Sega Enterprises USA
From Sega Retro
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| Sega Enterprises USA | ||||
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| Founded: 1985-03[1] | ||||
| Defunct: 2008-04 | ||||
| Merged into: Sega of America (2008) | ||||
Headquarters:
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Sega Enterprises, Inc. (USA), colloquially known as Sega Enterprises USA (SEU) was an American subsidiary of Sega Enterprises, Ltd.. It was founded in 1985 to handle North American sales and distribution of Sega's arcade games. This is the second incarnation of a "Sega Enterprises, Inc."; the first attempt (also known as SEI) had its manufacturing facilities absorbed into Bally Manufacturing in 1984[3]. Bally had first refusal rights for any Sega game sold in the US market, however this deal expired in March 1985, allowing Sega to re-enter on their own terms.
SEU was one of two major Sega companies to operate in North Amerca, the other being Sega of America, established in 1986 to handle home consumer products (such as the Sega Master System). Both were subsidiaries of the Japanese operation and reported independently, though frequently worked together on projects as part of the wider Sega group. SEU is thought to have manufactured and assembled arcade games in the US, but the majority of video game research and development occured in Japan. It did, however, license some products developed by third parties, selling them under the Sega banner.
The first products SEU brought to market was the arcade adaption of Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns and the LaserDisc game GP World.
SEU briefly lost control over North American arcade sales after the formation of Sega GameWorks in March 1996, though would continue manufacturing and operations in Latin America. Control of North American sales would be transferred back in August 1998[4].
SEU and Sega of America's co-existence came to an end in 2008, when the two companies were merged.