Sega

This article is about the video game company. For other uses, see Sega (disambiguation).

Sega Corporation

Company logo since 1976
Native name	株式会社セガ
Type	Subsidiary Kabushiki gaisha
Industry	Video games Arcade games Third party publisher
Founded	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. (1940 (1940), as Service Games)
Founder	Martin Bromely Irving Bromberg James Humpert David Rosen
Headquarters	Ōta, Tokyo, Japan
Number of locations	International Offices: San Francisco, California, U.S. Brentford, Greater London, United Kingdom Seoul, South Korea Vancouver, Canada Moscow, Russia
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Hideki Okumura (President and COO) Jürgen Post (CEO, Sega Europe) John Cheng (CEO, Sega of America)
Products	Games Sonic the Hedgehog series Phantasy Star series Shining series Puyo Puyo series Virtua Fighter series The House of the Dead series Sakura Wars series Valkyria Chronicles series Super Monkey Ball series Yakuza series Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series Shinobi series Game consoles SG-1000 Master System Mega Drive/Genesis Game Gear Mega-CD Sega 32X Saturn Dreamcast
Revenue	¥396.7 billion (2011) US$4.9 billion
Net income	¥41.5 billion (2011) US$512.857 million
Owner	Independent (1940 (1940)–1969 (1969)) Gulf+Western (Viacom) (1969 (1969)–1984 (1984)) Bally Manufacturing (1984) CSK Holdings Corporation (1984 (1984)–2004 (2004)) Sega Sammy Holdings (2004 (2004)–present)
Number of employees	2,226 people (FY 2014)
Parent	Sega Sammy Holdings
Subsidiaries	The Creative Assembly Relic Entertainment Sports Interactive Atlus Index Corporation Three Rings Design
Website	Sega Corporation (Japan) Sega of America Sega Europe PlaySega

The Sega Corporation (株式会社セガ, Kabushiki gaisha Sega) (short for Service Games), and usually styled as SEGA, is a Japanese multinational video game developer, publisher, and hardware development company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. Sega developed and manufactured numerous home video game consoles from 1983 to 2001, but the financial losses incurred from their Dreamcast console caused the company to restructure itself in 2001, and focus on providing software as a third-party developer, exiting console manufacturing completely. However, arcade development would continue unaffected, and Sega is the world's most profilic arcade producer. Sega, along with their many software studios, are known for multi-million-selling game franchises including Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Yakuza, and Total War.

Sega's head offices, as well as the main office of its domestic division, Sega Corporation, formerly known as the Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (株式会社セガ・エンタープライゼス, Kabushiki gaisha Sega Entāpuraizesu), are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. Sega's European division, Sega Europe Ltd., is headquartered in the Brentford area of London in the United Kingdom. Sega's North American division, Sega of America Inc., is headquartered in San Francisco, having moved there from Redwood City, California in 1999. Sega Publishing Korea is headquartered in Jongno, Seoul, Korea. Sega's Australian & European operations outside of the United Kingdom closed on July 1, 2012 due to world economic pressures. Distribution of Sega products in Australia as of 1 July 2012 is handled by Five Star Games, made up of all the redundant employees from Sega Australia.

History

See also: List of Sega video game consoles

Company origins (1940–1982)

SEGA Diamond 3 Star

Sega's roots can be traced back to a company based in Honolulu, Hawaii named Service Games, which began operations in 1940. In 1951, Raymond Lemaire and Richard Stewart moved the company to Tokyo, Japan to develop and distribute coin-operated jukeboxes, games, and slot machines. Within a few years Service Games began importing these machines to American military bases throughout Japan.

In 1954, David Rosen, an American officer in the Air Force, launched a two-minute photo booth business in Tokyo. This company eventually became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957 began importing coin-operated games to Japan. By 1965, Rosen Enterprises grew to a chain of over 200 arcades, with Service Games its only competitor. Rosen then orchestrated a merger between Rosen Enterprises and Service Games, who by then had their own factory facilities, becoming chief executive of the new company, Sega Enterprises, which derived its name from the first two letters of SErvice GAmes.

Within a year, Sega began the transition from importer to manufacturer, with the release of the Rosen designed submarine simulator game Periscope. The game at that time sported innovative light and sound effects, eventually becoming quite successful in Japan. It was soon exported to both Europe and the United States, becoming the first arcade game in America to cost 25¢ per play.

