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]
History
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.
DOTTS Electronics
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 piracy was very rampant for every single console, 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. Regarding the piracy of games and consoles, the level of the effectiveness of the piracy varied throughout countries: for example in the United Arab Emirates they were nearly non-existent, however in worse countries they were easier to find than official games and consoles.
Alesayi United
There was a change in who was distributing Sega around the middle of 1995. That was because Alesayi Group of Saudi Arabia established the Alesayi United games company which replaced DOTTS, which was also distributing games from Saudi Arabia. This new company, while maintaining ties with the Alesayi Group, was headquartered in UAE, however most operations were still handled from Saudi Arabia. Game Gear was then 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. The Mega Drive 32X was also released in the Gulf in Asian PAL system. From that moment on, the Alesayi United logo began to appear on the boxes more often then DOTTS logo and the switch started to take effect. Around 1996, Sega Saturn started the fight with Sony PlayStation. Meanwhile, the Mega Drive was still very popular, so the Alesayi Group decided to continue selling it in order to still make money, as the Sega Saturn proved to be a hopeless case. The company kept selling Mega Drive II until 1999. This console could still be found in stores by the end of the decade, and of course bootlegs were here to stay and they also continued to sell. Sega Saturn consoles were likely in the PAL system in this region and the games as well, moreover this console is known to have performed very poorly and thats why in 1999 Alesayi Group ceased sales and ended their cooperation with Sega. This left Sega with nobody to deal with the new Dreamcast console, and therefore this console was not officially released here.
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 : BEWARE OF IMITATION. This is probably nod to the catastrophe that plagued this region.
Competitors
In this region Sega had competitors:
Nintendo: After the release of Game Boy, 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 Arabic documentation or material likely due to the fact that this office was very small (it 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. 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.
Neo Geo CD: The Neo Geo CD was distributed by Haley Electronics from Saudi Arabia around 1995. This company had many branches around the country where people could have brought this console and its games.
Goldstar 3DO: Introduced officially in 1995, and distributed by LG Electronics representative Yousef M. Naghi United.
Famiclones: Piracy was rampant and so 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.
Nowadays
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]