Mastertronic

TCW Podcast Episode 250 - Mastertronic From budget software publisher to the gateway for SEGA’s entry into Europe, we look at the rise and fall of Mastertronic. Initially shunned by high street retailers, the company found success supplying discount games to chains like Woolworths while importing and reselling titles from other publishers for the European market. A failed attempt to bring budget games to the United States pushed Mastertronic to look toward consoles after seeing the success of the Nintendo Entertainment System, but Nintendo rejected them due to their low-cost reputation. This led to a partnership with SEGA to launch the Master System in the United Kingdom, but a delayed release after Christmas triggered a financial crisis that forced Virgin to buy out the rest of the company. As Virgin Mastertronic, the firm gained a foothold in France and Germany while struggling with limited SEGA supply. The story ends when SEGA acquired the console side of the business and created SEGA Europe, closing the final chapter on Mastertronic. TCW 017 - The British 8-bit Computer Market Hardware: TCW 018 - The British 8-bit Computer Market Software: TCW 241 - The First 10 Years of European Consoles: Vagas Jackpot (VIC-20): BMX Racers (C64): Ghostbusters (ZX Spectrum): Way of the Exploding Fist (C64): Alians (C64): New episodes are on the 1st and 15th of every month! TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com Twitter: @tcwpodcast Patreon: Alex's Video Game History Blog: Alex's book, published Dec 2019, is available at CRC Press and at major on-line retailers: Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download: Outro Music: RoleMusic - Bacterial Love: Copyright: Attribution:

You can listen to Mastertronic online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Mastertronic is an episode from They Create Worlds by Alex Smith, and Jeffrey Daum.

This episode is 65:55 long.

This episode was published on Jan 15, 2026.

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