Sega Hitmaker

Hitmaker
Division (Defunct)
Industry Video games industry
Fate Merged with Sega's Research and Development
Founded February 2000 (2000-02)
Defunct 2004 (2004)
Headquarters Japan
Owner Sega
Website web.archive.org/web/20050101031830/http://www.hitmaker.co.jp

Hitmaker was a division of Japanese video game developer of Sega.

History

Logo for Sega Rosso before being merged into Hitmaker

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
TitlePlatformRelease Year
Derby Owners Club 2000Arcade2000
Confidential MissionArcade2000
Crackin' DJArcade2000
Air TrixArcade2001
Virtua Tennis 2Arcade2001
Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: ForceArcade2001
The Maze of the KingsArcade2001
World Club Champion FootballArcade2002
Crazy Taxi 3: High RollerArcade2003
The Key of Avalon: The Wizard MasterArcade2003
The Quiz ShowArcade2004
Dreamcast
Game Boy Advance
PlayStation 2
Xbox
GameCube
PC

Sega Rosso

Arcade
Dreamcast

References

  1. "Sega Corporation Annual Report 2000" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  2. "Sega Corporation Annual Report 2002" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  3. "Mie Kumagai will take over the head position at Hitmaker". www.games-zone.8m.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  4. "Video Games Daily | News: Sega Studio Mergers: Full Details". archive.videogamesdaily.com. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
  5. "Notice on Reorganization of the Company’s R&D Subsidiaries" (PDF). www.segasammy.co.jp. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
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