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View topic - European official/authorised distributors
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 European official/authorised distributors
 Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:46 am
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http://web.archive.org/web/20090410055123/http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.ph... I'm trying to piece together the various official Sega distributors for Europe, but need some help filling in the gaps. UK and Germany are already well documented; UK: 87 Mastertronic>88 Virgin Mastertronic>91 Sega Germany: 87 Ariolasoft>88 Virgin Mastertronic>91 Sega France: 87 ???>88 Virgin Mastertronic>91 Sega Spain: ?? ???>90 Virgin Mastertronic>91 Sega Who was the original French distributor "Sega pushed into a financial crisis", and who did Virgin Mastertronic take over Spanish distribution from in 1990? Yeno distributed the SC-3000 and software in France up until about 1985, but I'd expect there to be more info if they also distributed the SMS at first. It seems that Sega never directly distributed in Italy, this site says "NBC Italia" distributed the SMS in Italy for 1987, before "Giochi Preziosi" took over in 1988 and seems to have remained Sega's Italian distributor throughout. The only problem is that Googling "NBC Italia" and Sega brings up only one relevant link, the one posted above. Does anyone have any more information on "NBC Italia"? Melchioni distributed the SC-3000 and software until around 1985.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/home/mccann-hit-by-20m-sega-blow/2013406.article So Sega was directly distributing in Benelux and Austria up until the beginning of 1996, but when did they start, and from who? Ariolasoft originally announced in 1986 that they were going to distribute the SMS in Germany, UK, and Netherlands. They obviously never ended up distributing in UK, but how about Netherlands, and maybe Austria too? Ecofilmes started distribution of Sega products in Portugal from 1991. Were they the first in Portugal, or was there another distributor before them? That leaves Switzerland and the Nordic countries in Western Europe, I don't really have amuch information about those, so please post if you know anything. |
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:21 am
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I can confirm that - as far as I can remember - Giochi Preziosi was the official Sega distributor here in Italy.
If you can point me in the right direction I will be glad to help you with translations of relevant documentation. |
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:41 am
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This is all I could find on NBC Italia;
http://gamesearch.it/approfondimenti/sega-master-system |
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:54 pm
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It's not easy to look for NBC Italia on Google because the television network with the same acronym tends to clutter up the results :|
Here is a translation of the paragraph you quoted:
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 7:17 pm
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In 1992 Brio AB (some adverts said "Brio AB/Playmix") had the distribution in at least Sweden possibly some other Nordic countries.
I can't for my life remember what the distributor was before (it was a small company that also imported other electronics, car stereos and such)... |
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 6:56 am
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Thanks for the translation, I guess the original NBC Italia either went out of business or changed name a long time ago.
Can't find a lot on Brio Playmix, but they were still Sega distributors for Sweden in 1994, and also Norway in 1995. It did lead me to this thread though, where it's posted that "Dennis Bergström Elektronik AB" was the previous distributor. And this thread has an early advert from Dennis Bergström for April 1988, along with a (dead) link which says the Master System was sold in Sweden since 1987. So it seems likely that Dennis Bergström was the original distributor, but the original 1987 distributors in France, Germany, and Italy all changed in 1988 so it's possible the same happened in Sweden too. Now to find out when Brio Playmix took over from Dennis Bergström, some time between 1988 and 1992. 
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 1:11 pm
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In case you're interested, the official distributor in Greece was Zegetron.
http://www.zegetron.gr/website/showitem.php?docid=110 |
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:36 am
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Thanks, I guess they were the first in Greece? |
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Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:08 pm
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As far as I know, yes they were the first. Obviously a bit late in comparison with other countries... But maybe there was an unofficial distributor before Zegetron, because I remember seeing SMS's before 1992 for sure. Or possibly they were the same persons who finally decided to do it officially by making this company in 1992. I'm not far away from their offices, the next time I drive near I'll check if I can find anything... |
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Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:19 pm
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As far as I can remember, in 1989/90, Sega's official distributor in Spain was Erbe Software, under license/agreement with Virgin Mastertronic. I'm guessing Erbe was always Sega's distributor in Spain since the SMS was launched, but I would need to go through my old magazines to see if I can find traces of other possible earlier distributors.
