What Killed Sega Saturn & Dreamcast?

[Atariboy2600]

I believe many of us always wanted to fine reasons for the death of both Sega Saturn and Dreamcast, some say for lack of money, lack of good game titles or just bad timing in the gaming market. But for me I think the may reason is that fact that both of them are not backward compatible to the older Sega CD and I wanted to know why on that fact! Is it me or many of these game companys just dont think for the players when it comes to making new gen consoles. I mean you think it would have been coment scene for Sega after making Saturn that they would had have it play Sega CD games cuase it was still in store selling cheaper or same on the Dreamcast in playing both Sega CD & Saturn on it? And place dont tell me that its becuase of diffent hardware reason I dont buy that, Saturn's hardware was faster and stronger then Sega CD unit. and Dreamcast was way stronger then both Sega CD & Saturn combine. If anyone should be the blam on the death of Sega Hardware market its Sega them self. I strongly believed had Sega made there units backward compatible they would had sold more and stayed on the gaming world just abit longer but then again who knows maybe all this talk would had not saved them at all. But I just wanted to get this off my cheast. What do you guys think?

 

Oh and I almost forgot to add this example on the Sega CD & Satrurn CDs them self.

As I was cleaning the Sega CD/Saturn/and Dreamcast I notist that on thebottom side of each of there CD disc are the same shiny silver reflector and I even played them on a regaler CD player just to play the sound track of songs from the games and I can like from Sega CD Star Wars Rebel Assault, Saturn's Sonic R songs.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Atariboy2600

[NovaXpress]

Hardly anyone gave a shit about the Sega CD or the Saturn for that matter so the Dreamcast wasn't affected either. Sega didn't come up with any hits after the Genesis so backwards-compatibility wasn't a system seller to anyone but Sega fans.

 

The weirdness is that the Saturn and Dreamcast were as good or better than the competition. Yet Sony kicked their ass because they had a better marketing department. There's no other reason. Sony got the jump on Saturn in mass consumer appeal and rode that pony into today.

[badbrad]

It was way too easy to pirate Dreamcast discs. Bootdisc anyone?

[Atariboy2600]

It was way too easy to pirate Dreamcast discs. Bootdisc anyone?

 

Just played Half-Life (Blue Shift level) for the Dreamcast and love playing it

[+FujiSkunk]

What Nova said. I would add that both the Saturn and the Dreamcast stumbled out of the gate, which is never healthy.

 

The Saturn was to be Sega's 1337 game system, with the 32x filling in for those who would be happy enough with a "moderate" upgrade. Then the Playstation was announced and Sega realized they would have to devote more attention to the system that was actually capable of competing with the Playstation. This doomed the 32x (assuming it ever had a chance in the first place) and put a lot of pressure on the Saturn. Sega ended up releasing the Saturn earlier than planned, resulting in very few launch titles to help persuade buyers. As for the hardware, the Saturn was also hampered by its relative lack of 3D support, which Sony successfully proclaimed to be the Next Big Thing.

 

Despite the problems, the Saturn didn't do too badly, particularly in Japan. I'm actually of the opinion that Sega killed off the Saturn prematurely, before the market was really through with it. Perhaps this was due to Sega wanting to focus more attention on the upcoming Dreamcast, but maybe they simply decided it wasn't worth the time and money to chase what would have been a second place finish, at best.

 

As for the Dreamcast, its launch was marred by confusion, and some broken promises, about what features it would have at launch time. For example, broadband support was hinted at, and eventually offered, but out of the box the Dreamcast only offered a modem, and even then, Sega didn't seem quite sure what they wanted to offer in the way of network support. Worse was third party support. Electronic Arts in particular didn't help matters any when they announced they would not be offering any games for the Dreamcast.

 

With all of this weighing on both systems, the least Sega needed to worry about was backwards compatibility.

Edited April 3, 2006 by skunkworx

[Dusk2600]

no ea titles on the DC Huge death factor.

 

 

and poor timing, money,ect ect ect.....

[ninjarabbit]

The Saturn was a 2-D system in a 3-D world and was doomed by the surprise launch which no one was ready for (including Sega) and $400 price tag compared to the $300 price of the PS1 and $200 price of the N64.

 

The DC was doomed to the massive hype over the PS2 and the bad business decisions Sega had been making for the 5 years prior to the DC's launch.