In 1969, Rosen sold Sega to Gulf+Western which also owned Paramount Pictures which later became Paramount Communications Inc. (whose media properties had since been absorbed by Viacom), remaining on however as CEO of the Sega division. Under Rosen's leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper, and in 1972 G&W made Sega Enterprises a subsidiary, and took the company public. Sega's current logo dates back to 1976. Sega prospered heavily from the arcade gaming boom of the late 1970s, with revenues climbing to over $100 million by 1979.

Entry into the home console market (1982–1989)

SG-1000

In 1982, Sega's revenues would surpass $214 million, and they introduced the industry's first three-dimensional game, SubRoc 3D. The following year, an overabundance of arcade games led to the video game crash, causing Sega's revenues to drop to $136 million. Sega then pioneered the use of laser disks in the video game Astronbelt, and designed and released its first home video game console, the SG-1000 for the second generation of home consoles. Despite this, G&W sold the U.S. assets of Sega Enterprises that same year to pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing, and in January 1984 Rosen resigned his post with the company.

The Japanese assets of Sega were purchased for $38 million by a group of investors led by Rosen, Robert Deith, and Hayao Nakayama, a Japanese businessman who owned Esco Boueki (Esco Trading) an arcade game distribution company that had been acquired by Rosen in 1979. Nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, Robert Deith Chairman of the Board, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States.

In 1984, the multibillion dollar Japanese conglomerate CSK bought Sega, renamed it to Sega Enterprises Ltd., headquartered it in Japan, and two years later, shares of its stock were being traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. David Rosen's friend, Isao Okawa, the chairman of CSK, became chairman of Sega.

In 1986, Sega of America was poised to take advantage of the resurgent video game market in the United States.

Sega Master System

Sega would also release the Sega Master System and the first Alex Kidd game, who would be Sega's unofficial mascot until 1991, when Sonic the Hedgehog took over. While the Master System was technically superior to the NES, it failed to capture market share in North America and Japan due to highly aggressive strategies by Nintendo and ineffective marketing by Tonka (which marketed the console on behalf of SEGA in the United States). However, the Master System was highly successful in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil with games still being sold well into the 1990s alongside the Mega Drive and Nintendo's NES and SNES.

Expansion (1989–2001)

Sega Genesis

Main article: Sega Genesis

Sega Genesis, second North American version.

Sonic the Hedgehog has been Sega's mascot since the character's introduction in 1991.

With the introduction of the Sega Genesis in America, Sega of America launched an anti-Nintendo campaign to carry the momentum to the new generation of games, with its slogan "Genesis does what Nintendon't." This was initially implemented by Sega of America President Michael Katz. When Nintendo launched its Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991, Sega changed its slogan to "Welcome to the next level."

The same year, Sega of America's leadership passed from Michael Katz to Tom Kalinske, who further escalated the "console war" that was developing. As a preemptive strike against the release of the SNES, Sega re-branded itself with a new game and mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. This shift led to a wider success for the Genesis and would eventually propel Sega to 65% of the market in North America for a brief time. Simultaneously, after much previous delay, Sega released the moderately successful Mega-CD as an add-on feature, allowing for extra storage in games due to their CD-ROM format, giving developers the ability to make longer, more sophisticated games, the most popular of which was Sega's own Sonic CD. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was also released at this time, and became the most successful game Sega ever made, selling six million copies as of June 2006.

In 1994, Sega released the Sega 32X in an attempt to upgrade the Mega Drive to the standards of more advanced systems. It sold well initially, but had problems with lack of software and hype about the upcoming Sega Saturn and Sony's PlayStation. Within a year, it was in the bargain bins of many stores. Also in 1994, Sega launched the Sega Channel, a subscription gaming service delivered by local cable companies affiliated with Time-Warner Cable, or TCI, through which subscribers received a special cartridge adapter that connected to the cable connection. At its peak, the Sega Channel had approximately 250,000 subscribers.

Sega versus Accolade

In 1992, Sega lost the Sega v. Accolade case, which involved independently produced software for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console. Accolade had copied a small amount of Sega's code to achieve compatibility with the Sega Genesis platform. The verdict set a precedent that copyrights do not extend to non-expressive content in software for which a system is required to run the software.[15] The case in question stems from the nature of the console video game market. Hardware companies often sell their systems at or below cost, and rely on other revenue streams such as in this case, game licensing. Sega was attempting to "lock out" game companies from making Mega Drive games unless they paid Sega a fee (something its competition has done in the past). Their strategy was to make the hardware reject any cartridge that did not include a Sega trademark. If an unlicensed company included this trademark in their game, Sega could sue the company for trademark infringement. Though Sega lost this lawsuit, all later Sega systems seemed to incorporate similar hardware requirements.

