native name formerly called service games 1940 1960 type kabushiki gaisha subsidiary industry video games founded 1940 ; 76 years ago 1940 as service games founders martin bromley irving bromberg james humpert david rosen headquarters ta tokyo japan area served worldwide key people hideki okamura chairman haruki satomi president and ceo john cheng coo sega of america j rgen post coo sega europe products arcade games arcade system games video game consoles mobile games owner gulf western 1969 1969 1984 1984 csk holdings corporation 1984 1984 2004 2004 sega sammy holdings 2004 2004 present number of employees 4 865 fy 2014 1 2 parent sega holdings divisions cs1 cs2 sonic team sega networks am1 am2 subsidiaries amplitude studios atlus creative assembly demiurge studios index corporation marza animation planet relic entertainment sports interactive three rings design tms entertainment website sega holdings sega of america sega europe sega games co. ltd. japanese hepburn kabushiki gaisha sega g musu originally short for service games and officially styled as sega is a japanese multinational video game developer and publisher 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 from then on . nonetheless sega remains the world s most prolific arcade producer with over 500 games in over 70 franchises on more than 20 different arcade system boards since 1981 . 3 sega along with their sub studios are known for their multi million selling game franchises including sonic the hedgehog virtua fighter phantasy star yakuza and total war among others . sega s head offices are located in tokyo . sega s north american division sega of america is headquartered in irvine california having moved there from san francisco in 2015 . sega s european division sega europe is headquartered in london . contents 1 history 1.1 company origins 1940 1982 1.2 golden age of arcade games 1978 1983 1.3 entry into the home console market 1982 1989 1.4 expansion and mainstream success 1989 2001 1.5 shift to third party software development 2001 2005 1.6 continued expansion and acquisitions 2005 2013 1.7 company reshuffling and digital market focus 2013 present 2 other products and services 3 company executives 3.1 sega holdings 3.2 sega 3.3 sega of america 3.4 sega europe 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history see also list of sega video game consoles company origins 1940 1982 sega diamond 3 star in 1940 american businessmen martin bromley irving bromberg and james humpert formed a company called standard games in honolulu hawaii to provide coin operated amusement machines ; mostly slot machines to military bases located which they saw as a potential market since due to the onset of world war ii the number of men stationed at the military bases had increased and they would have needed something to pass their spare time . after the war the company changed its name to service games due to military focus and seeing japan which was under allied occupation as a potential market started exporting slot machines there to the u.s. military bases . in 1951 when the government of united states started outlawing slot machines the company moved its base to tokyo japan . there the company provided coin operated slot machines to u.s. bases in japan and changed its name again to service games of japan in 1952 . soon the company also started providing the slot machines for the japanese public and the company s focus shifted from the u.s. military bases to the japanese public . 4 5 6 7 david rosen an american officer in the united states air force stationed in japan launched a two minute photo booth business in tokyo in 1954 . 4 this company eventually became rosen enterprises and in 1957 began importing coin operated games to japan . on june 3 1960 standard games was renamed sega corporation an acronym of service games . 8 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 service games . 9 within a year sega began the transition from importer to manufacturer with the release of the rosen designed submarine simulator game periscope . the game sported light and sound effects considered innovative for that time eventually becoming quite successful in japan . it was soon exported to both europe and the united states becoming the first arcade game in the us to cost 25 cents per play . 9 in 1969 rosen sold sega to american conglomerate gulf and western industries although he remained as ceo following the sale . under rosen s leadership sega continued to grow and prosper and in 1972 gulf and western made sega enterprises a subsidiary taking the company s stock public . golden age of arcade games 1978 1983 sega prospered heavily from the arcade gaming boom of the late 1970s with revenues climbing to over us 100 million by 1979 . 9 in 1982 sega s revenues surpassed 214 million . that year they introduced the first game with isometric graphics zaxxon 10 the industry s first stereoscopic 3d game subroc 3d and the first laserdisc video game astron belt . astron belt wasn t released in the u.s. until 1983 after dragon s lair . other notable games from sega during this period are head on 1979 monaco gp 1979 carnival 1980 turbo 1981 space fury 1981 astro blaster 1981 and pengo 1982 . entry into the home console market 1982 1989 in 1983 4 sega published atari 2600 versions of some of its arcade games and also tapper from bally midway . 11 carnival space fury turbo and zaxxon were licensed to coleco as launch titles for the colecovision console in 1982 . some of these and other titles were licensed to different companies for 8 bit computer versions . the atari 8 bit computer port of zaxxon is from datasoft for example while the commodore 64 port is from synapse . 10 an overabundance of games in 1983 led to the video game crash causing sega s revenues to drop to 136 million . sega then designed and released its first home video game console the sg 1000 for the third generation of home consoles . 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 . 9 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 . 9 12 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 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 . 9 sega also released the sega master system and the first game featuring alex kidd who would be sega s unofficial mascot until he was replaced by sonic the hedgehog in 1991 . while the master system was technically superior to the nes 13 it failed to capture market share in north america and japan due to highly aggressive strategies by nintendo and ineffective marketing by tonka who marketed the console on behalf of sega in the united states . 14 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 . in the mid 1980s sega released hang on and after burner arcade titles that make use of hydraulic cabinet functionality and force feedback control . sega also released the 360 degree rotating machine r 360 . for arcade system boards sega released the system series and the super scaler series . ufo catcher was introduced in 1985 and is japan s most commonly installed claw crane game . 15 sega was also one of the first to introduce medal games with world bingo and world derby in the 1980s a sub industry within japanese arcades up to its current day . citation needed expansion and mainstream success 1989 2001 sonic the hedgehog has been sega s mascot since the character s introduction in 1991 . with the introduction of the sega genesis in north america in 1989 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 . 16 when nintendo launched its super nintendo entertainment system in north america in august 1991 sega changed its slogan to welcome to the next level . the same year sega of america s leadership passed from katz to tom kalinske who further escalated the console war that was developing . 17 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 delay sega released the sega cd in japan in 1991 and in north america in 1992 as a hardware add on to the genesis greatly reducing space limitations on their games . sonic the hedgehog 2 was also released in 1992 for the genesis and became the most successful game sega ever produced selling over six million copies in total . 18 during this period local north american development also increased with the establishments of sega technical institute in 1990 sega midwest studio in 1992 sega multimedia studio in 1993 and the acquisition of interactive designs in 1992 . in 1990 sega launched the game gear to compete against nintendo s game boy . however due to issues with its short battery life lack of original titles and weak support from sega the game gear was unable to surpass the game boy selling approximately 11 million units . the game gear was succeeded by the sega nomad in 1995 and discontinued in 1997 . in 1992 sega introduced the model series of arcade hardware which saw the release of virtua fighter and virtua racing which laid the foundation for 3d racing and fighting games . 19 in 1994 sega released the sega 32x in an attempt to upgrade the genesis to the standards of more advanced systems at the time . it sold well initially but had problems with lack of software and hype about the upcoming sega saturn and sony s playstation . 20 within a year it was in the bargain bins of many stores . 21 on november 22 1994 sega launched the sega saturn in japan . it utilized two 32 bit processors . however poor sales in the west led to the console being abandoned by 1998 . 22 the lack of strong titles based on established genesis franchises along with its high price in comparison to the sony playstation were among the reasons for the console s failure . 23 notable titles in japan include sakura wars panzer dragoon and arcade ports such as