Sega Hitmaker
Division (Defunct) | |
Industry | Video games industry |
Fate | Merged with Sega's Research and Development |
Founded | February 2000 |
Defunct | 2004 |
Headquarters | Japan |
Owner | Sega |
Website |
web |
Hitmaker was a division of Japanese video game developer of Sega.
History
In 2000, all of Sega's in-house Consumer (CS) and Amusement Machine (AM) R&D departments were separated from the main company and established on 9 semi-autonomous subsidiaries, with each subsidiary getting an elected president as a studio head.[1] However, for more financial stability, Sega began consolidating its studios into five main ones in 2003 (Sega Wow, Sega AM2, Hitmaker, Amusement Vision, Smilebit, Sonic Team), and merged them back into a uniform R&D structure in 2004.
Hitmaker was established from the AM3 department which has created popular arcade favourites in past, such as Virtual-On, Derby Owners Club, Crazy Taxi and Virtua Tennis. It was headed by Hisao Oguchi, Mie Kumagai and Kenji Kanno.
Sega Rosso was headed by Kenji Sasaki, the company was short-lived before being absorbed by Hitmaker. It contributed to Sega's arcade line-up with Cosmic Smash and Initial D Arcade Stage.[2] With the latter becoming a major franchise.
In 2003, Mie Kumagai replaced Hisao Oguchi as the company president,[3] when Hisao Oguchi was promoted to President of the entire Sega company. Also in 2003, the studio absorbed Sega Rosso, making Initial D Arcade Stage part of its line-up.[4] By 2004, Hitmaker had 193 employees which focused on arcade development after the integration into Sega.[5]
List of games
Hitmaker
- Arcade
List of SEGA Hitmaker games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- Dreamcast
- Virtua Athlete 2K (2000)
- Virtua Tennis (2000)
- Confidential Mission (2001)
- Cosmic Smash (2001)
- Crazy Taxi 2 (2001)
- Segagaga (2001)
- Virtua Tennis 2 (2001)
- Game Boy Advance
- Sega Rally Championship (2002)
- Astro Boy: Omega Factor (2003)
- PlayStation 2
- Crazy Taxi (2001)
- Virtua Tennis 2 (2002)
- Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Marz (2003)
- Initial D Special Stage (2003)
- Xbox
- Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (2002)
- GameCube
- Crazy Taxi (2001)
- Amazing Island (2003)
- PC
- Derby Owners Club Online (2004)
Sega Rosso
- Arcade
- NASCAR Arcade (2000)
- Star Wars Racer Arcade (2000)
- La Keyboard XYU (2001)
- Cosmic Smash (2001)
- Initial D Arcade Stage (2002)
- Soul Surfer (2002)
- Dreamcast
- Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo no Video Daisakusen (2000)
- Cosmic Smash (2001)
References
- ↑ "Sega Corporation Annual Report 2000" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
- ↑ "Sega Corporation Annual Report 2002" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
- ↑ "Mie Kumagai will take over the head position at Hitmaker". www.games-zone.8m.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
- ↑ "Video Games Daily | News: Sega Studio Mergers: Full Details". archive.videogamesdaily.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
- ↑ "Notice on Reorganization of the Company's R&D Subsidiaries" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-06-28.