History of Sega in China

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History of Sega in China


Official Sega distributor(s): Hiroshima Trading (198x-199x), WKK (199x-1994), Dynantar Technology Co., Ltd (1995-1997), Stone International Trading Co., Ltd (1997-1998), Gameson Trading (1999-2000), Matrix Interactive (2001-2002), AtGames (2005-present), CE-Asia (2008-present)

Hiroshima Trading sold first model of Sega Master System in the 80s.^[1]

WKK through his division WKK Industries China distributed Master System II but sales were minimal. Since October 1993, WKK began distribution of Sega Mega Drive model I.^[2]^[3]

From 1994, Sega sued numerous Mega Drive clone producers in China.^[4]^[5]In 1995, Chinese government took actions against piracy of Sega games.^[6]^[7]The piracy of Mega Drive consoles and games was developing at the time and known Chinese producers from that period are Shenchu Electronic^[8], Tianjing Newstar Electronics., Ltd., Subor, BBK Electronics (called also BBG Electronics) and many more. The first unofficial Chinese translators and unlicensed games producers were also established back then like Li Cheng.

The Dynantar Technology Co., Ltd (华星电子科技有限公司) was responsible for the production and sale of Mega Drive 2 and Game Gear^[9] from around 1995. In January 1995, Sega formed Sega Huahan Culture Entertainment to develop, produce and market games for Chinese video arcades.^[10]

In January 1997, Stone International Trading Co., Ltd (四通集团) announced that they have a authorization from Sega to sell Sega Saturn in China. They also announced that are looking for distributors and called existing importers of Saturn to contact the Stone for to authorization of the sales. The company said that they will do inspections across the country and those who will not cooperate will be classified as illegal sellers.^[11] In March 1997, it was announced that the consoles can now be purchased from authorized retailers in Tianjin, Beijing and shipped nationwide for ¥2,400 with 4-disc included.^[12]In the following months, more vendors appeared in other regions. In August 1997, Sega said that they want to sell 40,000 units in the first year.^[13]

In October 1998 Sega and Tianli formed a strategic alliance to produced Mega Drive VCD and DVD Players and distribute them across the country. The video games were distributed on discs with one containing multiple games. The price of such device was around ¥1799.^[14]

Gameson Trading was a distributed Sega Dreamcast from 1999 until June 2000 when consoles were banned^[15]^[16]. Sega.com Asia planned to launch localized internet service for Dreamcast, which was suppose to be available in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou until early 2001 but it's fate is unknown^[17].

Between late 90s/early 2000s Mega Drive clones were still sold. After ban of consoles, some of the models were distributed as educational computers with learning programmes in Chinese, similary to famiclones, because computers were still allowed. There were also a lot of clones disguised as VCD/DVD players.

On June 6, 2001, Sega announced that it would enter the Chinese market with Matrix Interactive. Distribution of the games was to begin on June 15, 2001. Planned to release more than 13 games this year alone and sell 1.5 million games by June 2002 and own 10% of the Chinese games market.^[18]^[19]^[20]

In 2002, Sega began selling Pico in China.^[21] In the same year Sega established Sega of China called at the beginning "Sega (Shanghai) Software Co., Ltd". Despite that, Chinese division began real operations on August 3, 2004.^[22] In the same day, Sega announced that it would enter the Chinese online gaming market. The IT service for Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst was to be provided by Zarva Digital Entertainment, for CTRace by Joyzone Networks, and for Shenmue Online by T2 Technology Holdings.^[23]

AtGames has been distributing games since January 2005.^[24]Plug & Play consoles and portable devices weren't restricted by law.^[25] The ban of the consoles was lifted in 2015.^[26]

In 2008, Sega entered into an agreement with CE-Asia for the distribution of games in the Chinese market. Empire: Total War and Total War: Shogun 2 have been included in the top 10 most popular PC games in China.^[27]In 2013, Shanda Games released Chain Chronicles.^[28]

In 2010s, Sega created Sega Asia which handle regional releases of games,^[29] but not physical distribution.

