23 November 2023
Under the Radar: Sega Singapore’s MD on acquisition of Angry Bird maker Rovio Entertainment, cloud gaming and tapping the brand value of Sonic the Hedgehog
What do you think of when you hear of the 32-year-old Sonic the Hedgehog?
Well, how about Sega? Founded in 1960, Sega Corporation is a player in the games business, having been engaged in the planning, development, sales and operation of games for home video game consoles, PCs and smartphones.
The firm was a major player in the console space back in the early 1990s, having about a 65 per cent share of the 16-bit console market in North America back then, against players such as Nintendo and the Sony Playstation.
A lot has changed since, especially after a number of moves including the failed  launch of the Dreamcast in 1998. Sega stopped the production of consoles in 2001 to become a third-party video game developer.
Fast forward to the present, the firm’s boasts over 12 major games titles within its console business division including the Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, the Football Manager 2022 and the Sonic Frontiers.
It is also seeing a number of exciting developments of late. In 2021, the firm said it is exploring a strategic alliance with Microsoft to develop big budget titles using its Azure cloud platform.
This April, it announced a plan to purchase Angry Bird maker Rovio Entertainment for US$776 million to bolster its mobile gaming business. But what does the road ahead look like for Sega in the billion dollar global video game market and what will be its key drivers of growth?
On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Yoshinori Akiyama, Managing Director, SEGA Singapore.

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