History Creator / Sega

As of September 2016, they are the owners of all the [=IPs=] made by Technosoft.

Sega was founded in 1940 in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} as Standard Games, a distributor of coin-op slot machines for American military bases. The company renamed to '''Se'''rvice '''Ga'''mes in 1946, and relocated to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} in 1952 in response to tightened slot machine laws. In the 1960s, further crackdowns on gambling machines led to Sega, now Sega Enterprises Ltd., becoming a distributor and later manufacturer of amusement machines. [=Gulf+Western=], the former owners of Creator/{{Paramount}}, owned Sega from 1969-1984.

Sega was founded in 1940 in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} as Standard Games, a distributor of coin-op slot machines for American military bases. The company renamed to '''Se'''rvice '''Ga'''mes in 1946, and relocated to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} in 1952 in response to tightened slot machine laws. In the 1960s, further crackdowns on gambling machines led to Sega, now Sega Enterprises Ltd., becoming a distributor and later manufacturer of amusement machines. Gulf and Western, the former owners of Creator/{{Paramount}}, owned Sega from 1969-1984.

Sega never managed to reclaim the Genesis's market influence in the console generations that followed it. A mixture of rushed releases and poor third-party relations led to Sega's consoles having weaker libraries compared with their competitors, directly or indirectly leading to the commercial failures of the Platform/SegaCD, Platform/Sega32X and the Platform/SegaSaturn. Though viewed as excellent in retrospect, the [[Platform/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] was unable to turn the company around on the console market, and Sega became a third-party developer on February 3, 2001, [[EndOfAnAge ending the company's 18-year run as a major hardware manufacturer]].

As of September 2016, they are the new owners of all the [=IPs=] made by Technosoft.

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Sega was founded in 1940 by Martin Bromley, Irving Bromberg and James Humpert in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} as Standard Games. Following World War II, the company was renamed to "'''Se'''rvice '''Ga'''mes," before relocating to UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} in the [[TheFifties 1950s]], when it became a creator and distributor of redemption games designed for overseas markets. As a result of these origins, many of their games are often designed for an international market (and as a side result, this is also why many of their games contain a lot of Engrish and spotty English voice work across different versions.) Sega moved into arcade game development in the 1960s, as U.S. governmental crackdowns on gambling machines and {{pinball}}, along with increased competition worldwide, made it difficult to turn a profit solely from redemption and slot games. At about this time, Sega was purchased by Gulf and Western, the owners of Creator/{{Paramount}} until 1989 (G+W technically still owned the studio until 1994, but during the last five years of this, they were known as Paramount Communications), and they would own Sega until 1984.

Sega also began developing arcade video games in TheSeventies, but did not find success until TheEighties with worldwide hits like ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier'' and ''VideoGame/OutRun''. They also served as the American distributor of arcade games made by other companies, such as ''VideoGame/{{Frogger}}'' (made by Creator/{{Konami}}) and ''Space Firebird'' (made by, ironically, Creator/{{Nintendo}}).

Sega also entered the console market when the Platform/SegaMasterSystem (or more accurately, its' predecessors, the Platform/SG1000 console and SC-3000 computer; the Master System would debut in 1986, as a Westernized variant on the successor to both console and computer, the Sega Mark III) was released on July 15, 1983. While it had little success in Japan and North America, the Master System became the console market leader in Europe and South America (Mostly UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}) during the 8-bit era.

Sega eventually found some of its greatest success with the [[Platform/SegaGenesis Sega Mega Drive/Genesis]] during the [[MediaNotes/The16bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames 16-bit era]], and a marketable mascot in Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog provided a perfect rival for Nintendo's [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]. By the early '90s, Sega was the worldwide console market leader, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff everywhere except for Japan]].

Behind the scenes, however, the company suffered from internal conflicts between Sega's Japanese head office (who were salty about being shown up by their foreign subsidiaries) and American/European branches. Lack of developer tools and support was a constant issue. What was available was expensive, poorly-documented and not always reliable.

This resulted in a string of failed hardware that eroded the company's star power. The only console they managed to get right was the Genesis. The portable Game Gear was superior to the competition, but it cost more and yes, it did keep the battery companies going. Backwards compatibility was another factor: The Sega CD and [=32X=] were attempts to prolong the life of the Genesis. Both ended up as fodder for [[CausticCritic YouTube comedians]]. The Saturn was going to be the most advanced 2D system ever, with some 3D proficiency, albeit in a more complicated multi-processor setup. The higher-ups at Sega tried to get a jump on the US market and release the system several months before the [=PlayStation=]. At the event which was supposed to announce the release date, they literally announced that they were releasing the console right then.

