History of Sega in Russia
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Russia |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Forrus (1994-1996), Bitman (1996-1997), R-Style (1997-200x), Buka (1996-200x), 1C-SoftClub (200x-present) |
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The modern state of Russia (known officially as the Russian Federation), emerged as an independent state in December 1991, following the demise of the Soviet Union (USSR). The move from a one-party communist state to a more Western-style capitalist society, meant that luxary items such as video games were able to become more widespread. Sega has been involved in the region in various guises since at least 1990.
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Sega Master System
While video games had existed in Russia during the days of the Soviet Union (Tetris being the most well-known example of a Russian video game export), virtually no Western video game companies chose to sell their products inside the bloc.
Curiously Sega had a go at selling the Sega Master System (model no. MK-3096-19) inside the Russian SFSR in 1990. The elusive Russian Master System outputs a SECAM signal (for compatiblity with the Soviet TV standard) and lacks both a card slot and reset button, much like redesigned Master System II console seen elsewhere. Little is known about the console's fortunes, though given its rarity, it is unlikely to have been a success.
Dendy
Russia's video game market is widely considered to have been created when Russian importing company, Steepler, created the "Dendy", an own-branded Nintendo Famicom sourced from Taiwanese manufacturers. At the time, no legislation existed in Russia to protect video game copyrights - while cloning games and hardware was both illegal in much of the world, the Dendy and its derivatives were perfectly legal in Russia - Nintendo could not stop the console's distribution, and didn't.
With a fully fledged marketing campaign, Steepler was able to dominate its home market, but the economical situation in Russia meant that Dendy was out of reach of most consumers, costing several months' worth of the average worker's salary (and indeed in 1993 it was estimated that 39-49% of the population was classed as being in poverty). Steepler were able to bring the costs down as the years went on however, bringing the console into a more affordable price range around 1994.[1]
Forrus
Seeing the success of the Dendy, other distributors tried to get into the act, and through Nissho Iwai (a Japanese firm which had operated in Russia for decades) and its chosen distributor, Forrus, Sega re-entered the Russian market around August 1994. Sega would sell stock to Nissho Iwai, who would sell it to Forrus, who would distribute to retailers across the country.[2]
Under this arrangement, the Sega Mega Drive (model 2), Sega Master System (model 2), Sega Mega-CD (model 2), Sega Game Gear and Sega Multi Mega were officially sold in Russia, with the same selection of PAL games seen in Europe (at least, in regards to first-party releases). However despite widespread publicity and even the commissioning of a weekly television show promoting Sega products, the endeavour appears not to have been a particular success, with the distribution rights getting given to a new company within two years.
Competition
While Sega had an official distributor in Russia, the laws governing copyright had yet to change, meaning Forrus was forced to fight against other distributors armed with clone Sega hardware.
Not content with just marketing Dendy consoles, Steepler used its position of market leader to market its Mega Drive clone, the Pro 16 Bit. Its distribution channels and associated Dendy brand helped drive sales across the nation - at this point the Dendy was synonymous with video games in general, leading to curious situations were consoles would be referred to as "Nintendo Dendys" or "Sega Dendys". Steepler also distributed its products around the wider CIS region (formed by former republics of the USSR) and Baltic States , giving it a territorial advantage over Forrus.
Steepler sold North American and Asian versions of the Sega Mega Drive 2 and Sega Multi-Mega, along with games from both regions, and region converter cartridges. Its Sega operations were cut short in 1994, however, when the company was chosen by Nintendo as the official distributor of the Super NES in former USSR countries. While the agreement permitted the unlicensed Dendy consoles to be sold, sales of rival products (such as Sega) was restricted.[3] The high costs of importing genuine SNES consoles and cartridges from Germany took its toll on Steepler, which folded in 1996.Sega products were also sold by Dendy, a chain of stores created by Steepler, but they also saw limitations from Nintendo. After the collapse of Steepler in 1996, the company continued to sell Sega consoles until 1998.
Other competitors included Kenga and its Mega-Ken Mega Drive clone, and Subor with the SB-16C. The true number of smaller organisations selling imported software or accessories is not known.
Bitman,R-Style and Buka
Another major competitor to Forrus was Bitman, established in November 1994. In addition to marketing NES clones, the company launched its own Mega Drive, the Super Bitman, based on the infamous KW-501 clone console.
Presumably displeased with Forrus' efforts, Bitman was chosen as an official Sega distributor for Russia. At a joint press conference on June 6th, 1996 Sega Europe and Bitman announced that the latter was to become the new distributor for both Russia and the CIS countries. With its own chain of stores, Bitman was able to distribute the Mega Drive 2, Sega Saturn , Sega Mega-CD model 2 , Sega Game Gear, Sega 32X and Sega Pico in addition to the Super Bitman.[4]
In 1997, Bitman was acquired by R-Style, who inherited Sega's distribution agreement. R-Style continued selling the Sega Nomad, Saturn and Mega Drive II in the region until the end of the 1990s.
Representative in 1996 was the company Buka (Бука) who at the same time became a representative of Nintendo and Sony in Russia and CIS.
Bitman print advert
- Sega Russia.jpg
Code writer from the Simba company in 1998
- Russia gaming offer 1998.jpg
Russia gaming offer in 1998
- Bitman Sega offer.jpg
Sega products sold by Bitman
- Buka Sega Rus1.jpg
Buka's offer
- Buka Sega Rus2.jpg
Sega Dreamcast
The Sega Dreamcast also made it to the country, although probably not officially. The hardware came with a translated Russian manual. The late 2002 - 2003 dates seen on documents suggests that these were excess European stock from after Sega sold off their European stocks to Bigben Interactive in April 2001. Games were distributed with custom-made packaging, again potentially without a license.The console has gained some popularity.There were a few companies that translated and sold games:
- Vector (Вектор)
- Kudos
- RGR Studio
- Paradox (Do not be confused with another company that produce games)
- Playzero
- Pinachet Game
1C-SoftClub
Somewhere at the beginning of the 21st century, SoftClub became a distributor of Sega in Russia and CIS, which became a part of the company 1C.More modern games for the PlayStation 2 and beyond seem to be distributed in Russia legally without much concern. The country seems to have adopted the PEGI rating system and games are translated into Russian in a similar manner to other European regions.
Mega Drive Portable
During the mid-2000s when the technology became inexpensive, a new Mega Drive "standard" was adopted by a set of unknown Russian companies under the banner of Mega Drive Portable. Games were placed in custom-made Game Boy Advance-style cartridges and are compatible in a number of different devices, most of whom steal design tips from Nintendo consoles. Once again the legality is questioned.
NewGame Consoles
A company known as NewGame also took it upon themselves to translate Mega Drive games into Russian and produce their own set of consoles - the Magistr Drive.
- Magistr Drive Russia.jpg
Advertisement about Magistr Drive in 2000
- New Game Russia 2.jpg
- New Game Russia 3.jpg
- New Game Russia 1.jpg
Homebrew Games
There appears to be a strong homebrew Mega Drive community in Russia, with many of their creations leaking into the commercial market by dodgy eBay sellers.
AtGames Presence
The only guaranteed official source of Sega games and hardware in Russia throughout its entire history are products created by AtGames, which have a worldwide license to produce Sega consoles. A good chunk of their consoles have been released in the region, including the Arcade Classic and the Arcade Ultimate. Blue and green versions of the Arcade Ultimate appeared in Russia before other regions of the world (namely the UK, in which Blaze Europe introduced the blue variant in 2011), suggesting strong support from AtGames in that region.
The Micro Drive is currently exclusive to Russia.