History of Sega in South Korea
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in South Korea |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): HiCom (198x-199x), Korea OACS (198x-199x), Samsung (198x-1997), Kama Entertainment (1997-1998), HiCom (1997-199x), 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.
Contents
Background
Arcade era
MSX compatibles
HiCom/Korean OACS
HiCom and Korea OACS were responsible for the official distribution of the Sega Mark III.
Samsung
Sega Master System era
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).
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
Samsung began marketing the Sega Pico as Pico from March 1995 and Sega Saturn as Samsung Saturn from November 1995. In February 1997 when after poor Saturn sales, Samsung exited the gaming business. Due to popularity of Pico in the country, Samsung kept a rights to the distribution in South Korea, releasing even a new model in 1998. They eventually ended production in December 2002.
Kama Entertainment/HiCom
In September 1997, Sega Saturn returned this time under its original name. The distributor was Kama Entertainment and Korea Data Systems. Wooyoung System translated games into Korean. Some of the games released by Samsung have been released for the second time.
HiCom distributed the Sega Mega Drive 2 in South Korea, under its original name and released games. Like Saturn, some of the Mega Drive games were released for the second time.
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]Sega.com Asia planned to launch localized internet service for Dreamcast until in early 2001, but it's fate is unknown[3].
Xity Enterprise
From 2003, Xity Enterprise began to market Kids Communication Pico in Korea as Neo Pico.
Clones
PC era
Companies that distributed some Sega computer games:
Today
Since 2003, Sega Publishing Korea is the representative of Sega in South Korea.
In 2013, Shanda Games released Chain Chronicles[5].
In 2010s, Sega created Sega Asia which handle regional releases of games,[6] but not physical distribution.
External links
- A History of Korean Gaming article by Sam Derboo at Hardcore Gaming 101
References
- ↑ Ultra Game Players, "March 1997" (US; 1997-02-25), page 16
- ↑ http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/korea/part2/korea2.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010208231942/http://www.sega.com.hk/b5/aboutsega/press3.htm
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010407222202/http://wzsoft.com:80/english/pd.html
- ↑ https://www.techinasia.com/sega-hopes-to-take-chain-chronicles-across-asia-via-an-unexpected-partner
- ↑ https://www.siliconera.com/sega-established-singapore-branch-to-cover-southeast-asia/