History of Sega in Romania
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| History of Sega in Romania |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Microrom (1994-1998), Unknown (2000-2002), TNT Games (2004-2012), SKIN Media (2012-2015), Best Distribution (2016-present) |
Romania began its transition away from Soviet-style communism in 1989, and like many of its Warsaw pact neighbours became a more attractive place for foreign Western investers.
From early 90s, Rambo TV Game, a Atari 2600 clone, was released and became the first more known console, that was quickly replaced by famiclones like Terminator 2, the most popular of this clones, which box design resemble Sega Mega Drive 2.
The first console that was available in Romania was the Sega Master System model I. Since 1992, some electronic stores began importing this system from abroad. In 1993, Gero AS SRL began officially distributing arcade machines produced by Sega, Data East, Capcom and Mitchell Corporation[1].
In 1994, Sega began legal sell of it's games in Romania. The representative and exclusive distributor was Microrom, which began importing Master System II, Mega Drive II, Game Gear and Mega CD II[2]. The consoles were funded as prizes in several competitions such as Tom & Jerry – Flintstones – Scooby-Doo Album and Euro 96 Album. Sega entered the market before Nintendo which established it's presents here in late 1995 by Omnitoys, that sold Super Nintendo and Game Boy[3]. Famicom clones appeared on the wave of popularity of Mega Drive in the country, which looked like Mega Drive in a green box from Asian distribution. Besides Famiclones, the market of Mega Drive clones and bootleg games also existed.
In 1995, the Mega Drive 32X was released, and in 1996, the Sega Saturn, which was the last due to poor sales results. System had competition in form of Nintendo 64 (distributed from 1997 by Omnitoys[4]), PlayStation (distributed from 1998 by Sony Romania) and 3DO. Dreamcast has been released in 2000, but has not gained popularity either.
In 2004, TNT Games became a distributor in Romania[5], but in 2012, SKIN Media took over and began distribution of Sega games starting with Football Manager 2013.[6] Since 2016, the distributor is Best Distribution.[7].
Rom Bowling is the exclusive distributor of Sega arcade games in Romania.[8]
References
- ↑ https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/RomaniaLibera_1993_05/?query=Sega+GERO&pg=11&layout=s
- ↑ https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Libertatea_1994_10/?query=microrom&pg=235&layout=s
- ↑ http://www.donald-duck.ro/mickey/1997/04/18.html
- ↑ Computer Games #07 page 97
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050124023222/http://tntgames.ro:80/
- ↑ https://www.businesscover.ro/lansare-football-manager-2013/
- ↑ http://en.cdmediasl.si/about-us/
- ↑ https://www.bizoo.ro/firma/rombowling/despre