Sega Genesis
30.75 million first-party Genesis units were sold worldwide. In addition, Tec Toy sold an estimated three million licensed variants in Brazil, Majesco projected it would sell 1.5 million licensed variants of the system in the United States, and much smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. By the mid-2010s, licensed third-party Genesis rereleases were still being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been rereleased in compilations or on online services such as the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The Genesis was succeeded in 1994 by the Sega Saturn.
History of Sega
In response to a downturn in the arcade-game market in the early 1980s, Sega began to develop video game consoles—starting with the SG-1000 and Master System—but struggled against competitors like the Nintendo Entertainment System. Sega released its next console, the Sega Genesis (known as the Mega Drive outside of North America) in 1988. Although it initially struggled, the Genesis became a resounding commercial success after the release of "Sonic the Hedgehog" in 1991 and outsold its main competitor, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, throughout the first half of the 1990s. However, Sega experienced commercial failures in the second half of the decade such as the 32X, Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast. In 2001 Sega stopped manufacturing consoles to become a third-party developer and publisher, and was acquired by Sammy Corporation in 2004. Since the takeover, Sega has also developed smartphone games and reorganized its businesses. The company has since been more profitable than it had been after it exited the console market.