Collector accuses SEGA of using police to illegally seize Nintendo consoles

One of the collectors in the United Kingdom has come into possession of a large number of Nintendo consoles with SEGA prototype games installed on them. The man planned to resell them, and the Video Game Preservation Museum was conducting a fundraiser for this purpose. However, the devkits could not be obtained, because one day the police showed up at the seller's house, arrested him and confiscated the devices. The collector believes that the entire operation may not have been conducted fully in accordance with the law (via Time Extension).

The console seller accuses SEGA of shady practices

In early July of this year, the Video Game Preservation Museum tried to raise funds to purchase Nintendo consoles with game prototypes of Sonic Chronicles, Sonic Colors DS, Sonic Generations 3DS, and Rhythm Thief for Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS consoles. The purchase couldn't be finalized because the seller's apartment was visited by the police, who confiscated the devices.

The matter is strange in that three months earlier, a person whose task was to get rid of unnecessary items from SEGA's old office contacted the collector, after the company relocated to a new headquarters. Among the sofas and fridges, there were consoles that caught the attention of a collector who acquired Nintendo handhelds with prototype versions of SEGA games for about 10,000 pounds.

Nothing happened for several months, until one day, in the morning hours, the police showed up at his house. The police arrested the dealer and took him for questioning, during which the man fully cooperated. However, the officers' reaction to one of his questions made him start to suspect something.

Further actions of the police fueled the suspicions, because two days after being released from jail, a message was sent urging the seller to renounce his rights to the consoles, which the collector found strange. In the end, if the consoles were stolen, SEGA would still have the right to own them, but the letter revealed that the collector was the legal owner of the devices.

That's why he sent requests to the police to preserve evidence, which remained unanswered. The same letters were sent to SEGA and the company's general director. In these letters, the collector informed about a possible scandal and that it would be better to communicate behind the scenes. However, there was no answer which led the trader to one conclusion:

The problem is so big because SEGA was never the original owner of the consoles - they belonged to Nintendo, their manufacturer. As reported by Time Extension, when developer versions of consoles are no longer needed, publishers return the consoles to the manufacturer, which did not happen this time. Time Extension's editorial team asked SEGA for a comment and is still waiting for a response.

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