History of Sega in The Gulf
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| History of Sega in The Gulf |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Alesayi United (1992-1999), Red Entertainment Distribution (200x-2019), Geekay Distribution (2019-present) |
In the 70s Kuwait was one of the countries where Sega imported its game machines.[1]
Game consoles as a whole were conceived as a widely accepted form of entertainment only when some markets started thriving, and even before, 8 bit computers were seen as the favorite. MSX, specifically was very popular in the Middle East. Various independent distributors around this region started working to push these new products into market from the hottest games and console makers from the East and west.
It has been documented that Sega began distributing in the Gulf Area in 1992 when they entered into a partnership with the DOTTS Electronics Division. The newly established company Alesayi United became the exclusive distributor. This company was also distributing NES consoles from Nintendo. The sale and advertising of the Sega Master System II console in the Arabian Peninsula began immediately. DOTTS has translated the instructions for the Master System into Arabic. It is worth noting that the second Master System model was promoted, which in the United Arab Emirates was in the PAL G system and in Saudi Arabia in the NTSC version. The games were in the European PAL system.
Subsequently, the import of the Mega Drive II (which was quite a successful product in the region, but had to compete with counterfeits, as in other Asian markets), appeared mainly in the Asian PAL version, although people could come across the European PAL version. The games were in the PAL European system and it's thought that some of them may have had translated manuals by DOTTS into Arabic. Game Gear was also released (unknown specification but games were in European PAL). Apparently it was introduced only after Alesayi took over distribution. The first CD consoles in the region were the Sega Mega CD II and Neo Geo CD, but they were not very successful.
Games that were sold by Alesayi after the end of Dotts are identified by a round white sticker had company logo and a short message that reads this : BEWARE OF IMITATION possibly nod to the catastrophe that plagued this region.
In this region Sega had competitors:
Nintendo: After the Game Boy released, Nintendo possibly had multiple distributors throughout the region until 1994/5 when Itochu UAE office became the sole distributor for the whole region, which could have quite possibly covered the UAE before 1994/5, distributing games and consoles of Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and possibly NES again. The situation of Nintendo in this region in the 90s is confusing and odd however it is known for sure that Itochu started distribution of consoles for the whole region later on. We do not know who the main distributor was before that however. Notably this office did not do a good job of distributing the consoles since they hardly promoted anything and did not supply their products with any identification compared to its sister Greek operations likely due to the fact that this office was very small, and was literally located in the fifth floor of a plaza. Company possibly also distributed Nintendo 64 for a little while.
Sony: Around March 1996, Sony PlayStation was released in this region by the Modern Electronics company that was based in Saudi Arabia. In the end, this console had beaten the Sega Saturn (and Nintendo 64) by a huge margin. Regarding this distributor they have been known to take action for pirated games to push their PAL consoles and games unlike the other distributors who instead chose to ignore this problem.
Famiclones: Piracy was rampant and Famiclones from the Taiwan were widely flooded in less richer areas of the Gulf. They were cheaper than the official and superior NES and thats why NES sold poorly in countries such as Saudi Arabia.
The Mega Drive 32X was also released in the Gulf in Asian PAL system. From that moment on, the Alesaya United logo began to appear on the boxes more often then DOTTS logo. Around 1996, Sega Saturn started the fight with Sony PlayStation. Sega Saturn were likely in the PAL system in this region and the games as well, moreover this console is known to unsurprisingly have performed poorly and thats why in 1999 Alesayi United ceased sales and ended their cooperation with Sega.
From the late 2000s, Red Entertainment Distribution was involved in the sale of Sega products.
Geekay Distribution is an exclusive Sega distributor since 2019.
Planet Sega BurJuman and Sega Republic also operated in the UAE. Majid Al Futtaim Leisure distributed Sega arcade games in the country.
Sega Toys are distributed by NewBoy.[2]