space
Channel 5 series, Rez
|
Digital Media |
Wave Master |
Concentration on music tools and sound
design
|
Although the teams were separate there was a healthy sense of
competition between the various teams which had resulted in
some of the most remarkable and innovative gaming events. In
2003 United
Game Artists was merged with Sonic Team. #3, headed by Mie Kumagai
- Racing Games R&D Dept., headed by Kenji Arai
- Sports Design R&D Dept., headed by Takayuki
Kawagoe
- Family Entertainment, headed by Hiroshi Uemura
People
Yu Suzuki -
Previously the head of AM2, and is attributed with being behind numerous arcade
classics including Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner II, and Virtua Fighter, just
to name a few. In 2003's internal restructure, he formed a new
internal studio named Digitalrex, which was reintegrated into Sega
before finishing any games.
Yuji Naka - The head
of Sonic Team and
responsible for internal QA procedures. Naka made a name for
himself in 1991 as lead programmer of Sonic the
Hedgehog (16-bit), though his previous work includes
Phantasy
Star, Space
Harrier and Fist of The North Star / Hokuto no Ken
(released on Sega Mark
III in 1986) renamed Last Battle on Master System and re-released as Sega Ages 2500
Series Vol.11 on Playstation2 in 2004. In 2004 his team was merged with
United Game
Artists, giving the team control over Rez and Space Channel
5.
Toshihiro
Nagoshi - Headed up Amusement Vision and is head of the Sega Creative
Control centre. In 2003, he served as the producer for the Nintendo and Sega collaborative
GameCube effort
F-Zero GX
alongside Shigeru
Miyamoto. He has been a regular columnist for Edge Magazine
in the UK.
Tetsuya
Mizuguchi - Headed United Game Artists and created critically acclaimed
games such as Sega Rally Championship, Space Channel 5, and
Rez. After the
Sega-Sammy merge, he left Sega to head Q Entertainment, which
has now released Meteos and Lumines for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation
Portable, respectively. Accolade case, which involved independently produced
software for the Sega
Genesis console that copied a small amount of Sega's code. Sega
was attempting to "lock out" game companies from making Genesis
games unless they paid Sega a fee (ostensibly to maintain a
consistent level of quality of games for their system.) Their
strategy was to make the hardware reject any cartridge that did not
include a Sega trademark.
Sega Content Guidelines
During its tenure as both a hardware and software manufacturer,
Sega had developed a Sega Seal of Quality, similar to the Nintendo Seal of
Quality to avoid the pitfalls that were often seen as the
causes for the Video Game Crash of 1983. ("Follow Sega!", used in
Brazil during the early 90's)
References
- Sega's entry into and growth in the American market is
documented in Terry
Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in
Japan.
This web site and associated pages are not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sega Corporation and has no official or unofficial affiliation with Sega Corporation.