Sega Technical Institute

The Sega Technical Institute was a video game development division of Sega based in the United States, unlike the AM divisions which were based in Japan.

STI was at one time an elite organization within Sega of America that developed well-received games such as Die Hard Arcade (the result of a team-up between STI and successful arcade game developers AM1), Comix Zone, Kid Chameleon and The Ooze. STI's focus was to create character properties that could be built into a franchise.

Though the original Sonic the Hedgehog was developed in Japan, Sonic Team moved to the STI headquarters for the development of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and several STI members assisted in the development of that game. Sonic Team stayed for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles but did not seek help from STI for the development of those games.

Following corporate shake-ups and a vision of a more streamlined Sega of America, STI found itself gravitating towards localising Sega's Japanese games, with many of its original products being scrapped. It inevitably merged back into Sega of America.

Game development luminaries Mark Cerny and Stieg Hedlund were at one time part of the organization.

Softography

• Kid Chameleon (1992)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) (with Sonic Team)
• Sonic Spinball (1993)
• Comix Zone (1995)
• The Ooze (1995)
• Die Hard Arcade (1996) (with Sega AM1)
• Sonic X-treme (1996; cancelled) (with Sonic Team)
• NFL '97 (1996) (with GameTek)

In addition, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were developed at the STI headquarters, but entirely by Sonic Team with little STI involvement.