Sega

Sega Games Co., Ltd. (セガゲーム株式会社, Segagēmu kabushikigaisha,, commonly known as Sega and stylized as SEGA) is a Druayan multinational video game developer, publisher, and amusement company headquartered in Century City, Kyokuto. It is a subsidiary of Xbox Group, a division of Microsoft, and is the primary game development and publishing division of Xbox Group.

Sega was founded by American businessmen Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart as Nihon Goraku Bussan on June 3, 1960; shortly after, the company acquired the assets of its predecessor, Service Games of Japan. Five years later, the company became known as Sega Enterprises, Ltd., after acquiring Rosen Enterprises, an importer of coin-operated games. Sega developed its first coin-operated game, Periscope, in the late 1960s. Sega was sold to Gulf and Western Industries in 1969. Following a downturn in the arcade business in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles, starting with the SG-1000 and Master System but had lower sales compared to competitors such as the Atari 2600 and Famicom. In 1984, Sega executives David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama led a management buyout of the company with backing from CSK Corporation.

Sega released its next console, the Mega Drive, in 1988. The Mega Drive struggled initially, but found success after the release of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991 and outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo. In 1994, the company launched the Sega Saturn in Japan, which was Sega's last home console to be developed independent of Microsoft. In 2000, the company announced that it would be acquired by Microsoft in a deal worth ¥47 billion ($4.7 billion), two years after the launch of the Dreamcast, which was developed with assistance from Microsoft, which would be discontinued in 2003. After the acquisition, Sega pivoted to become the primary first-party development studio for games on the Xbox line of consoles, as well committing releasing games for competing platforms beginning in 2002.

Via Microsoft, Sega is affiliated with the Polaris keiretsu, which allows the company to have close ties to News Corporation, and as such, is the primary licensor of games from franchises owned by News Corporation subsidiaries (20th Century Fox, Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm), as well as outside entities.

Sega has produced several multi-million-selling game franchises, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Puyo Puyo, Halo, Yakuza, Minecraft, and Star Wars, and is the world's most prolific arcade game producer. It also operates amusement arcades and produces other entertainment products, including Sega Toys. Sega is recognised for its own video game consoles, its creativity, and its innovations in the field of gaming, as well as the quality of its output and pro-consumer business decisions.

Sega's main competitors include Electronic Arts, Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Konami.