History of Sega in South Korea

From Sega Retro

HistoryofSegainSouthKorea GamBoy KIECO92.png
South Korea 
History of Sega in South Korea
Official Sega distributor(s): Korea OACS (198x-198x), Samsung (198x-1997), Kama Entertainment (1997-1998), Korea Data Systems (1997-1998), Hyundai-Sega Entertainment (1996-2000), SKC (199x-1998), Wizard Soft (1999-2005), Sonokong (200x-200x), Sega Korea (2003-present)

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South Korea has and continues to see a number of Sega products imported into the country, in addition to producing its own hardware and software for Sega systems.

Background

Arcade era

MSX compatibles

Korean OACS

Korea OACS were responsible for the official distribution of the Sega Mark III.

Samsung

Sega Master System era

A promotional magazine advertisement for Samsung's rebranded version of the Sega Master System, the Gam*Boy.

Most of Sega's home consoles were distributed in South Korea by Samsung. The names were changed because the Japanese products were illegal in this region and thats why the Sega Master System was sold as Gam * Boy (later as Aladdin Boy).

A cartoon depicting a Japanese samurai threatening a South Korean peasant with a copyright infringement claim.

Sega Mega Drive era

Sega Mega Drive was sold as Super Gam * Boy (later as Super Aladdin Boy), Sega Mega CD as CD Aladdin Boy, Sega Game Gear as Handy Gam * Boy and Sega 32X as Super 32X.

In 1994, Sega Digital Communications announced the launch of Sega Channel within a year, however, it is not known today whether this happened.

Sega Saturn era

Sega Saturn was sold as Samsung Saturn. In February 1997, after poor Saturn sales, Samsung exited the gaming business.

Kama Entertainment

In September 1997, Sega Saturn returned this time under its original name. The distributor was Kama Entertainment and Korea Data Systems. Both companies also brought Sega Mega Drive under the original name. Wooyoung System translated games into Korean. Some of the games released by Samsung have been released for the second time.

HiCom

Around 1997, HiCom also imported and distributed the Sega Mega Drive 2 in South Korea, under that name. The label on the bottom of the console says the model number is "MK-1631-08" (08 being the country code for South Korea). It also says SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD." and "MADE IN CHINA".

Hyundai

In 1996 Sega formed a partnership with Hyundai, creating Hyundai-Sega Entertainment to bring arcade games and components to the country. The move was expected to produce $25 million USD in revenue for the two companies[1].

Soon, Hyundai decided to release Sega games on PC. In 1998, the company announced that it will become the distributor of the new Sega Dreamcast console. In late 1999, it was promised that the console would be available in early 2000 but the system was still not released. In May 2000, it was decided that the consoles will be imported in unchanged Japanese version. 25,000 units were sent to Korea before Hyundai broke cooperation with Sega in September 2000. It is unknown if someone later sold Dreamcast in Korea.[2]

PC era

Companies that distributed some Sega computer games:

Today

Since 2003, Sega Korea is a representative of Sega in South Korea.

External links

References

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