Saturn

Main article: Sega Saturn

A "Round Button" Sega Saturn

On May 11, 1995, Sega released the Sega Saturn (with Virtua Fighter) in the American market. Sega's first CD console that was not an add on, utilized two 32-bit processors and preceded both the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. However, poor sales in the West (including the traditional stronghold markets in Europe) led to the console being abandoned. The lack of a strong Sonic title (and titles based on other Genesis franchises) and its high price in comparison to the PlayStation were among the reasons for the failure of the console. Notable titles include several titles exclusive to the Japanese market, like Radiant Silvergun and Sakura Taisen, involving fighting games like Last Bronx, rail shooters, such as Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead and a few well regarded RPGs; Panzer Dragoon Saga, Grandia, Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean, Shining Force III, Dragon Force, Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark and Magic Knight Rayearth. Tomb Raider was initially developed with the Sega Saturn in mind, but was quickly ported to the Sony PlayStation. With the Saturn's failure to attract the greater market share, development for the sequels were focused on Sony's console, and Lara Croft ironically became an unofficial mascot for the system.

In 1997, Sega entered into a short-lived merger with Bandai. However it was later called off, citing "cultural differences" between the two companies.

Dreamcast

Main article: Dreamcast

Japanese/American Sega Dreamcast and European Controller with VMU. Notice the different color swirls

On November 27, 1998, Sega launched the Dreamcast game console, Sega's final console, in Japan. The Dreamcast was competitively priced, partly due to the use of off-the-shelf components, but it also featured technology that allowed for more technically impressive games than its direct competitors, the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. An analog 56k modem was also included, allowing gamers to play multi-player games online. Featuring titles such as the action-puzzle title ChuChu Rocket!, Phantasy Star Online, the first console-based MMORPG, "Quake 3 Arena" and the innovative Alien Front Online, the first console game with online voice chat.

The Dreamcast's launch in Japan was a failure. Launching with a small library of software and in the shadow of the upcoming PS2, the system would not gain great success, despite several successful games in the region. The Western launch a year later was accompanied by a large amount of both first-party and third-party software and an aggressive marketing campaign. It was extremely successful and earned the distinction of "most successful hardware launch in history," selling a then-unprecedented 500,000 consoles in its first week in North America. On November 1, 2000, Sega changed its company name from Sega Enterprises, Ltd. to Sega Corporation. Sega was able to hold onto this momentum in the US almost until the launch of Sony's PlayStation 2. The Dreamcast is home to several innovative and critically acclaimed games of the time, including one of the first cel-shaded titles, Jet Set Radio (Jet Grind Radio in North America); Seaman, a game involving communication with a fish-type creature via microphone; Samba de Amigo, a rhythm game involving the use of maracas, and Shenmue, an adventure game of vast scope with freeform gameplay and a striking attempt at creating a detailed in-game city.

Faced with debt and competition from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast hardware in 2001. The final game Sega released for it was Puyo Puyo Fever in 2004.

Shift to third-party software developer (2001–2005)

In late 1999, Sega Enterprises Chairman Isao Okawa spoke at an Okawa Foundation meeting, saying that Sega's focus in the future would shift from hardware to software, but adding that they were still fully behind the Dreamcast. On January 23, 2001, a story ran in Nihon Keizai Shimbun that said Sega was going to cease production of the Dreamcast and develop software for other platforms. After the initial denial, Sega Japan then put out a press release confirming they were considering producing software for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance as part of their "New Management Policy". Then on January 31, 2001, Sega of America officially announced they were becoming a third-party software publisher.

The company has since developed primarily into a platform-neutral software company, known as a "third-party publisher", that creates games that will launch on a variety of game consoles produced by other companies, many of their former rivals, the first of which was a port of ChuChu Rocket! to Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.

Sega's financial trouble in the 1998–2002 time periods. This financial data came from their Annual Reports.

By March 31, 2002, Sega had five consecutive fiscal years of net losses. To help with Sega's debt, CSK founder Isao Okawa, before his death in 2001, gave the company a $695.7 million private donation, and also talked to Microsoft about a sale or a merger with their Xbox division, but those talks failed. Discussions also took place with Namco, Bandai, Electronic Arts and again with Microsoft.

In August 2003, Sammy bought the outstanding 22% of shares that CSK had, and Sammy chairman Hajime Satomi became CEO of Sega.

