History of Sega in Poland

History of Sega in Poland
Official Sega distributor(s): Bobmark International (1994-1997), Lanser (1997-2003), CD Projekt (2003-2014), Cenega (2014-present)

The fall of communist Poland in the September of 1989 led to the peaceful transition to the Third Polish Republic in the years that followed. No longer under strict political regimes and the wider sphere of influence from the Soviet Union, Poland was able to open its markets in the early 1990s, enabling the country to import luxary items (such as video game consoles) from elsewhere.Until 1994, Sega consoles reached the state only as a gift for children from people working abroad.

Bobmark

Like many of its contemporaries, Sega did not immediately create distribution channels across the Eastern bloc, so in order to supply video games to the country, local companies were forced to innovate. Bobmark International was among the first companies to enter the Polish market, and in 1992 began distributing Pegasus consoles in the region - a clone of the Nintendo Famicom which also found success across the former Yugoslavian republics around this time.

File:Bobmark 1995.jpg

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The Pegasus line would become the dominant console across Poland, however 1994 saw a change in the law preventing Bobmark from selling another unlicensed system. In response, the company acquired an official distribution license from Sega, and in 1994 began marketing Sega products in the country. Bobmark created a new company, trading as AGES ("Sega" reversed) specifically to distribute these systems.

Alongside the model 2 Sega Mega Drive, Ages would attempt to market the model 2 Sega Mega-CD, model 2 Sega Master System model 2 , Sega Game Gear and Sega 32X in the region.The company was so fascinated with Sega that it started selling games for Pegasus in the same built boxes as for Mega Drive.The products were poorly advertised. In Pegasus' advertisements there was information about the send of the Sega offer, which was for a long time the only sign of Sega. The Polish public were not receptive - no Sega console sold as well as the company had hoped, unlike its Pegasus systems which were far more popular.From the summer 1995 Bobmark gradually took over the duties of the distributor.

In response (and possibly with the blessing of Sega), Bobmark began selling the unlicensed Taiwanese-built KW-501 Mega Drive clone as the Power Pegasus. Released in preparation for Christmas 1995 and hoping to trade off a more successful brand, it too failed to catch on.Once again, Sega related product lost through the lack of proper advertising.

On March 1, 1996 Bobmark completely took over the distribution duties from Ages and released the Sega Saturn on event called Play Box 96.Despite its large advertising campaign like 'Win a car with Sega Saturn', the system fell short of expectations. In end of 1997 the company cancelled its distribution agreement.

In 1996, TCI's technology group got the rights to distribute the Sega Channel in Poland, but it is not known that the service was launched there.

Print advert of Pegasus Golden Five in G.I. Joe (PL) #27: "Marzec 1995" (1995-xx-xx).There is information in the ad:We also send an offer for Sega products to a willing person.

Print advert in Secret Service (PL) #37: "Lipiec/Sierpień 1996" (1996-08-01)
also published in:

• Secret Service (PL) #38: "Wrzesień 1996" (1996-09-01)

Print advert in Secret Service (PL) #36: "Czerwiec 1996" (1996-06-01)

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Win car with Sega Saturn

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Play Box 96

Lanser and Marksoft

In end of 1997 Lanser became Sega distributor and continued sell of Sega Saturn.Since 1998, the sale of Sega PC games has been taken by Marksoft.The first Sega Dreamcast consoles appeared thanks to importers in November 1999 who imported consoles from Western Europe at a price of 1450 PLN.Consoles were called Makaron (eng.Pasta) because of its logo. On October 18, 2000, Lanser signed a contract with Sega to distribute Dreamcast. Premiere announced on December 1,2000. 45 games were promised on the day of the release together with the Polish instruction. In November, the number of games was increased to 49 and 20 new titles have been promised by the end of the year. The consoles had a special voucher on DVD and it was possible to buy it at a lower price.The console was sold with price of 999 PLN.From December 2000 to March 2001, over 10,000 consoles were sold. In March 2001 a price reduction was announced and the console cost PLN 699, which increased its sales.Despite the collapse of the console in the world,Dreamcast was more known in Poland than previous models.

The Sega games released by Empire were distributed by Techland.

Print advert in Secret Service (PL) #52: "Grudzień 1997" (1997-1x-xx)

Print advert in Gry Komputerowe (PL) #44: "3/1998" (1998-xx-xx)

Print advert in Click! (PL) #23-2000: "23/2000" (2000-11-09)

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Dreamcast advert

File:Sega Dreamcast advert PL.jpg

CD Projekt and Cenega

In 2003, CDP became the exclusive distributor of Sega products. The cooperation lasted until 2014 in which the functions of the distributor were taken over by Cenega. This was due to problems in the CDP company.Cenega is still the official representative of Sega in Poland and throughout the Visegrad Group

Sega Mega Drive clones

Many stores started to sell bootleg games knowing that many people have Sega Mega Drive consoles imported from abroad .Games cost less than 50 PLN ($ 15).Before Sega entered Poland, Hegatar Computing started selling the Super Drive console in 1994.The console, however, was not popular and was quickly forgotten.There were many other clones but they were not very popular. Their price was about 300 PLN ($ 80).

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  Super Drive advert

Magic Play

Nowadays, Sega arcades are distributed by Magic Play.