Sega arcade gamers to win points by mobile

By Staff and reports

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese game maker Sega plans to introduce in August a system that allows its arcade gamers to register for points via Net-ready mobile phones.

The Sega Mobile Friends membership management system would allow arcade visitors to collect points for discounts on games played.

It also provides member data to Sega for market analysis, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports.

About 350 of Sega's 550 game arcades in Japan will install the new system this year. The company hopes to attract 300,000 members by March 2002 and 1 million by the end of March 2003.

Upon registration, users of the Sega Mobile Friends service will receive a barcode to store in their mobile phones.

The barcode would then be read by the company's arcades, allowing users to gain points and win discounts on games.

Sega also plans to ally with convenience store operator Lawson to allow members to use points at Lawson's retail outlets.

In May, Sega reported a record net loss in the past year, hit by a hefty charge from pulling the plug on its loss-making Dreamcast game console.

The struggling game maker, as it morphs into a video game software developer, has forecast a return to profit in the business year to next March.

For the year to March 2002, Sega said it would get back into the black with a net profit of $17.2 million, on sales of $1.5 billion.