Gremlin Industries
Industry | Video games |
---|---|
Founded | 1971 |
Founder | Frank Fogleman, Carl Grindle |
Defunct | 1983 |
Fate | Folded into Bally Manufacturing |
Headquarters | San Diego, California |
Products | Video game software |
Parent | Sega |
Gremlin Industries was an American arcade game manufacturer active from 1971 to 1983 based in San Diego, California, USA. Following its acquisition by Sega in 1978, the company was known as Sega/Gremlin or Gremlin/Sega. The company's name was subsequently changed to Sega Electronics in 1982, before the company closed in 1983.
History[]
Gremlin was founded in 1971 as a contract engineering firm by Harry Frank Fogleman and Carl E. Grindle.[1] The duo had intended to name the company after themselves as "Grindleman Industries," but an employee of the Delaware Secretary of State's office misheard the name over the phone, so the company was incorporated as Gremlin instead.[2] In 1973, Gremlin became a manufacturer of coin-operated wall games with their first game Play Ball (1973).[3] Gremlin joined the video game industry in 1976 by releasing its first video arcade game entitled Blockade (1976).[4]
In 1978, Gremlin was acquired by Sega Enterprises Inc. and their games acquired the label of Gremlin/Sega or Sega/Gremlin.[5] Following the Sega purchase, Gremlin began to release games from both Sega and other Japanese companies. Among these video games were Namco's Gee Bee (1978), Nichibutsu's Moon Cresta and Super Moon Cresta (both 1980) Nintendo's Space Firebird (1980), and Konami's Frogger (1981).
In 1982, the name of the company was changed to Sega Electronics to better strengthen the Sega brand name in the United States.[6] They distributed Sega's Champion Baseball in North America, becoming one of their best-performing arcade video games in 1983. However, the golden age of arcade video games was coming to an end that year. In mid-1983, the arcade assets of the company were sold to Bally Manufacturing and Sega Electronics was shuttered soon afterwards. Through the purchase, Bally Midway acquired Sega Laserdisc arcade technology for laserdisc video games.[7]
The company was renamed Ages Electronics as a subsidiary of CBS, then ViacomCBS.[1]
Video games[]
Produced[]
Title | Released |
---|---|
Blockade | 1976 |
Safari | 1977 |
Comotion | 1977 |
Depthcharge | 1977 |
Hustle | 1977 |
Blasto | 1978 |
Frogs | 1978 |
Deep Scan | 1979 |
Fortress | 1979 |
Head On | 1979 |
Head On 2 | 1979 |
Invinco! | 1979 |
Carnival | 1980 |
Digger | 1980 |
Astro Blaster | 1981 |
Eliminator | 1981 |
Pulsar | 1981 |
Space Fury | 1981 |
Star Trek | 1982 |
Tac/Scan | 1982 |
Zektor | 1982 |
Battle Star | Cancelled |
Ixion | Cancelled |
Pig Newton | Cancelled |
Razzmatazz | Cancelled |
Distributed[]
Title | Licensed from | Released |
---|---|---|
Gee Bee | Namco | 1978 |
Moon Cresta | Nichibutsu | 1980 |
Space Firebird | Nintendo | 1980 |
Super Moon Cresta | Nichibutsu | 1980 |
Frogger | Konami | 1981 |
Ports[]
Sega released emulated and playable versions of some of the early Sega/Gremlin arcade games as vault material for the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable.
References[]
- ^ a b "| California Secretary of State". businesssearch.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ Smith, Alexander (2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Volume I. CRC Press. p. 306. ISBN 9781138389908.
- ^ Smith, Keith (2015-09-20). "The Golden Age Arcade Historian: The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 1". The Golden Age Arcade Historian. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ Smith, Keith (2015-09-25). "The Golden Age Arcade Historian: The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 2". The Golden Age Arcade Historian. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ Smith, Keith (2015-10-10). "The Golden Age Arcade Historian: The Ultimate (So-Far) History of Gremlin Industries Part 3". The Golden Age Arcade Historian. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
- ^ Ken Horowitz, The Sega Arcade Revolution : A History in 62 Games, McFarland, July 2018, 310 p. (pp.68)
- ^ Adlum, Eddie (November 1985). "The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum". RePlay. Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 134-175 (168-70).
- Companies based in San Diego
- Manufacturing companies established in 1971
- Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1983
- Defunct video game companies of the United States
- Sega