SEGA co-founder David Rosen passed away on Christmas Day, 2025
It’s a sad day for all of us Sega fans. One of the most important people in the entire history of Sega has finally left this mortal coil.
David Rosen, the founder of Rosen Enterprises, which would later become the company we all know and love today as Sega, has passed away on December 25th, 2025 at the age of 95 in his Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles home. His funeral was held on January 2nd, 2026 at Inglewood Park Cemetary. News of his passing only just became public on January 2nd courtesy of Replay Magazine.
Very few people in the history of Sega are more worthy of being celebrated than David Rosen. He alone began the chain of events that led to the creation of Sega, and by extension, many of the games they had brought to the world that touched our hearts for decades. Whether it’s Sonic the Hedgehog, NiGHTS, OutRun, Phantasy Star, Shenmue, Like A Dragon, or countless other examples, Mr. Rosen allowed for all of that to eventually be possible.
But it’s not just Sega fans who have plentiful reason to celebrate this man’s life. Part of why Mr. Rosen founded Rosen Enterprises in the first place is because he saw great potential in the coin-op market in post-war Japan. His company was first made to help import coin-op games, which we know now as arcade games, to Japan. This eventually led to Sega making arcade games of their own, but the entire arcade industry owes a major debt of gratitude to Mr. Rosen for that.
If you’d like to hear more about the prestigious spot Mr. Rosen holds in video game history, you can hear more past the break. For now, though, on behalf of SegaBits and Sega/gaming fans around the globe, we salute the amazing David Rosen and thank him for his services to gaming. We are glad he lived such a long, fulfilling life and that he may now rest in peace. Many condolences go out to his surviving family and friends as well.