[Atariboy2600]

See this is why I love forums like this where real gamers get to talk and knows alot in the gaming world then any Online Critics or Gaming Meg Site wirh litle or no real gaming history.

[atari_2600_master]

no wanted the sega cd

[Vic George 2K3]

The "blitzkreig marketing" approach in the summer of 1995 really hurt the Saturn more than it helped. Also it didn't help that it wasn't backwards compatible with the Sega 32X. If they were trying to wean Genesis players to the Saturn like they did Master System owners to the Genesis, they failed miserably in that respect.

[ninjarabbit]

But why would the Saturn need to be backwards compatable with the Sega CD and 32X? Neither of those add-ons were big sucesses, had limited libaries, and would only appeal to a limited fanbase. Plus the extra cost of making the Saturn backwards compatable would drive the price tag of the $400 Saturn even higher, potentially into 3D0 range.

 

One more thing that really hurt the Saturn is that half of it's good games were Japanese exclusive. If Sega had been more agressive in getting those games to the US market the Saturn might have survived a little longer.

Edited April 4, 2006 by ninjarabbit

[christianscott27]

In terms of console wars "failure" is such a relative term. When its a 3 dog race a bronze medal suddenly becomes a mark of failure. I dont think the saturn and DC really did that badly, both sold millions of units and had hundreds of titles. Both were household names and still collectible today, doesnt really sound like a failure to me, that would be something like the game.com or CD32, systems that never got out of the gate really. I'm a fan of both systems, I cant say they failed me in term of delivering the fun per dollar promised, I'm just sad they had to leave a few years too early.

 

 

Backwards compatible is such silly idea, every gamer says they want it but most never use it, I cant think of the last time I put a playstation 1 game in my PS2.

[NovaXpress]

I dont think the saturn and DC really did that badly, both sold millions of units and had hundreds of titles. Both were household names and still collectible today, doesnt really sound like a failure to me, that would be something like the game.com or CD32, systems that never got out of the gate really.

Sega, at one time one of the two undisputed kings of the hill, is no longer in the console business. That's failure.

Edited April 4, 2006 by NovaXpress

[Zonie]

I dont think the saturn and DC really did that badly, both sold millions of units and had hundreds of titles. Both were household names and still collectible today, doesnt really sound like a failure to me, that would be something like the game.com or CD32, systems that never got out of the gate really.

Sega, at one time one of the two undisputed kings of the hill, is no longer in the console business. That's failure.

Kind of like Atari.

 

I didn't even notice the Saturn (or the 7800 for that matter) until they were already dead. I'm sure many others didn't either. PC gaming was still growing, what with better sound and graphics every year. It wasn't until the Xbox and PS2 releases that the PC gaming really became an also ran as well. Too bad, really.

 

Hmmm. My 688th post. Reminds me of 688 attack sub. Loved that game in the day. (PC)

Edited April 4, 2006 by Zonie

[JB]

In terms of console wars "failure" is such a relative term. When its a 3 dog race a bronze medal suddenly becomes a mark of failure.

And on a related note, the SegaCD is only a failure when you compare it to the market as a whole.

 

No, it didn't sell anywhere near the SNES and Genesis. Big surprise, since it could only be used by Genesis owners.

It's entire target market was the pre-existing Genesis user base, and it did fairly well for that market.

...

This actually highlights the underlying flaw of expansion hardware. You can develop a game for the base system and have that company's entire market share available as potential customers, or for the add-on, and have a small fraction of their market-share as potential customers.

 

 

 

Also: The Saturn was NOT a 2D machine in a 3D world.

It was quite capable in the polygon realm(by some counts better than the PS1).

 

http://www.sega-saturn.com/saturn/br.htm

See?

 

Of special note is that the flooring patterns maintain linearity at angles. Watch a PS1 game with a real-time background. The textures will come alive and dance as the camera rotates.

Front Mission 3's city maps are especially good for this, as there's LOTS of streets with allegedly straight dotted lines in them.

[spongebue]

I have to put my money down on timing for this one. The thing had no real generation that it came from. Everybody was either happy with their Nintendo 64, or was holding out for a PS2 to come out. Once the PS2/xbox/GCN came out, it kind of trampled on the poor thing, and it was removed from mainstream existence... and it's a shame, since it really did have decent potential

 

Oh yeah, I also think that they should have put a DVD drive in that puppy, since the DVD market was finally maturing and people would like the "dual purpose" feature.

