Founded in 1973, Gremlin started out as a manufacturer of coin-operated wall games. They entered the arcade game market in 1977 with Blockade, and a couple of years later merged its operations with Sega. The company mixed its focus between original titles, Sega titles like Head On, and publishing games by other Japanese companies like Gee Bee and Frogger. Games were published as Gremlin/Sega or Sega/Gremlin.
In December 1981, Sega's US arm moved from Gulf and Western's manufacturing division into the hands of its subsidiary Paramount Pictures, so to avoid confusion Gremlin was redubbed Sega Electronics. Around this time, the newly renamed company attempted a move into home systems, focusing on Paramount licenses. While many such titles were planned, only Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom ended up being released.
In 1983, Sega's US assets were sold off to Bally, while the Japanese side of the company was sold back off to CSK, a company consisting of David Rosen and other investors. A year later, during the Industry Crash that affected the US, the remains of Gremlin were shut down.
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