History of Sega in Malaysia

From Sega Retro

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Malaysia 
History of Sega in Malaysia
Official Sega distributor(s): Hi-Star Electronics (1990-1993), Wywy Group (1993-xxxx), New Era (2005-2016), Play Interactive (2016-2018), Epicsoft Asia (2018-present), Sega Singapore (2022-present)

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Sega Master System was sold by local distributors like Spectra Computer Centre from at least 1987.[1]

The premiere of Sega Mega Drive in Malaysia took place in January 1990.[2] The system was distributed once again by few authorized distrbutors like Micro Genius and Mario Family Games and 500 units were sold until June 1990.[3][4]

From June 1990, Hi-Star Electronics became the sole agent of Sega in Southeast Asia and Gan & Beng Electronics had a showroom.[5]They began to sell Mega Drive in NTSC/PAL standard with Game Gear from early 1991. From June 1, 1992 to December 31, 1992, distributor organized Sega Peel & Win event. To meet increased demand, Sega teamed up with local Malaysian companies in August 1992, to manufacture its hardware and software here, intended for international markets[6].

In January 1993, Sega got with Wywy-ST to build 30 new Wywy Wonderspace entertainment centres and appointed them as sole distributor of amusement machines in Singapore, Malaysia and Burnei.[7]In September 1993, Wywy Group got full rights to deliver Sega consoles to Singapore, Malaysia and Burnei[8], continuing distribution of Mega Drive I and Game Gear[9] with introduction of Mega CD 2[10] and Mega Drive 2[11]. Dorema Distribution was appointed as sole distributor by Wywy.[12]Every console had Red-Blue Wywy sticker on the console box and game box, with white Wywy sticker on the console and cartridge. Wywy also manage to distribute Mega Drive clone called Magic 2. One of the first promotion actions was Wywy Bonanza, that took place from Spetember 18, 1993 to December 31, 1993.

From Summer 1994, Wywy distributed Multi-Mega[13]. Sega 32X (PAL) and Sega Saturn (NTSC) had been delivered to retailers in December 1994.[14]Wywy is also known to sell NTSC Sega Nomads and in some retailers Tiger LCD could be seen but this one wasn't confirmed for now.[15][16]. Sega PC games were distributed by Summit Company Sdn Bhd[17].

In August 1997, Sega opened Sega City Malaysia, the first multimedia entertainment theme park in Malaysia and South East Asia. The whole investment was coordinated by Super Merge Corp Sdn Bhd, which at the time managed Sega Satellite at Sungel Wang Plaza, Sega Arena at Arcadia Green and Sega Cafe at Sungel Wang Plaza and Kuala Lumpur Best Coffee (KLBC)[18]. Sega Pico was one of the attraction in Sega City's "Sonic Science Works" zone, but it was also seen in some retailers so it could be released here as well.

From 2005, New Era distributed Sega titles,[19], but from 2016 games were sold by Play Interactive.

In 2010s, Sega created Sega Asia which handle regional releases of games,[20] but not physical distribution.

In 2018, Epicsoft Asia was appointed sole distributor of Sega games starting with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Shining Resonance Refrain, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Fist of the North Star and Virtual-On .[21] From 2019, they distributed Genesis Mini.[22]

In October 13, 2022, Sega established Sega Singapore for marketing purpose in Southeast Asia but Epicsoft will still remain as distributor.[23][24]

References

  1. https://www.smspower.org/forums/16067-SouthEastAsianSMSModelNo301007
  2. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7qFUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RpADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6013%2C281089
  3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8WJPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bZADAAAAIBAJ&dq=sega&pg=5902%2C2639075
  4. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YK5UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6025%2C4375040
  5. Sega TV Game Set - New Straits Times 1990-08-13 Page 11
  6. New Sunday Times 1992-11-09 Battle for game machine market
  7. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/biztimes19930114-1.2.8?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1993&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=1&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  8. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19930918-1.2.40.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1993&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=5&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  9. https://www.game-gear.de/othergg.htm
  10. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19931006-1.2.5.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1993&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=5&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  11. https://www.mega-drive.net/othermdsystems.htm
  12. https://www.klik.com.my/item/story/510297/wywy-plans-to-bring-in-virtual-reality-soon
  13. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newpaper19940812-1.2.57.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1994&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=7&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  14. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/newpaper19941224-1.2.28.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1994&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=11&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  15. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19961115-1.2.61.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1996&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=8&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  16. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19961214-1.2.67.1?ST=1&AT=filter&DF=&DT=&AO=false&NPT=&L=&CTA=&NID=&CT=&WC=&YR=1996&SortBy=Oldest&K=sega&KA=sega&P=9&Display=0&filterS=0&QT=sega&oref=article
  17. New Straits Times 1998-04-06 Fast-paced action in Sega Touring Car
  18. New Straits Times 1997-05-06 Multimedia Theme Park To Open August
  19. https://web.archive.org/web/20050831023756/http://www.neweraonline.com:80/corp/games.htm
  20. https://www.siliconera.com/sega-established-singapore-branch-to-cover-southeast-asia/
  21. https://www.facebook.com/epicsoft/posts/we-are-proud-to-announce-that-epicsoft-asia-pte-ltd-has-been-appointed-as-the-so/10156093727165775/
  22. https://www.gamerbraves.com/epicsoft-asia-is-bringing-the-sega-genesis-mini-to-south-east-asia/
  23. https://www.kakuchopurei.com/2022/10/sega-opens-new-singapore-branch/
  24. https://gettotext.com/sega-opens-a-subsidiary-in-singapore-to-conquer-southeast-asia/
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