[ManShowBoy]

PLAYSTATION

 

PSX killed Saturn and PS2 killed the DC.

[youarefree]

I definetly believe piracy had a lot to do with the downfall of the dreamcast. I was an "early adopter" of the DC, and never pirated any games. I looked forward to new releases, and loved the online gameplay. However, despite all the great reviews, original games and solid hardware, it always felt that the DC "on the edge" of making it.. constantly struggling. When games began to be distributed all over the net, I could tell it would be part of the downfall.

 

And of course.. the PS2 didn't help either.

[Classic Pac]

It was more of the factor too little too late. Personally I think SEGA just missed the mark when it came to those 2 systems. They just really did not have anything that excited gamers like us. On the other hand Sony knows that it is the games that drive any system. If the games aren't there...nobody is going to buy.

[Foxsolo2000]

Backwards compatible is such silly idea, every gamer says they want it but most never use it, I cant think of the last time I put a playstation 1 game in my PS2.

 

In my case yesterday

[Artlover]

Backwards compatible is such silly idea, every gamer says they want it but most never use it, I cant think of the last time I put a playstation 1 game in my PS2.

Agreed. Last time I put a PSX game in my PS2 was when I first got my PS2 just for the sake of trying it.

 

I have no use for backwards compatabilty. I don't get rid of my old gear.

 

Backwards compatible is such silly idea, every gamer says they want it but most never use it, I cant think of the last time I put a playstation 1 game in my PS2.

 

In my case yesterday

Stop living in a shoebox and put up some shelves, then you can leave all your consoles out.

[Tempest]

In the case of the Saturn, I think the US game selection really hurt the system. Many of the best games never seemed to make it out of Japan, while the US library was loaded with crap filler titles that weren't worth the plastic they were made from. Of course Sega already had a bad rep from the whole 32X debacle so people in the US weren't going to trust them so easily again.

 

As for the DC? Piracy certainly didn't help, but I think it was the momentum of the PS2 that really killed off the DC. After the Saturn tanked, people were even more wary of trying out another Sega system. Not to mention that the PS2 was really the 'It' system to have (much like the 2600 back in the day), so the DC was held to a much higher standard than the PS2. While the PS2 could get away with some crappy titles, the DC couldn't.

 

Tempest

[Atariboy2600]

PLAYSTATION

 

PSX killed Saturn and PS2 killed the DC.

 

Then how come the Big N is still around?

[8th lutz]

For the saturn it had 4 things against it.

 

32x was released the year before the saturn was released. It was an added that people thought it 32 bit and it didn't make sense for consumers to puchase the saturn as a result.

 

Saturn being released in may of 1995 instead of sep. of 1995. The 3rd parties won't ready for it.

 

Saturn was more of a 2d system then a 3d system at the time.

 

Stolar was hired was hired and was in charge of sega of america. He hurted 3rd party relationships sega had and was not big on rpgs and treated working designs like crap at e3 because he didn't like rpgs. Stolar was fired at sony because of that.

 

Dreamcast had its things against it.

 

Sales people were discourging people from buying the dreamcast and claimed it would last for 1 or 2 years. I seen this happen back in the day.

 

Ea was refusing to make games for the deamcast and said the only way that it would make dreamcasts that it would have to over 10 million units world wide. I read this on sites on that timeframe. It was on news sites that weren't fanboy sites.

 

Sega's history with consoles.

 

Sony hyping up it's ps 2 and the "emotion engine" it has. I remembered reading the it could do over 70 million polygons a second. This was according to gameinformer. com and other sites. This info didn't exist anymore due to those sites were shutdown and in gameinformers cause gamestop shut it down for a couple years.

 

Sega's online gaming was not ready when the dreamcast was launch in the states. It took over a year to get it ready.

 

Sega of Japan's ceo at the time didn't want the dreamcast to be released and felt sega should be a 3rd party before he died. He left it as his dying wish.

 

Sega of Japan's blunder with the luanch in Japan. There was a huge shortage of systems and the saturn was very successfull in japan.

 

Sega of America not releasing many games in 1998 and not releasing any console games in 1999 until the dreamcast came. They could've improved their fancial issues if they did. Dreamcast was life was shorten due to this.

 

Dreamcast having too many niche games.

[ZylonBane]

What killed the Dreamcast? I say its stupid name and logo. Oooooh... Dreamcast! Oooooh... swirly Cinnabon logo!

Edited April 4, 2006 by ZylonBane