History of Sega in Israel
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Israel |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Bug Multisystem (1990-1993), Suny Electronics (1993-1998), Hed Arzi (200x-present) |
In around 1990, Bug Multisystem became the distributor of Sega on the Israeli market and began importing Sega Master System. The cartridges for the Master System had a sticker with a warning in Hebrew. In addition to advertising for products, the company began organizing game tournaments where there was an option to play and win Sega consoles. The Master System has been well received in Israel. It was so good that the newer Sega consoles appeared in 1992, when Mega Drive, Game Gear and Master System II appeared on the Israeli market. All systems were in the European PAL system. The cooperation lasted until 1993, when Bug decided to focus on the promotion and distribution of Nintendo consoles.
During this time, Sega became the object of interest to businessman Ilan Ben-Dov, who imported Sega consoles since about 1987. In 1991, he founded Suny Electronics, which sold Sega and Nintendo (mostly famiclones) products.
From 1993, his company began to be known as STV-Sega Israel. From then on, consoles began appearing in Israel very close to the European premiere. Every system released by Suny was the same as in Europe, and this year, active promotion of Sega products began, including the newly released Mega Drive II and Mega CD II. The company has also started tackling Mega Drive console clones and US imported versions through ads showing the differences between the products. A black seal with a yellow Sega logo and yellow Hebrew inscriptions was placed on each original console. The game boxes, on the other hand, had a white sticker with Hebrew inscriptions. In the following years, the Mega Drive 32X and Sega Saturn appeared.
In 1996, Sega Enterprises Israel was created .The company was involved in importing arcades to Israel.[1] From 2007, the name was changed to Astela Asets & Investments Ltd[2].
In 1996, TCI's technology group got the rights to distribute Sega Channel in Israel , but it is not known that the service was launched there.
In 1998, Suny broke the deal and began distributing Samsung cell phones. In the same year, importers released Sega Nomad in Israel.
Sega Dreamcast was also released in Israel but it went without much interest.
Nowadays, the representative of Sega is Hed Arzi.[3]Red Vault from Red Entertainment Distribution (Sega distributor in the MENA region) was also available in this country.
Master System warning sticker
Other version
External links
- https://datacheck.co.il/company.asp?ID=511691396
- https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=138575