We’ve learned some tragic news – Sega co-founder and Japanese arcade pioneer David Rosen has died at the age of 95.

According to Rosen’s spokesperson, he passed away peacefully at home while being surrounded by his family. Rosen was a key person in Sega and how they became a major player in the games industry.

Rosen was one of the co-founders of what became known as Sega, formerly Service Games (Sega is a shortened form of this), originally an importer of coin-op arcade machines from the west to Japan.

While the origins of Sega can be traced back to its original form as Nihon Goraku Bussan in 1960 with founders Martin Bromley and Richard Stewart, it acquired the assets of Service Games while also acquiring Rosen Enterprises (David’s company, which also imported coin-op games), thus becoming known as Sega Enterprises.

Soon after reforming under their modern and famous name, Sega, the company developed its first coin-op game, Periscope, in 1966. The game was so popular it basically standardized the use of quarters as the main payment for each play.

Rosen and the other co-founders were instrumental in developing Japan’s early post-war arcade scene. As co-founders like Bromley left the company, Rosen became the face of the company as CEO and managing director and oversaw it becoming a publicly traded company under Gulf and Western.

Rosen’s funeral was held on January 2nd at Inglewood Park Cemetery. His legacy in the arcade games industry got him a place in the AAMA’s (American Amusement Machine Association) Hall of Fame, who also previously celebrated him as their Man of the Year.

Many fans of Sega probably know them by their recent hits like the Yakuza series or their mascot Sonic the Hedgehog, though their roots were always in the arcade and coin-op business, which they continued to dominate until as late as 2022 when they finally exited the arcade business.