During mid-2004, Sammy bought a controlling share in Sega Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion, creating the new company Sega Sammy Holdings, one of the biggest game manufacturing companies in the world.

2005–present and the Arcade market

Sega of Japan activities by 2013. This image features console games, handheld games, PC games, smartphone games, card games, medal games, arcade games and amusement centers.

With the Sammy chairman at the helm of Sega, it has been stated that Sega's activity will focus on its profit-making arcade business rather than it's loss-making home software development. Arcade and consumer development divisions has been made completely separated resulting into less production lines for Arcade game conversions, than in Sega before.

Sega produces Arcade units and has been one of the leaders in the arcade industry from its foundation in 1960 to today. Their machines range from custom machines like the 360 degree rotating machine R-360, to their own arcade system boards like the System series, Model series, NAOMI series, Triforce (in co-operation with Nintendo and Namco), Ring series and Nu.

They have shaped and reinvigorated the industry multiple times. Like with the first titles that have force feedback control such as Hang-On and After Burner. And laid foundation for 3D racing games and 3D fighting games with Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing. Sega holds a dominant position in network-enabled trading card game machines and large-scale satellite game machines, being the first to introduce and popularize them. Games of this type include Derby Owners Club, World Club Champion Football, Sangokushi Taisen and Border Break. Sega's biggest financial success in recent years were the kids card games Mushiking and Oshare Majo: Love and Berry. Sega's Arcade business is the most profitable and stable of all of Sega's activities, despite changing market conditions and the western market becoming nearly extinct. In 2014, Sega introduced the first F2P arcade games.

Sega Amusements was initially established to be a distributor for Japanese titles. Soon however they began developing local games themself in order to appease to the small local arcade culture. Arcade culture in Japan has changed, catering far more to hardcore fans who visit game centers frequently.

Sega archieved a variety of milestones outside of traditional arcade games. UFO catcher was introduced in 1985 and is Japan's most commonly installed claw crane game. The first photobooth in Japan, Print Club, was made jointly by Atlus and Sega. In 1996 Sega opened Joypolis, with overseas variants called SegaWorld, Sega Republic, and Gameworks. In 2012, Sega reopened Joypolis, after closing in 1998. In 2013, Sega in co-operation with BBC Earth; opened the first interactive nature simulation museum, Orbi.

Sonic The Hedgehog continues to be internationally popular, having sold 150 million units of the franchise. The reception of games has ranged from negative, mixed, to generally positive.

In 2007, Sega and Nintendo teamed up using Sega's acquired Olympic license, to create the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games series, which has sold 20 Million as of the latest installment.

In the console and handheld business, Sega of Japan experienced success with the Ryu Ga Gotoku series and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series of games, and other games aimed at the Japanese market. In the digital game market Sega's biggest success is the F2P MMO Phantasy Star Online 2, and the Smartphone games Chain Chronicle and Puyo Puyo!! Quest. Sega spun off a mobile publishing firm called Sega Networks. Sega has great success in the mobile market, with 10 titles being consistently in the Top 50 on iOS and 5 titles in the Top 50 on Android as of November 2014. In Japan, Sega distributes titles from smaller Japanese game developers and localizations of western titles. In 2012, Index Corporation has made a deal with Sega to distribute titles in Japan. In 2013, Index Corporation was purchased by Sega Sammy.

In 2005, Sega has sold of it's major western studio, Visual Concepts, to Take Two Interactive.

In 2006, Sega Europe has purchased Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly, and also formed the Sega Racing Studio. Sega of America purchased Secret Level in that year as well, which was renamed to Sega Studio San Francisco in 2008. In early 2008 Sega announced that Sega would it would re-establish an Australian presence, as a subsidiary of Sega of Europe, with a development studio branded as Sega Studio Australia. In 2013, following THQ's bankruptcy, Sega bought Relic Entertainment.

Sega also collaborated with many western studios such as Bizarre Creations, Backbone Entertainment, Monolith, Sumo Digital, Kuju Entertainment, Obsidian Entertainment, and Gearbox Software. They also licensed movie IPs such as Alien, Marvel Comics and The Golden Compass.

After the release of Sega Rally Revo, Sega shut down the Sega Racing Studio. In 2010, SEGA also shut down Sega Studio San Francisco.

After the FY2012, Sega has downsized it's western operations, closing several international branches, including Sega's Australian development studio. This was done in order to focus on the best selling IPs like Sonic, Aliens, Total War and Football Manager. The challenging economic climate of packaged video game software in western markets, deemed titles such as Binary Domain, Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Valkyria Chronicles, Yakuza localizations and Bayonetta not appropriate. Sega has gained much criticism for it's regionalisation of game development efforts, resulting into a slow localization process or no localization at all, despite heavy fan demand for titles such as the Yakuza series and Phantasy Star Online 2.

