Sega arcades across Japan to be renamed 'GiGO'
As part of its rebranding, Sega arcades around Japan will gradually be identified as GiGO arcades, starting with the Ikebukuro, Akihabara and Shinjuku areas.
This comes after parent company Sega Sammy Holdings sold off 85 per cent of its arcade business Sega Entertainment to Tokyo-based amusement management company Genda. As the new owners of the Sega arcades, Genda first renamed Sega Entertainment to Genda Sega Entertainment, before removing the Sega name entirely to Genda GiGO Entertainment.
Genda director Sho Kataoka wrote on his Twitter, “We thank Sega for its 56 years of history [in the arcade industry], and hope to be an oasis that will quench people's thirst for real entertainment. GiGO is an acronym for Get into the Gaming Oasis.”
While most welcome the name change, some fans of the Sega arcades are not so pleased:
“No offence, GiGO is such a bad name compared to Sega.”
“That means ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’ here in the west. Please keep Sega.”
“Can’t we retain the name Sega?”
“Heartbreaking.”
“Will Sega’s name disappear from the world? That’s not good.”
Genda has not explained its decision to disassociate its arcades from Sega, but one fan has pointed out that Genda and Sega are two separate entities. It is likely that Genda does not want to confuse its customers and be mistaken as corporate siblings with Sega.
