SEGA Was Started by Americans in Japan

 

Most people think of SEGA as a Japanese video game company—the company behind Sonic the Hedgehog and generations of arcade games.

 

But SEGA’s origins are surprisingly American.

 

In the early 1950s, Americans Raymond LeMaire and Richard Stewart established a business in Japan that imported and operated jukeboxes, slot machines, and other coin-operated entertainment equipment. One of their important markets was the U.S. military bases in Japan.

 

The business eventually became known as Service Games.

 

And that is where the famous name came from:

 

SErvice
GAmes

 

SEGA.

 

In 1960, the company produced a Japanese-made jukebox called the SEGA 1000, using the abbreviated name derived from Service Games.

 

Later, another American entrepreneur, David Rosen, became an important part of the story. Rosen had served with the U.S. Air Force in Japan and started Rosen Enterprises, initially operating photo booths and later importing amusement machines. In 1965, Rosen Enterprises merged with the company descended from Service Games, creating Sega Enterprises.

 

From there, SEGA moved increasingly into amusement machines and eventually became one of the most recognizable names in video games.

 

I find this history fascinating because we tend to put companies into simple categories: Nintendo is Japanese, Microsoft is American, Samsung is Korean.

 

SEGA is Japanese—but its roots tell a much more international story.

 

It grew from Americans doing business in postwar Japan, initially serving American military bases, and eventually became part of Japanese popular culture exported around the world.

 

Sometimes a company’s history is much more international than its nationality suggests.