History of Sega in Slovenia
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Slovenia |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Nissho Iwai (1990-1991; 1993-1995), ActiveMagic (1996-1998), Videotop (2004-2010), Computerland (2010-2014), Videotop (2014-2018), Colby (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.
Slovenia
After declaring independence in 1991, Nissho Iwai return again in 1993 and created chain of sub-distributors, with biggest one being Mladinska Knjiga (bookstore which also decided to open a multimedia center) and Elektronexport. Sega supplied Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System II and Sega Game Gear[3] and had competition in form of Super Nintendo, Game Boy and Nintendo Entertainment System (distributed from Christmas 1992 by Laser Plus[4]), CD-i (distributed from 1993 by Mladinska Knjiga[5]), Amiga CD32 (distributed from 1993 by Alfa Tech[6]) and Atari Jaguar (distributed from 1995 by Mladinska Knjiga[7]). MK with Elektronexport and Megazin organized Sega Open 93[8] which was a response to the Nintendo Championship 93. Sega released Sega Mega-CD II in October 1993[9]and Mega Drive 32X in March 1995[10].
Nintendo got many clones here like SP-60, Micro Genius and Family Game, so Laser Plus sued some of the retailers that sold them. Sega also got clones like New 16 Bit, distributed from 1993 by Atlas. Laser Plus translated Club Nintendo magazine into Slovenian language starting from 1993[11], MK distributed Sega Pro from 1994, but in English version.[12]
After Sega Europe took all the duties from Nissho Iwai in mid-1995, Sega Saturn was released in December 1995 by ActiveMagic[13], a London based company that provided in late 80s and early 90s original Sega software for home computers.[14] Unfortunately Saturn was little known in the country and Nintendo maintained the popularity of Nintendo 64 (distributed from March 1997 by Laser Plus) at the same level as Super Nintendo.[15]Other major competitor was PlayStation (distributed from April 1997[16] by Videotop).
Ita Plus was the first company to present Sega Dreamcast in Slovenia, but this was imported version from USA.[17] The PAL version of Dreamcast was released later and was sold through few local distributors.
In 2004, Sega started cooperation with Videotop. However, in 2010 Computerland took over a sell of Sega games. In 2014, Videotop co-operated again with Sega, and in 2016 became a representative of them in all former Yugoslavia.[18]In 2017, Videotop became the property of Computerland Group.[19] In 2018, Videotop was acquired by Colby which also belongs to the Computerland Group which means that the distributor of Sega is now Colby.[20]
References
- ↑ File:Sega_Company_Profile_1970.pdf
- ↑ Svet Kompjutera (SCG) #73: "Oktobar 1990" page 45
- ↑ Sega Megazin 01/1993 page 29
- ↑ https://joker.muzej.si/article.php?rubrika=37&articleid=10956
- ↑ http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/yu/magshow.php?auto=&page=10&all=MG_93_10
- ↑ http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/yu/magshow.php?auto=&page=50&all=MG_93_12
- ↑ http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/yu/magshow.php?auto=&page=2&all=MG_95_03
- ↑ Sega Open 93 Megazin 03/1993 page 51
- ↑ Sega Megazin 01/1993 page 9
- ↑ Zero Tolerance. Pisem o Segi, v srce mi poje Doom Megazin 02/1995 page 31
- ↑ http://pc.sux.org/indexCN.html
- ↑ http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/yu/magshow.php?auto=&page=34&all=MG_95_01
- ↑ File:CTW_UK_586_Europe_Supplement.pdf, page 3
- ↑ Activemagic i Svet kompjutera Programeri-paznaja! Svet Kompjutera 1/1989 page 61
- ↑ https://joker.muzej.si/article.php?rubrika=37&articleid=10956
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/19980703064424/http://www.playstation-europe.com/playstation/pr/launch.htm
- ↑ https://joker.muzej.si/article.php?rubrika=37&articleid=8447
- ↑ 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/
- ↑ http://www.colby.si/
- ↑ Megazin, "Letnik 1, Številka 2, Oktober 1993" (SI; 1993-xx-xx), page 9