History of Sega in Latvia
From Sega Retro
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| History of Sega in Latvia |
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| Official Sega distributor(s): Andrico (2008-2013), Gamelab (2009-2013), TKM Baltics (2014-2019), iWare Distribution (2019-present) |
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In August 21, 1991 Latvia declared independence from the USSR and became an independent state. For foreign companies such as Sega, this meant a new market must be obtained.
Since the beginning of the 90s in the Baltic States, Zhiliton 938-A famiclone began to enjoy popularity. It had the same housing as the Sega Mega Drive. However, no one suspected that the console was similar to the Sega products due to its lack in this region. UFO, Liko, Terminator 2 and Subor were also popular.
Also in 1993 Steepler reached this region. Dendy enjoyed interest, but the console was not as popular as Zhiliton. In 1994, the company decided to release Sega clones and later, the company took up the sale of Nintendo products which, as in the rest of the Baltic countries, proved to be not very popular.[1]
The first Sega consoles appeared in the mid-90s. Sega Mega Drive 2, Sega Saturn , Sega Mega-CD, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System 2 and Sega 32X were distributed.
Mega Drive with Famiclones and Playstation still remains as one of the most popular consoles from the 90s in this region. In 1997, all Sega consoles (except Saturn) could be purchased for 25-50 LVL.[2]In the 90s there was also Sega Mega Klubos.
In 2008 Andrico became a distributor.[3] In 2009, the company made an agreement with Gamelab regarding the sale of games in the region of the Baltic states.[4]The cooperation ended in 2013.In 2014, the Latvian company TKM Baltics became the distributor of Sega games in this region.The games were mainly available for purchase on the Gamebalt website.[5]
iWare Distribution became a distributor in 2019.
Several publishers from Russia have also released Sega games in this country. 1C-SoftClub sold, among others, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed and Football Manager 2011.Akella released Sakura Taisen in the Baltic States.There were also many pirate games on PC from Russia.
Mega Drive clones
Until today in Latvia can be find the bootlegs of the Sega Mega Drive console and games. They are mainly from Russia.
References
- ↑ https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/94004
- ↑ https://www.diena.lv/raksts/pasaule/krievija/virtualais-kars-pie-televizora-10017421
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20081216013038/http://www.andrico.ee:80/pood/conditions.php
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110912222305/http://www.gamelab.ee:80/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20170625073149/http://www.sega.com/sega-approved-partner-list