Steepler

https://segaretro.org/images/a/a9/Steepler_logo.jpg

Steepler
Founded: 1991
Defunct: 1996
Headquarters: Russia

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Steepler was IT distributor in former USSR countries, mainly known from Dendy brand.

History

1991-1992

The company was established by Andrey Cheglakov, Maxim Selivanov, Vladislav Undeyev and Rustem Ahiyarov in 1991 and was an official HP distributor in the country.

In 1991, Victor Savyuk heard about the existence of Nintendo which was the leading video game producer in the world. He decided to import counterfeit consoles from Asia and start marketing them in Russia. In 1992 he started looking for a company in Moscow that would be able to do so. He came across Steepler, whose founders he once knew. The company was doing well then and had the money for such a risky venture. At that time, the first Famicom clones in Russia could be found along with the original NES consoles at local distributors, which is why Savyuk wanted to invent, register and promote his own brand. The new console was named Dendy and the logo was created by Ivan Maximov. At the end of the year, console sales began and its TV advertising began.

1993-1994

Sales from December and January confirmed expectations and the console sells well, however, in the following months it did worse. First model sold by Steepler was already outdated and more expensive so they presented new model called Dendy Junior and old one was still on sale as Dendy Classic. The company bega expansion into other territories of the former USSR, founding resellers for Dendy and for licensed IT products. In Autumn 1993, company celebrated success of new console. The growing popularity of the console contributed to the creation of Video Ace Dendy magazine.

In early 1994, Steepler had already sold 1 million consoles in Russia. They decided that they should move all production to Russia to save costs, which meant that they purchased the Tenzor instrument engineering plant, located in Dubna.

Later the company separated with antoher one name Lamport. In the same year, the competition appeared: Kenga (created by Kenga, imported by Kenmaster and distributed by Lamport), Bitman (distirbuted by Bitman with support of R-Style) and Subor. No one was able to beat Dendy. The sale of Mega Drive (some from an official source, some clones) were also started. Another success was the gaming program called Dendy Novaya real'nost' broadcast from 1994 on 2x2 and later on ORT as Novaya Real'nost' .

In late 1994, the company signed a contract with Nintendo to distribute their products in all states of the former USSR countries.The products were imported with help of Austrian company Stadlbauer Marketing and Super Nintendo, Game Boy were released. Steepler also had the right to sell the original NES console but it didn't do that, because Nintendo allowed for further distribution of the Dendy console.

1995-1996

In 1995, Video Ace Dendy split into Velikiy Drakon (independent) and Dendy Novaya real'nost' (supported by Steepler.) In 1996, a new television program called Mir Dendy (MTK) was created, but it wasn't as popular as the predecessor.

In mid-1996 Steepler went out of business. The exact reasons were never given. One of many cited are:

1. Reduction in revenues from the sale of consoles, especially 8-bit consoles. Steepler planned to replace sales of consoles in the future, for sale DVD players and other electronics under his own brand.

2. In 1995, the prices of oil fell in which the company invested and many companies broke contracts with Steepler.

3. Problems related to the automation of the Russian State Duma.

AOZT Dendy

https://segaretro.org/images/d/d4/Dendy_label_1996.jpg

Steepler
Founded: 1994
Defunct: 1998
Headquarters: Russia

AOZT Dendy was chain of stores, establish in August 1994 by Incombank and Steepler. Viktor Savyuk became its general director. This division focused on the distribution of video games, unlike Steepler, which had consoles, software and IT technologies in its stores. Already at the beginning, Steepler became a dealer of Dendy's chain stores. New established company was in its lifespan, the exclusive distributor of Nintendo, Konami, Ocean, Acclaim and Subor in Russia and CIS. The consoles had a special Dendy sticker as to recognizable brand of the stores to everyone. Non-Nintendo products always were labled with Dendy. Delivered by Steepler while Nintendo having Dendy. Exclusive distributor which may suggest that Steepler supplied Dendy's network with non-Nintendo products in exchange for Dendy giving them Nintendo products.

Steepler's fall in 1996 paralyzed Dendy. Of the many dealers in Russia and the CIS, at the very end remained only a few stores in Moscow. Most of the time, prices were constantly raised but in a few months the sale were successful. There were some new consoles, but only in small numbers, because various types of toys became an increasingly large part of the assortment at the time. The last game that was largely advertise by Dendy was Bonza. It was decided to suspend operations in 1998 during the crisis.

Products sold by Steepler/Dendy

8 bit Famicom

• Dendy Classic
• Dendy Classic 2
• Dendy Junior
• Dendy Junior II
• Dendy Junior IIP
• Dendy Junior IVP
• Subor SB-225

Nintendo

• Super Nintendo (PAL and NTSC-U)
• Game Boy (PAL and NTSC-U)
• Virtual Boy (NTSC-U)
• Nintendo 64 (?)
• Game Boy Pocket (?)
• Nintendo Entertainment System (only sale rights)

Sega

• Pro 16 Bit,
• Pro 16 Bit KW-503 version,
• High Quality
• Mega Drive (clone)
• Mega Drive II (PAL originals and clones)
• Sega Genesis CDX (NTSC-U)
• Sega Saturn

Others

• Panasonic 3DO
• PlayStation
• Bonza portable