Sega Hitmaker

Hitmaker

Former type	Subsidiary
Industry	Video games
Founded	2000
Founder	Hisao Oguchi
Defunct	2004
Owner	Sega

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. 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. With the latter becoming a major franchise.

In 2003, Mie Kumagai replaced Hisao Oguchi as the company president, 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. By 2004, Hitmaker had 193 employees which focused on arcade developement after the integration into Sega.

List of games

Hitmaker

Arcade

• Derby Owners Club 2000 (2000)
• Confidential Mission (2000)
• Crackin' DJ (2000)
• Air Trix (2001)
• Virtua Tennis 2 (2001)
• Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Force (2001)
• The Maze of the Kings (2001)
• World Club Champion Football (2002)
• Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller (2003)
• The Key of Avalon: The Wizard Master (2003)
• The Quiz Show (2004)

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)