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David Rosen, one of the co-founders of Sega and a major figure in the Japanese arcade industry, has died at the age of 95. According to his spokesman, Rosen passed away on Christmas Day, surrounded by his family.

Rosen was a former American Airman who began his career in Japan in the 1950s. He founded Rosen Enterprises Ltd, which first focused on selling art and taking photos for Japanese ID cards.

Later in the decade, Rosen noticed that people in post-war Japan had more money to spend. He decided to import coin-operated amusement machines from the United States. To do this, he had to get a special license from Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

“Right off the bat, the machines were tremendously successful,” he told Next Generation Magazine in 1996.
“It’s embarrassing to say this, but the return generally came in less than two months,” he added, even though import fees were as high as 200%.

“At this point, I was opening up arcades with these shooting and hunting games throughout Japan, and we were fortunate… I don’t know [how many arcades we had], but by the time I left, there wasn’t a city in Japan that didn’t have one of our arcades.”

By the early 1960s, Japan’s amusement business was growing quickly. Companies such as Taito and Nihon Goraku Bussan noticed Rosen’s success. In 1965, Rosen Enterprises merged with Nihon Goraku Bussan, which used the brand name Sega.

“Going into 1965, the principals of Nihon Goraku Bussan and I had discussions about merging. They were by far the larger company, and Sega was their brand name,” Rosen said.
“We decided to merge, and in trying to establish the name of the company, we decided Sega was the best known name, and we took Enterprises from Rosen Enterprises. So our new company became known as Sega Enterprises Ltd, and I became CEO/President after the merger.”

In 1966, Sega released its first original game, Periscope, which helped define the company’s future as a game creator. The next year, Rosen co-founded the Japan Amusement Association and became its chairman.

Rosen stayed with Sega for many years. In 1969, Sega was sold to Gulf+Western Industries, where he continued as CEO of the Sega division. In 1984, he helped buy back Sega’s Japanese business and later formed Sega of America, serving as co-president until 1996.

“Sega was involved in videogames very shortly after they were invented,” he said.
“Certainly we were importing games like Pong from day one. We started producing our own videogames shortly thereafter.”