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How many remember being impacted by the character Sonic the Hedgehog? Even non-gamers like me would quite clearly be able to associate the iconic character in blue with Sega, the Tokyo-based company.

Did you know that one of the key figures of Sega is David Rosen? His family confirmed that Rosen passed away on Christmas Day, 2025. The 95-year-old had played his role well, in the 30 years he was steering the company to success, even though, it’s not without hiccups or obstacles.

A major player in the video games industry, Sega has been in the business for 60 years. Sega began as a force in the arcade game, before moving on to the console space to compete with the likes of Nintendo.

Eventually, there came a time when Sega would exit the console gaming space.

David Rosen served in the United States Army Force (1948-1952), during which he was stationed in Japan during the Korean War. Following the time of his service, he would remain in Japan for a substantial amount of time. Rosen Enterprises was birthed, and where he would sell Japanese arts to Americans, before diversifying into the export of coin-operated amusement machines to the US as arcades began to rise in popularity in Japan.

In response to this development, he would merge his company with Service Games to form the now widely-known Sega, and having Rosen as Managing Director and the CEO of the newly-formed, now-giant back then.

The corporation would begin to grow as it gradually launched a variety of arcade cabinets, including Periscope, under the guidance and eyes of the visionary Rosen. As time passed, Sega found innovative ways to build more momentum and achieve greater success.

However, Rosen moved back to the US and called Los Angeles his home, where he found a new address to relocate to.

With Rosen’s ideas, the location of the business base didn’t matter. He managed to expand the business to America, despite its Japanese origins.

It makes sense then that he helped start Sega America, where he stayed on until his retirement in 1996.

Today, Sega’s most iconic creation, Sonic the Hedgehog remains well-known due to the number of new games, and expansion into television shows and blockbuster films. He would’ve also witnessed the popularity and growth of Sonic, amongst other important intellectual properties (IPs).