GENDA

GENDA SEGA Entertainment Changes Name to GENDA GiGO, Fully Acquiring SEGA’s Japanese Arcade Management Division

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Cha-cha-changes are happening with SEGA’s arcade division in Japan. If you guys have been keeping up with the news since Covid, SEGA went from trying to launch its own innovative cloud based “FOG” system, to closing down iconic SEGA Arcade landmark locations and even selling 85.1% of its arcade management business to GENDA!

At the time, GENDA announced it would keep the SEGA branding at actual locations and name the company GENDA SEGA Entertainment. Seems plans have changed as GENDA has announced it will rename the company GENDA GiGO. Not only that, the company also announced it was buying the last remaining 14.9% of shares owned by SEGA, meaning SEGA doesn’t have any say in the company (and probably didn’t seeing as they had minority control). SEGA is completely out of the arcade management business! This is a end of a long, historical era for the company.

This doesn’t mean SEGA isn’t making arcade games still, it just means they no longer manage and own their 200 plus locations that they used to manage before Covid. Now I wonder if these arcade locations will still keep the SEGA branding they promised…

UPDATE: Arcade Heroes have confirmed that the existing locations will remove the SEGA branding and replace it with GiGO.

[Translated by: @Gosokkyu]

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SEGA leaves Japanese arcade management business selling off 85.1% shares to GENDA – SEGA name will remain

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As you know that the arcade business has been shrinking over the last few decades. This was one of the main reasons Yu Suzuki left SEGA in 2008, stating that they would no longer fund larger scale arcade games. As time went on, it seemed that only a handful of arcade titles continued to profit and the market kept shrinking. This year we got hit with Covid-19, which had a huge impact on the arcade market.

Because of these trends and the events of 2020. SEGA has sold off a majority stake (85.1%) of their SEGA Entertainment arcade business to GENDA, “a company created in 2018 by former President of Aeon Fantasy. Genda specialises in the rental of amusement machines and owns the LIFTる。website and mobile application which allows players to remotely play cranes and have their won prizes delivered home” (Source: Arcade Belgium).  SEGA is now a minority shareholder of the business at 14.9%.

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