Sega Studios

See List of Sega software development studios

Company personnel

Sega headquarters Building 1, Ōta, Tokyo

Corporate executives

Japanese

• Okitane Usui: President of Sega Japan (2008–2012) (Hired by Groupon as International Vice President, East Asia)
• Hayao Nakayama: Cofounder, president SOJ (1984–1998)
• Shoichiro Irimajiri: President SOJ (1998–2000)
• Isao Okawa: President SOJ (2000–2001) (died shortly after Dreamcast was discontinued in North America, forgave the debts Sega owed him, and gave the company his $695 million worth of Sega and CSK stock to Sega Corporation.)
• Hisao Oguchi: President SOJ (2001–2004)

North American

• John Cheng: President of Sega of America (2012–present)
• Mike Hayes: President of Sega of America (2009–2012)
• Simon Jeffery: President Sega of America (2003–2009)
• Peter Moore: President Sega of America(1999–2003)
• Bernie Stolar: President Sega of America(1996–1999)
• Tom Kalinske: President Sega of America(1991–1996)
• Michael Katz: President Sega of America(1989–1991)
• Bruce Lowry: President Sega of America(1986–1988)
• Naoya Tsurumi: CEO of Sega of America (2005-2009)
• David Rosen: Cofounder, board member

European

• Jürgen Post: President of Sega of Europe (2012–present)
• Mike Hayes: President of Sega of Europe (2009–2012)
• Robert Deith: Cofounder/chairman Sega Europe (1991–2001)
• Naoya Tsurumi: CEO of Sega of Europe (2004-2009)
• Paul Williams: CEO of Sega Amusements Ltd. (heretofore)

Korean

• Yasutaka Sato: President SPK (2005–2008)
• Kazunobu Takita: President SPK (2008–2011)
• Tooru Matsuo: President SPK (2011–2013)
• Akira Nomoto: President SPK (2013–present)

Research & Development

Hardware Division

• Hideki Sato: Head of Sega Away Team (1985–2001) (also called Sega Hardware Team R&D)

Video Game Software Division

• Toshihiro Nagoshi: Creator of perhaps the biggest Arcade racing hit, Daytona USA. Also creator of the initially in the million selling Super Monkey Ball and Yakuza. Currently CCO of the company.
• Mie Kumagai: Head of AM3, which was previously headed by Hisao Oguchi who created company-defining Arcade hits such as Crazy Taxi, Virtual-On, Derby Owners Club and Virtua Tennis.
• Yuji Naka: Co-creator of company mascot, currently owner of independent development studio Prope.
• Yu Suzuki: Creator of genre-inventing and company-defining games such as Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner, Hang-On, Virtua Racing, Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue. Currently owner of YS.NET
• Noriyoshi Ohba: Creator of company-defining Shinobi and Streets of Rage series, as well as one of the strongest earners of the company Sangokushi Taisen. Currently CEO of Premium Agency.
• Rieko Kodama: One of the most defining contributors to Sega's early games such as Alex Kidd, Quartet, Altered Beast, Phantasy Star and Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Makoto Uchida: Creator of Golden Axe and Altered Beast. Currently head of Sega China.

Seal of Quality

The Sega Seal of Quality

The Sega Seal of Quality was an icon placed on the packaging of all video games that had Sega's official approval to be played on a Sega console system. As was the case with the Nintendo Seal of Quality, the intention behind the "seal" was to avoid the mistakes that led to the Video Game Crash of 1983 by ensuring that games were compatible with the intended Sega console system, and to censor content that Sega felt was inappropriate for their image.

The Sega Seal of Quality was an icon that Sega put on its own video games along with certain video games published by a third party software developer. As was the case with the Nintendo Seal of Quality, the Sega seal appeared on a video game's box and marketing as a means of informing the consumer that Sega had previewed the game before its release to ensure that the game was fully compatible for its intended home console system, and had met a certain level of Sega's standard of quality (in terms of graphics, sound, challenge, and possible offensive content). However, the Sega Seal of Quality was otherwise very different than the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

Sega never required a third-party software developer to earn the official Sega Seal of Quality as a precondition for publication, although most developers chose to do so. Furthermore, a game could earn the seal even if it contained certain themes that its bigger competitor, Nintendo, would have prohibited: blood, scantily clad female villains, and graphic violence. Hence, the Sega Seal of Quality was given out to Sega Genesis games that depicted blood (Splatterhouse 2, Techno Cop), and scantily clad females (Streets of Rage, Final Fight CD).