References

History of Sega by Country
Asia
Afghanistan \| Armenia \| Azerbaijan \| Bahrain \| Bangladesh \| Bhutan \| Brunei \| Cambodia \| China \| Georgia \| Hong Kong \| India \| Indonesia \| Iran \| Iraq \| Israel \| Japan \| Jordan \| Kazakhstan \| Kuwait \| Kyrgyzstan \| Laos \| Lebanon \| Malaysia \| Maldives \| Mongolia \| Myanmar \| Nepal \| North Korea \| Oman \| Pakistan \| Philippines \| Qatar \| Russia \| Saudi Arabia \| Singapore \| South Korea \| Sri Lanka \| Syria \| Taiwan \| Tajikistan \| Thailand \| East Timor \| Turkey \| Turkmenistan \| United Arab Emirates \| Uzbekistan \| Vietnam \| Yemen
North America
Antigua and Barbuda \| Bahamas \| Barbados \| Belize \| Canada \| Costa Rica \| Cuba \| Dominica \| Dominican Republic \| El Salvador \| Grenada \| Guatemala \| Haiti \| Honduras \| Jamaica \| Mexico \| Nicaragua \| Panama \| Puerto Rico \| Saint Kitts and Nevis \| Saint Lucia \| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines \| Trinidad and Tobago \| USA
South America
Argentina \| Bolivia \| Brazil \| Chile \| Colombia \| Ecuador \| Guyana \| Paraguay \| Peru \| Suriname \| Uruguay \| Venezuela
Europe
Albania \| Andorra \| Austria \| Belarus \| Belgium \| Bosnia and Herzegovina \| Bulgaria \| Croatia \| Cyprus \| Czechia \| Denmark \| Estonia \| Finland \| France \| Germany \| Gibraltar \| Greece \| Greenland \| Hungary \| Iceland \| Ireland \| Italy \| Latvia \| Liechtenstein \| Lithuania \| Luxembourg \| Malta \| Moldova \| Monaco \| Montenegro \| Netherlands \| North Macedonia \| Norway \| Poland \| Portugal \| Romania \| San Marino \| Serbia \| Slovakia \| Slovenia \| Spain \| Sweden \| Switzerland \| Ukraine \| United Kingdom
Australasia
Australia \| Fiji \| Guam \| Micronesia \| New Zealand \| Papua New Guinea
Africa
Algeria \| Botswana \| Djibouti \| Egypt \| Eswatini \| Ghana \| Kenya \| Lesotho \| Libya \| Mauritania \| Morocco \| Mozambique \| Namibia \| Nigeria \| Sierra Leone \| Somalia \| Sub-Saharan Africa \| South Africa \| Tunisia \| Uganda \| Zambia \| Zimbabwe

[1] ttps://www.gcores.com/articles/99611

[2] ttps://techmonitor.ai/technology/sega_starts_test_marketing_new_machine

[3] ttps://www.telecompaper.com/news/sega-to-test-market-mega-drive-machines--8854

[4] ttps://techmonitor.ai/technology/chinese_sega_pirate_punished

[5] ttps://www.telecompaper.com/news/sega-wins-copyright-dispute-with-shenzhen-shenchu--35740

[6] ttps://www.telecompaper.com/news/govt-takes-action-against-piracy-of-sega-games--51523

[7] ttps://www.telecompaper.com/news/police-seize-pirated-audiovisual-products--49954

[8] ttps://techmonitor.ai/technology/chinese_sega_pirate_punished

[9] ttps://www.gcores.com/articles/99611

[10] "Sega forms China venture" The Business Times, 5 January 1995

[11] TV Game and PC Game 1/1997 page 80

[12] TV Game and PC Game 3/1997 page 80

[13] ttps://www.telecompaper.com/news/sega-to-sell-saturn-games-console--114366

[14] ttps://bbs.hupu.com/55593248.html

[15] ttps://www.scmp.com/article/320656/accession-segacom-gives-cheong-ming-lift

[16] ttps://www.zhihu.com/appview/p/39495468

[17] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20010208231942/http://www.sega.com.hk/b5/aboutsega/press3.htm

[18] ttps://www.highwaygames.com/arcade-news/sega-to-enter-chinese-game-software-market-in-june-351/

[19] ttps://edition.cnn.com/2001/BUSINESS/asia/06/07/tokyo.segainchina/

[20] ttp://tech.sina.com.cn/h/n/70171.shtml

[21] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140921201103/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-91099802.html

[22] ttp://news.17173.com/content/2004-8-11/n413_329750.html

[23] ttps://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20040803005406/en/SEGA-Enters-China-Market-for-Online-Game-Business

[24] ttps://www.gamespot.com/articles/sega-expands-market-in-china-via-atgames/1100-6115888/

[25] ttps://kotaku.com/why-are-consoles-banned-in-china-5587577>

[26] ttps://www.theverge.com/2015/7/25/9039995/china-ends-ban-on-video-game-consoles

[27] ttp://www.ceasia.cn/e-about.html

[28] ttps://www.techinasia.com/sega-hopes-to-take-chain-chronicles-across-asia-via-an-unexpected-partner

[29] ttps://www.siliconera.com/sega-established-singapore-branch-to-cover-southeast-asia/

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History of Sega in China

From Sega Retro

References