History of Sega in Bosnia and Herzegovina
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Bosnia and Herzegovina |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Nissho Iwai (1990-1992; 1994-1995), Magma (1996-1998), Videotop (2004-2010), Computerland (2010-2015), Videotop (2016-2018), Iris Mega (2018-present) |
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Socialist Yugoslavia
Socialist Yugoslavia did not belong to the Warsaw Pact making it more open to Western technologies than the countries of the Eastern Bloc. In the 70s Yugoslavia was one of the countries where Sega imported its game machines.[1] As in other communist countries, local companies created their own consoles, such as the Geti-3220 produced by the Slovenian company Gorenje from 1977. Foreign consoles also reached the country but in small numbers.
Sega Master System was introduced to Yugoslavia in 1990[2] by Nissho Iwai, who supplied local Yugoslavian distributors with consoles and games. Video games for the systems were reviewed in Svet Kompjutera magazine from September 1990 to January 1991 and Svet Igara reviewed accessories for the system. In March 25, 1991, the first Sega club was found called Video Games Club were people could rent Master System console. The creation of further distribution network was cut shortly after breakup of the state in June 1991.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia in March 1992, which caused a war. During the first year of war consoles were sold mostly on market stalls and flea markets, including Rambo TV Game, a Atari 2600 clone that was quickly replaced by famiclones like Terminator 2 (which box design resemble Sega Mega Drive 2).
Official Sega and Nintendo consoles appeared in first years of war as a donation from other countries. Since 1994, Nissho Iwai was able to deliver video games to local shop mostly with help from Croatian companies like Europatrade[3]. The sales and places where it was possible to buy the consoles was of course limited due to the hostilities but some number of consoles like Mega Drive II, Master System II, Game Gear has got here. Beside famiclones, Sega had competition in form of Super Nintendo, Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System distributed also from 1994 by Croatian company called Pinel Export-Import[4].
The war ended in 1995 with the Dayton Agreement. By then, most of the country was in ruins and the population would not have been able to afford new consoles, leading to a spike in the sales of hardware clones and unlicensed games for 8-bit Nintendo and 16-bit Sega. Magma began distribution of the Sega Saturn from early 1996 at a high cost. The price was problem also for Nintendo 64, distributed from March 1997 by Pinel Export-Import. Following the rise of the PlayStation's piracy scene in late 1990s, it would become a popular system. Dreamcast was seen here from 2000 in rather low numbers.
From 2004 Sega started cooperation with Videotop, but from 2010, Computerland began representing Sega in this region. Videotop return in 2016 as a distributor in the former Yugoslavia.[5]In 2017, Videotop became the property of Computerland Group[6] and in 2018, Videotop was acquired by Colby which also belongs to the Computerland Group. The distribution was taken over by Iris Mega.
CB Consulting Company was distributor of Sega arcades from 2004[7].
References
- ↑ File:Sega_Company_Profile_1970.pdf
- ↑ Svet Kompjutera (SCG) #73: "Oktobar 1990" page 45
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19980710145138/http://europatrade.hr/europatrade.htm
- ↑ https://archive.org/details/album-panini-asterix-bas-su-ludi-ovi-gali/page/n33/mode/2up?view=theater
- ↑ http://www.videotop.si/en/videotop-je-postal-uradni-zastopnik-zaloznika-sega/
- ↑ http://www.videotop.si/druzba-iris-mega-d-o-o-kupila-druzbo-videotop-skupina-d-o-o/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080318150405/http://www.cbzabava.ba/