Creator / Sega Sammy Holdings

Beyond the Status Quo.

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. (also known as the Sega Sammy Group) is a Japanese conglomerate formed in 2004 after video game and gambling company Sammy completed its takeover of video game giant Sega.

Sammy's history traces back to Satomi Corporation, a food company originally founded in 1947. In 1965, Satomi ventured into the amusement business, and "Sammy" (a nickname of "Satomi") was one of its crane game brands. In 1975, Sammy Industry was formally founded as an affiliate of Satomi by Hajime Satomi, the son of Satomi's president Haruo Satomi. After Satomi went bankrupt in 1977, Sammy picked up the reins and rebuilt the company from the ground up, now focused on amusement, video gaming (since 1978), and gambling (since 1982). Sammy Industry was renamed to Sammy Corporation in 1997.

Though Sammy is best remembered for being a pachinko/pachislot company (most notably with the Fist of the North Star pachislot, the best-selling pachislot machine in the world), it was also a legitimate video game publisher. Notable Sammy video games include Viewpoint and the early Guilty Gear games.

On February 13, 2003, Sega announced its plans to merge with Sammy. But following a counteroffer from none other than Namco, Sega canned their merger plans with Sammy and Namco's plan to takeover Sega fell through, until December of that year, when Sammy began a plan B, they bought out a stake in Sega from controlling shareholder CSK. Sammy would later have their controlling shares in Sega increase until October 1st, when Sega Sammy Holdings was formed.

Subsidiaries

Current Subsidiaries

Entertainment Contents Business (Video games, animation and toys)

• Sega
  • Atlus
  • Sonic Team
  • Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
  • Creative Assembly
  • Rovio Entertainment
  • Sports Interactive
  • Two Point Studios
  • Amplitude Studios
  • Sega Fave
    • Dartslive
  • TMS Entertainment
    • Telecom Animation Film
    • Marza Animation Planet

Pachislot and Pachinko Machine Business (Gambling)

• Sammy
  • Sammy Networks
  • Taiyo Elec
  • Rodeo
  • GINZA (majority stake)

Former Subsidiaries

• Sammy Studios (now High Moon Studios)

Affiliates

Current Affiliates

• ENGI (minority stake)
• Sanrio (minority stake)

Former Affiliates

• Dimps (former majority stake)
• Spike (former subsidiary of Sammy; now Spike Chunsoft)