The problem is, they didn't tell any of the game developers, who were just as surprised as the public. So the Saturn had a very limited number of launch titles, and a lot of developers were pissed at Sega for leaving them out of the loop. Not helping matters was subsequent CEO Bernie Stolar. Two years later at E3 1997, he proclaimed that "the Saturn is not our future," and pulled an [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Computer_Corporation Osborne]] with it: ended Saturn support in 1998, and fast-tracked development of the next system, the Dreamcast. The botched release of the Saturn dealt a massive blow to their hardware business in the West, their most successful region, and the Dreamcast was too little, too late. Ironically, the Saturn was Sega's biggest hit in Japan while simultaneously being [[AmericansHateTingle their biggest flop in the Western world]]. Sega became a third-party developer on February 3, 2001, [[EndOfAnAge ending the company's 18-year run as a major hardware manufacturer]].

Sega never got the major third-party support for their consoles that Nintendo and Sony received. In the days of the SG-1000 and Master System, Sega did not want third-party games to compete with their first-party titles in sales, insisting that they publish most of the games on their consoles themselves. They consequently did not build strong relationships with the biggest third-party publishers of the day, who embraced more welcoming platforms such as the Platform/{{MSX}}, [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 PC-Engine]] and especially the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]]. This left Sega playing catch-up as those other console manufacturers, Nintendo especially, tied up the biggest developers and franchises with near-monopolistic exclusivity contracts.

By the 16-bit and 32/64-bit eras, a number of developers developed exclusively for Nintendo (Creator/{{Acclaim}}, Creator/{{Square}}, Creator/{{Enix}}, and Creator/{{Rare}}) or Sony (Creator/{{Namco}}, Creator/{{Konami}}, Creator/EidosInteractive, and Square ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII again]]'') meaning that Sega had to rely solely on their first-party games to bolster their library (though every now and then, they did get third-party games that did well on their systems, like ''VideoGame/MortalKombatI'', ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Soulcalibur}}''). ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' is wildly-popular, but beyond that, most fans would be hard-pressed to think of another Genesis-exclusive series, unlike Nintendo who could always rely on their wide selection of first-party games to get them through the slow times. The situation worsened with the Saturn. Their previous claim to having superior graphics was harder to justify, and gamers didn't respond to a console which was more expensive than the [=PlayStation=], yet had an inferior library of games.

Creator/ElectronicArts were among the developers who got burned by Sega, especially when Bernie Stolar refused their terms for sports exclusivity on the Dreamcast in favor of the newly acquired Visual Concepts, and they took it characteristically poorly. At the [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] where Sony announced the Platform/PlayStation2, the EA spokesman came onstage, openly mocked Sega, predicted doom, then dropped the bomb that EA were only making games for the [=PS2=]. (Sega Sports really blew up with the Dreamcast once EA Sports was out of the picture.) In addition, Sony quietly applied pressure on developers and forced them to choose: ''You can make games for Sega, or you make them for us.'' Not ''both.'' Sony's licensing was cheap and easy (just like with the [=PS1=]), they made their pressings cheaper, kit support, etc. By the time the Dreamcast came out, Sega had so little credibility that developers didn't want to invest the resources to make games for the console, and fans didn't want to invest money on a console to play one or two exclusive games.

Still, Sega has remained a major player in the game development world (though not quite what it once was) by shifting to third-party game development for all of the current-generation consoles, handhelds, and arcades. Ironically, Sega now publishes ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games for [[DefeatMeansFriendship play]] on Creator/{{Nintendo}} ([[MultiPlatform and other]]) hardware. The only downside to this, however, is that since they no longer work on their own console, it gives them less time to work on their other properties.

Eventually, the Sammy Corporation, best known for its pachinko machines, purchased a controlling share of Sega during 2003 (after a planned merger between both parties got canned earlier that year), eventually buying Sega outright on October 1, 2004, becoming subsidiaries of their new parent company, Creator/SegaSammyHoldings, as a result Sammy's non-gambling assets (including its video game businesses) were transferred to Sega.

Eventually, the Sammy Corporation, best known for its pachinko machines, purchased a controlling share of Sega during 2003 (after a planned merger between both parties got canned earlier that year), eventually buying Sega outright on August 1, 2004, becoming subsidiaries of their new parent company, Creator/SegaSammyHoldings, as a result Sammy's non-gambling assets (including its video game businesses) were transferred to Sega.

* {{Mascot}}: Formerly Alex Kidd. Now, it's ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''.

* PutOnABus: After ''Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle'' flopped with critics and retail and VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 made Sega realize the technicolor insectivore was their real answer to Mario, Alex Kidd was dropped as their mascot in favor of Sonic and permanently retired from the companies game line-up. Kidd has made the occasional cameo since then, but he is largely forgotten today.

Sega's original relationship with Paramount was brought full circle, with the studio releasing the first in a series of films, ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020''. [[Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022 A sequel]] was released in 2022, with a third film planned for 2024. A TV series based on Series/{{Knuckles}} is also in production.