History of Sega in Taiwan

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History of Sega in Taiwan
Official Sega distributor(s): Aaronix (198x-198x), Wenmao Co.Ltd (199x-199x), Quanwei (199x-199x), SKC (199x-199x), Media Master Information (199x-200x), Pacific T-ZONE (199x-200x), Sega.com Asia (2000-2001), New Era (2005-2019), Shanda Games (2013-201x), AtGames (2005-present)

Sega has had operations in Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China) since the early 1970s, when Taiwan was one of the countries where Sega imported its game machines, however its dubious political status means it is often confused with the People's Republic of China, otherwise known simply as China. Both modern China and Taiwan were originally united as the same country until 1949, when the Chinese Revolution saw China's ruling party, the Kuomintang, "pushed off" the mainland. Taiwan has since experienced rapid growth and has transformed into a multi-party democratised nation. In contrast, though mainland China is the fastest growing nation in the world, it is exceptionally difficult to market and produce video games in this region due to tight restrictions imposed by the state.

Aaronix

Sega's endeavours in Taiwan are hard to track at the present time, however an early partnership with Aaronix saw officially licensed versions of the SG-1000 (Aaronix first generation), SG-1000 II (Aaronix II), Sega Mark III (Aaronix for the 3rd generation) and Sega Master System (Aaronix for the 4th generation) released in the country.

From Mega Drive to Saturn

Taiwan presumably fits within Sega's definition of "Asia", and has therefore likely received Sega-branded NTSC versions of the Sega Mega Drive (distributed by Wenmao Co.Ltd) and Sega Saturn too (distributed by Quanwei). In 1991, Sangokushi Retsuden: Ransei no Eiyuutachi and Warrior of Rome were translate and release here.

Sega form Sega Amusement Taiwan (later known as Sega Taiwan) in 1992, which maintain a large share of the arcade market in this region, as well as run a Sega World.

Taiwanese factories, as is the case for many Asian countries, are often responsible for the manufacturing of electronics equipment, including video game consoles, accessories and games designed by Sega. However, cheap manufacturing costs and relaxed copyright laws have led to Taiwan being a hub for unlicensed hardware and software too. The majority of unlicensed video games for third and fourth generation video games (such as the NES/Famicom and Sega Mega Drive) originate from the country.

Taiwan was the first country outside of Japan and the U.S. to receive the Sega Channel around September/October of 1995.

Sega introduced Pico to Taiwan and Indonesia in late 1997 and expects to achieve total sales of 330,000 units in both countries by 2000.

Windows PC games from Sega released in late 90s, were distribute by SKC and Media Master Information.

Dreamcast

Pacific T-ZONE distributed Sega Dreamcast and sold 10 000 units at the beginning. Sega.com Asia, online subsidiary of Sega Japan for Asia, from April 2000, and in August 2000, announced that Gigamedia will launch a online service for consoles in early 2001, but it never happened. Sega.com Asia said that Sega sold 400,000 Dreamcast consoles in Taiwan and expects the number to exceed 1.2 million by 2002..

Sega today

After Dreamcast, various games had been distributed by AtGames,New Era and Shanda Games.

Taiwanese developers

Taiwanese companies such as C&E and Realtec have managed to get their unlicensed products overseas, and C&E's Xin Qi Gai Wang Zi (otherwise known as Beggar Prince) was given a global release by Super Fighter Team. C&E would later work with Game Bank to release official Saturn games, and another Taiwanese developer, Softstar Entertainment, received a publisher's license of their own. Koei was one of the first Japanese video game companies to have active operations in both China and Taiwan, so Saturn games such as Sangokushi IV and Sangokushi V have seen official releases in these regions.