Video games released on a Sega home console system were still censored for other taboo or controversial depictions; i.e. profanity, nudity, prostitution, homosexuality. However, this was done by the software developer and not as a requirement issued by Sega to the developer.

In 1993, Sega of America permitted Acclaim to keep the graphic violence and gore in its port of Midway's popular arcade game titled Mortal Kombat. As this game and other games sparked a national controversy over the violent content in video games, Sega created the Videogame Rating Council to give a descriptive rating to every game sold on a Sega home console system in the United States. This rating, along with the seal, would appear on the game's box and marketing. The Videogame Rating Council was phased out in 1994 with the adoption of the industry wide Entertainment Software Rating Board.

Sega gradually shifted the scope of their seal of quality to focus less on content and more on assuring consumers that a game was fully compatible with its intended home console system. The Sega Seal is no longer seen on any games as Sega stopped producing games consoles, home or handheld, after the discontinuation of the Dreamcast in March 2001.

Advertisement campaigns

Sega has had a long history of different slogans and ad campaigns; such as "Genesis does what Nintendon't".

Arcade

• The Quartermasters. (1970s)
• The Arcade Experts. (early '80s)

Master System

• The challenge will always be there.
• Major fun and games!
• Now, there are no limits.
• Hot hits today! Hot hits on the way!
• Do me a favor, plug me into a Sega (talking TV).
• All kinds of games, all kinds of fun. (Australia)
• Let the games begin! (Australia)
• Play strong, Play Sega (Denmark)

Mega Drive/Genesis

• Genesis does what Nintendon't! (early 90s, pre-SNES)
• You can't do this on Nintendo (early 90s, pre-SNES)
• Blast Processing
• The name "Sega!" being composed by a choir.
• Welcome To The Next Level. (Also used for the Game Gear. Referenced in Shadow The Hedgehog)
• To be this good takes AGES, To be this good takes SEGA. (UK) ("Ages" is "Sega" spelled backwards) - this was parodied by Commodore with "To be this good will take Sega ages".
• Siga Sega! ("Follow Sega!", used in Brazil during the early '90s)
• Sega, c'est plus fort que toi ! ('Sega, it's stronger than you!', cult French TV slogan, early '90s)
• 16 bit arcade graphics!
• Cyber Razor Cut
• La Ley del Más Fuerte (The Law of the Strongest, Spanish slogan from 1993 to 1994)
• Pirate TV (Britain, also featured as a comic series in Sonic the Comic)
• Canal Pirata Sega (Spain)
• Sega, é mais forte que tu (Sega, It's stronger than you, Portugal, early '90s)
• Someone yelling "SEGA!" (the "Sega scream").

Saturn

• A little bit too real (early print ad in the US)
• Welcome to the Real World – Sega Saturn. (Early UK TV slogan)
• Segata Sanshiro: "Sega Saturn Shiro!" ("Play Sega Saturn!")
• When you have Sega Saturn, nothing else matters.
• The Game is Never Over (also used in last European Mega Drive commercials.)
• Peligrosamente real (Dangerously Real. 1st Spanish slogan)
• Contraprográmate (De-Program-Yourself, Spain, 1997)
• The Plaything ad.
• The Theater of the eye (mid-'90s US ad.)
• Nous ne sommes pas sur la même planète ("We are not on the same planet", French slogan in the mid-'90s)
• Perigosamente Real (Dangerously Real, Portugal.)

Dreamcast

• It's Thinking. (tagline used in US launch)
• Up to 6 billion players. (tagline used in Europe launch)
• You are now entering chapter three (Australian launch)

Post-Dreamcast years (2002–2003)

• The return of the "Sega!" choir.

See also

• List of Sega video game consoles
• List of Sega video game franchises
• Lists of Sega games
• Sega Pinball

References

• Sega financial report
• Yahoo! Finance details for Sega Corporation
• Yahoo! Finance details for Sega of America
• Sega's entry into and growth in the American market is documented in Terry Sanders' film The Japan Project: Made in Japan.

External links

• Sega of America's official website
• Sega of Japan's official website (Japanese)
• Sega of Europe's official website
• Sega's Official YouTube Channel
• Sega Sammy Holdings official website
• SEGA Publishing Korea's official website (Korean)
• Sega Retro, an expansive Sega wiki