Bobmark International
From Sega Retro
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| Bobmark International | ||
|---|---|---|
| Founded: 1991 | ||
| Defunct: 2007 | ||
Headquarters:
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Bobmark International was a video game distributor in Poland mainly known for the Pegasus console release.
1991-1993
After reforms in Poland in 1989, people set up various businesses. Marek Jutkiewicz started importing cheap clothing from Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. During one of his stays in Taiwan and looking for a cheap supply of trousers, Jutkiewicz encountered a counterfeit Famicom. He spent a week with the console and saw the potential in the console. The sooner he returned to the country.
An investor was needed to create an import company. The savior turned out to be Dariusz Wojdyga, a college friend. Wojdyga came up with the name Pegasus. They started ordering from the Taiwanese console and selling it in the country. To avoid paying more taxes, one of the co-founders of Bobmark was Dane (Peter Horlyck).[1]The console was released in 1991 but gained popularity in 1992. This year, a profit of PLN 30 billion was achieved.
Consoles of the newly founded company began to sell quickly. In addition, the company ran a car workshop where it sold and repaired parts of American cars. In 1993, the company released the Game Boy clone named Pegasus Game Boy and also new line of clones called Action Set but none of this products were as popular as Pegasus. Hoop company was also created to deal with the sale of drinks. However, in addition to drinks, in 1993 it released a new console called the Super Pegasus MT-888DX which was a famiclone modeled on the Super Nintendo. This year, the company generated a profit of PLN 62 billion. It was the biggest profit during its existence. At the end of the year, the first Pegasus games began to appear at the flea market. It was the beginning of the import of the first copies of games and consoles from Taiwan uncontrolled by Bobmark.
1994-1995
In 1994, Bobmark saw a change in the law that showed the issuance of illegal consoles and games. The company acquired licenses to sell games on Pegasus from companies such as Sachen that illegally created the same games on NES. The most successful cooperation was with Codemasters. Selling illegal cartridges was ceased but at the flea market and in stores it was possible to still get illegal cartridges.
Another problem for Pegasus was the competition of other famiclones which were much cheaper. Everyone could buy them in stores or at the flea market. They were Terminator 2, Hunter, Thompsonic 3500/3600 and many more.
Bobmark also decided to get along with Sega. The AGES company was created and in end of 1994, sales of Sega consoles began[2].
In 1995, the company also signed cooperation with Warner Interactive Entertainment, Ocean, Konami, Acclaim, Gremlin, Electronic Arts and Disney to sell their games on PC and consoles.
In January 1995, Bobmark registered trademarks for new line of famiclones called Fenix.
Sega consoles weren't as popular as Pegasus so Bobmark released Power Pegasus which was a clone of Sega Mega Drive[3]. However, it was not successful. In 1995, the company recorded profit for the last time.
1996-2007
On March 1, 1996, Sega Saturn was released[4]. Bobmark launched large advertisement in press, gaming events (Gambleriada, Playbox) and TV (Escape TV on Polonia). Mega Drive got more owners in Poland which Bobmark also noticed.[5] From 1997 Playstation became more and more popular and Saturn began losing which resulted in ending of cooperation with Sega on September 1997. The years 1996-1999 were a time of losses for the company.[6]
It was decided to put more capital into Hoop and since then the founders of Bobmark have been selling refreshing drinks. After 1999, Bobmark was one of Hoop's subsidiaries and was took over by them in 2007.
Gallery
also published in:
- Gry Komputerowe (PL) #24: "3/1996" (1996-xx-xx)[7]
also published in:
- Secret Service (PL) #38: "Wrzesień 1996" (1996-09-01)[12]
- Secret Service (PL) #39: "Październik 1996" (1996-10-01)[13]
- Gry Komputerowe (PL) #28: "9-10/1996" (1996-xx-xx)[14]
- Secret Service (PL) #40: "Listopad 1996" (1996-11-01)[15]
- Gry Komputerowe (PL) #29: "11/1996" (1996-xx-xx)[16]
- Secret Service (PL) #41: "Grudzień 1996" (1996-12-01)[17]
- Gry Komputerowe (PL) #30: "12/1996" (1996-xx-xx)[18]
also published in: Gambler (PL) #36: "11/1996" (1996-xx-xx)
Gambler (PL) #37: "12/1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:
- Secret Service (PL) #40: "Listopad 1996" (1996-11-01)[22]
- Secret Service (PL) #41: "Grudzień 1996" (1996-12-01)[23]
- Secret Service (PL) #43: "Luty 1997" (1997-xx-xx)[24]
Registration card used from the end of 1994. Added to most of the products
Most of the products sold by Bobmark had a warranty seal under the console
References
- ↑ https://www.pb.pl/elektronik-z-meliorantem-187459
- ↑ PSX Extreme 247
- ↑ Top Secret 5/1995 page 58 (announcement)
- ↑ https://retrocdn.net/File:SecretService_34_PL_Bobmark.png
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/swiat_gier_komputerowych_49-1997-1/page/n69/mode/1up
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/gambler_magazine-1998-03/page/n36/mode/1up/search/bobmark
- ↑ Gry Komputerowe, "3/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 32
- ↑ Gambler, "6/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 41
- ↑ Gambler, "7/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 41
- ↑ Gambler, "8/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 33
- ↑ Gambler, "9/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 41
- ↑ Secret Service, "Wrzesień 1996" (PL; 1996-09-01), page 75
- ↑ Secret Service, "Październik 1996" (PL; 1996-10-01), page 71
- ↑ Gry Komputerowe, "9-10/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 67
- ↑ Secret Service, "Listopad 1996" (PL; 1996-11-01), page 71
- ↑ Gry Komputerowe, "11/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 67
- ↑ Secret Service, "Grudzień 1996" (PL; 1996-12-01), page 56
- ↑ Gry Komputerowe, "12/1996" (PL; 1996-xx-xx), page 67
- ↑ File:Kaczor Donald 20-1996 PL Mega Drive.png
- ↑ Kaczor Donald, "22/1996" (PL; 1996-10-24)
- ↑ Kaczor Donald, "25-26/1996" (PL; 1996-12-05)
- ↑ Secret Service, "Listopad 1996" (PL; 1996-11-01), page 76
- ↑ Secret Service, "Grudzień 1996" (PL; 1996-12-01), page 81
- ↑ Secret Service, "Luty 1997" (PL; 1997-xx-xx), page 86
