History of Sega in Canada
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Canada |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Irwin Toy (1987-1993), Sega of Canada (1993-2001), SJS Group (2001-2005), Sega of Canada (2005-present) |
Sega has been supplying Canada with video games for almost as long as the United States. Earlier arcade games were most likely imported from the US and it is mostly assumed that whatever the US received, Canada also received (albeit in smaller numbers). As such, the history of Sega in Canada is much like the history of Sega in the United States. Canada is covered by Sega of America along with the US and Mexico.
From 1987, Irwin Toy were responsible for distributing the Sega Master System in Canada. Due to the large number of French Canadians, packaging and manuals were often translated into French, or imported from Europe. Canada used USA TV adverts to promote all of Sega consoles, which were often translated into Canadian French.
Canada received the Sega Mega Drive in the form of the Sega Genesis, just like in the US. Some Canadian Mega Drive games adopt European-style packging but use the Sega Genesis logo instead. After the formation of the ESRB (adopted by Canada), Canadian packing has often been identical to their US counterparts, save for added French translations. This system continues to exist today.
Irwin gave up as Canadian distributor of Sega in 1993, with Sega of Canada, a subsidiary of Sega of America taking over. Canada received the Sega Channel through Shaw Cable.
Between late 1990s and early 2000s, distribution of Sega arcades was in hand of New Way Sales Company and Pacific Vend Distributors[1].
In August 2001, after Dreamcast end, Sega of Canada was replaced with SJS Group, wholly owned division of Hip Interactive[2], but in 2005, Sega returned with SoC.