Erbe was a former software developer turned into distributor, which enjoyed some quite glorious times during the late 80's / very early 90's, and was the official distributor for many computer software companies (US Gold, Ocean, Imagine...). Erbe also used to distribute oficially the GameBoy and the SuperNES here in Spain. |
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Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 11:51 pm
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| As far as I can remember, at least since 1990 to the Dreamcast era, the SEGA's official distributor in Portugal was Ecofilmes. Don't know exactly when was the Master System first released here officially and who did distributed it. | |
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:43 pm
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That's interesting that they dealt through Virgin Mastertronic, and not directly with Sega. That suggests that they didn't launch in Spain until later once Virgin Mastertronic had become established as the main European distributor. Unless there was a different distributor at first like in some other countries. |
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 11:25 am
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Some updates, starting with France, with help from scans of TILT magazine.
TILT #34, dated September 1986 has a report on Summer CES 1986 from June where they say this aboput SMS;
Which Google translates as*;
*As I'm using Google translate for some of these quotes I'd appreciate it if anyone could point out any translation errors. Which is quite interesting as this is the same month that Sega announced at CES 1986 for the US release. It seems that Sega intended to ship both PAL and NTSC units in time for a September release in their respective regions. TILT #43, dated June 1987 has an SMS review which includes;
Translation;
Which suggests that SMS had already been released in those countries by May/June 1987. TILT #45, dated September 1987 has the first distributor ads from "Master Games Systeme France", the same ad appears in the next few issues. TILT #48, Special guide to 1988 carries some new ads from Master Games Systeme France, and a Ni****do Vs Sega article which says this about SMS;
Translation;
So it seems that September 1987 was the actual release month for SMS in France. TILT #58, dated October 1988 carries news that Master Games Systeme France has been replaced by Virgin as Sega distributor in France, along with UK and Germany. TILT #60, Special guide to 1989 carries the first ad from Virgin, this time for a specific game - Thunderblade. TILT #62, dated January 1989 continues this style of ad, this time for Shinobi. TILT #63, dated February 1989 - ad for Rambo III. 
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 12:13 pm
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"Happy Computer" was a computer games section of a German computer magazine that would eventually evolve in to "Power Play" magazine. The earliest scans I found were for the November 1986 issue which has a review of the SMS and the following games;
Action Fighter Black Belt Choplifter Fantasy Zone Hang-On My Hero Transbot World Grand Prix There's also a retailer ad which uses the "Programmed insanity" tagline seen in this booklet. The December issue has an ad from the same retailer, along with another retailer ad listing the games mentioned above and also; Astro Warrior/Pit Pot F-16 Fighter Great Soccer Pro Wrestling These are all games which have German variants. The January 1987 issue features the first ad by Ariolasoft, they use the "Programmed insanity" tagline, and give an address to write to for their booklet (presumably the one linked to above). It says that the free Hang-on bundle is a limited edition to the first 10,000 units. There's also a list of German retailers. The November 1988 issue of "ASM" or "Aktueller Software Markt" reports on Virgin having taken over distribution from September. 
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Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 5:53 pm
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What I can tell about Finland is that ads with Sonic "coming soon" name PlayMix.
Older (1990?) ad says importer: Oy PCI-Data Ab. |
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 2:51 pm
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Thanks, I didn't know about PCI-Data before. Here's some scans of "Video Giochi" magazine. The November 1986 issue has an overview of the SMS and says NBC Italia had announced a November 1986 release for SMS in Italy. I think it's the first confirmation of a 1986 release for SMS in Italy, although it's not too surprising as Italy also has early variants like Germany. As Australia has them too I wonder if SMS also released in Australia in 1986, and who was the original distributor there? It lists these games; Action Fighter Astro Warrior/Pit Pot Black Belt Choplifter F-16 Fighter Fantasy Zone Ghost House Hang-On Marksman Shooting / Trap Shooting / Safari Hunt My Hero Teddy Boy Transbot World Grand Prix February 1987 issue has a report from the International Toy Fair held from Jan 29 - Feb 3 in Milan. They mention several upcoming games, the Control Stick, and interestingly the Sports Pad, along with a picture of it. This was never released in Europe, although I guess it brings up the possibility that NBC Italia may have imported some. On the subject of unreleased European hardware, the October 1988 issue of TGM Italy has a letter which asks about the "Sega Graphic Board" which was mentioned in a supplement of the October 1987 issue of "BIT" magazine. This was also mentioned in the Ariolasoft booklet, although I couldn't find any scans from that issue of BIT. 
