SEGA's Sonic rings up 8 million mobile downloads

Gaming firm SEGA Mobile announced its flagship title Sonic the Hedgehog has scored more than 8 million mobile downloads since debuting in the North American and European markets in early 2006. Sonic made its initial mobile bow on the Verizon Wireless deck, and SEGA Mobile’s
Vice President of Mobile Business Linda Chaplin said the operator’s sales remain strong more than two years later.

“Sonic is the second most popular videogame character of all time after Mario,” Chaplin said. “His appeal spans across all ages.”

SEGA Mobile also announced that Tammy Robinson, formerly the manager of content programming for games, wallpaper and applications at Verizon Wireless, has joined as its senior director of sales. Robinson has been in the wireless industry for a decade--during her time at Verizon, she grew the operator’s games content revenue by 38 percent and increased the carrier’s market share to more than 40 percent. She was also instrumental in the company’s multiplatform content strategy for its game business and helped merchandize games on the V CAST network.

At SEGA, Robinson will be responsible for expanding the firm’s current channel partnerships and establishing new relationships with carriers, portals and OEMs.