History of Sega in Singapore
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| History of Sega in Singapore |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Ocean Radio (1983-198x), Audio & Photo Distributor (198x-1990), Hi-Star Electronics (1990-1993), Wywy Group (1993-200x), New Era (2005-2019), Play Interactive (2016-2018), Epicsoft Asia (2018-present), Sega Singapore (2022-present) |
In the 70s Singapore was one of the countries where Sega imported its game machines.[1]
Ocean Radio brought SC-3000 in 1983.[2]
In the late 1980s, Audio & Photo Distributor sold Sega Master System.[3] Console lost the battle with Nintendo NES.
In the 1989 Sega introduced the first 16-bit game console in Singapore, Sega Mega Drive. From 1989 to 1991 Sega owned 50% of the market. It was the golden age of Sega in Singapore. It introduced some popular games such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Shinobi, Herzog Zwei, and Rambo III. From 1992 to 1995, the market was taken over by Super Nintendo.[4]
From the middle of 1990, Hi-Star Electronics became the sole agent of Sega in Southeast Asia and Gan & Beng Electronics had a showroom.[5]
Sega brought Game Gear to Singapore in 1991. It has adopted some Sega hot games such as Sonic the Hedgehog. It did not overtake Game Boy mainly because little pirated software for Game Gear appeared.[6]
In 1993, Wywy Group began distributing Sega products in this region[7] (Sega Game Gear[8], Sega Mega Drive[9], Sega Mega CD, Multi-Mega[10], Sega 32X[11] all in PAL, NTSC Sega Nomad and Sega Saturn, Mega Drive clone called Magic 2).
In September 1993, first Sega Singapore was founded.[12]
Both PlayStation and Sega Saturn came to Singapore by the end of 1994. The PlayStation has been the number one game console in Singapore since 1996. Sega Saturn has been the distant second. Despite its initial success, it has fallen behind Sony Playstation. One reason is that the pirated CD software for Sega Saturn is fewer in number and higher in price. Unlike Sony PlayStation, Sega has not established a good marketing network. Its products can only be found in video game shops.[13]
Sega was back by launching its 128-bit game console, Dreamcast in Singapore, Hong Kong and some other Asian nations in November 1998. However, the reception of Dreamcast has been lukewarm in Singapore due to high price and limited software.[14]
New Era from 2005-2019 was a distributor.[15]From 2016 to 2018 games were also sold by Play Interactive.
In 2010s, Sega created Sega Asia which handle regional releases of games,[16] but not physical distribution.
In 2018, Epicsoft Asia (represented here by Grand Centrex Limited)[17] was appointed sole distributor of Sega games starting with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Shining Resonance Refrain, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Fist of the North Star and Virtual-On .[18] From 2019, they distributed Genesis Mini.[19]
In October 13, 2022, Sega established Sega Singapore for marketing purpose in Southeast Asia but Epicsoft will still remain as distributor.[20][21]
Passion Marketing distributes toys form Sega.[22]
References
- ↑ File:Sega_Company_Profile_1970.pdf
- ↑ Sega Fun-Tastic! - The Straits Times December 28 1983
- ↑ Your world will never be the same The New Paper November 18 1989
- ↑ Benjamin Ng Wai-ming, "Japanese Video Games in Singapore: History, Culture and Industry"
- ↑ Sega TV Game Set - New Straits Times 1990-08-13 Page11
- ↑ Benjamin Ng Wai-ming, "Japanese Video Games in Singapore: History, Culture and Industry"
- ↑ https://www.klik.com.my/item/story/510297/wywy-plans-to-bring-in-virtual-reality-soon
- ↑ https://www.game-gear.de/othergg.htm
- ↑ https://www.mega-drive.net/othermdsystems.htm
- ↑ https://www.mega-cd.de/othermcd.htm
- ↑ https://www.sega-32x.de/specials/othercountries.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010724034423/http://www.sega.co.jp:80/sega_e/corp/kaisha/history.html
- ↑ Benjamin Ng Wai-ming, "Japanese Video Games in Singapore: History, Culture and Industry"
- ↑ Benjamin Ng Wai-ming, "Japanese Video Games in Singapore: History, Culture and Industry"
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050831023756/http://www.neweraonline.com:80/corp/games.htm
- ↑ https://www.siliconera.com/sega-established-singapore-branch-to-cover-southeast-asia/
- ↑ https://sg.wantedly.com/companies/gcl/about
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/epicsoft/posts/we-are-proud-to-announce-that-epicsoft-asia-pte-ltd-has-been-appointed-as-the-so/10156093727165775/
- ↑ https://www.gamerbraves.com/epicsoft-asia-is-bringing-the-sega-genesis-mini-to-south-east-asia/
- ↑ https://www.kakuchopurei.com/2022/10/sega-opens-new-singapore-branch/
- ↑ https://gettotext.com/sega-opens-a-subsidiary-in-singapore-to-conquer-southeast-asia/
- ↑ http://www.passiongp.com/