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 11:24 pm
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Some more details on Spain with help from "Micro Mania" magazine. It's primarily a computer magazine, and doesn't have anything about SMS until the June 1987 issue where there's a 3 page ad by distributor "PROEIN". It seems it released in Spain after Germany/Italy, but before France/UK. They advertise in the next few issues, and there's also a page or two of SMS "reviews". These seem like they might be undeclared ads to me though.
July: Teddyboy, Ghost House, World Grand Prix August: Black Belt, Choplifter, My Hero September: Fantasy Zone, Super Tennis, Transbot October: Alex Kidd, Action Fighter The last PROEIN ad appears in the December 1987 issue. August 1989 has news on Virgin's recent deal with Sega to become European distributor for all Sega products. December 1989 has news that Erbe became the new Spanish distributor for Sega consoles in October. January 1990 has the first ad from Erbe, under license from Virgin Mastertronic as mentioned by Thoja previously. They even have the Virgin Mastertronic "Do me a favour" TV. December 1990 has news about a meeting between Virgin Mastertronic Espana and Sega. July 1991 issue has not only the first Erbe ad for Game Boy, but also their last for Sega. August 1991, ad now just has Virgin Mastertronic, and no mention of Erbe. September 1991, another change. Post Sega takeover of Virgin Mastertronic sees the first Sega and Game Gear ad. 
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Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:45 pm
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I've been looking for more info.
OY PCI-Data Ab was likely a small Finnish company. Before SMS they seem to have been importer of Commodore 64 and Amiga. I have one new name, "Sanura Suomi Oy" (or "Sanura-Suomi Oy"). Pelit Spring 1989 (see my Finnish reviews topic) names them importer for SMS. MikroBitti 11/89 has SMS ad with "Sanura Viihdeosasto(=Entertainment department)". Sanura Suomi was also importer for Sanyo PCs, as well as some chess computers. I suspect PCI-Data became the importer 1990 when MegaDrive got here (MB9/90 article introducing the new MD names PCI-Data; another article says they started importing MD "halfway August"). After that... to PlayMix with GG, 1991? I see PlayMix had imported toys for years, a comic (March-April/1988) has ad for "Starcom" toy series. One article does claim SMS would've arrived to Finland 1987, but I don't think there was an official importer that early. I don't know how long SMS was supported here, but last catalogue I have is Spring 1993 showing Sonic 2, Lemmings, Taz-mania and Asterix; those may have been last imported games. |
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:04 am
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Nice finds, Sanura Suomi still seems to be around today, but I couldn't find much about their days as Sega distributor. It seems that PCI-Data went bankrupt at the end of 1990, so they seem to have only been the distributor for a short period. From what I can tell Brio/PlayMix took over distribution in Sweden from Dennis Bergström in 1990, so I guess they were the most obvious company to take over after PCI-Data went under.
I notice that the early European distribution deals seem to have been signed at the CES shows in America of which two were held every year, Summer CES held during June in Chicago, and Winter CES held in January in Las Vegas. Here's a piece about Kenneth Klingborg who was with Dennis Bergström at the time. Translation:
That would most likely be Winter CES, January 1987. When Sega closed it's Benelux and Austrian subsidiaries in 1996 it also closed down Sega Denmark, and FunWare took over. Brio didn't actually get the distribution for Denmark until the Dreamcast launched in 1999.
So I still don't have any details on who were the distributors during the late 80s and early 90s for Denmark or Norway. It does seem that Brio discontinued the SMS earlier than some other countries, this thread which has a near complete list of Brio SMS releases is missing most of the 1994/1995 releases. The only one I noticed was Winter Olympics which would have released early 1994 or possibly late 1993. |
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:47 pm
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Some new info about spanish distribution. A scan from a newspaper of 1987, with a master system ad, stating proein as the company in charge of distribution
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Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:39 pm
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Micronews #12 - July/August 1988 has an SMS ad from Swiss distributor "Logicosoftware".
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Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:47 pm
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Found this Zegetron registration card in a (way too expensive) master system 2 pack on ebay while randomly searching for tec toy games.
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