Why has Dreamcast failed?

The Dreamcast never stood a chance because Sega shot themselves in the foot almost half a decade prior and created the perfect shitstorm for their own console to drown in. Sega refused to let Mega Drive go and organically move to the next console, trying to prolong its lifespan (=money) with artificial support like SegaCD and 32x, which then in turn sabotaged Saturn. They literally dropped Saturn in stores out of the blue with no hype while still trying to push both SegaCD and 32x as viable purchases that same year, naturally the general audiences were confused what the fuck they should buy and why. Then the Playstation arrived and buried Saturn hard - $299. The utter flop of Saturn basically made Sega skip the entire 5th gen, so when they were trying to come back for the 6th gen with the Dreamcast, they were now in a position of an outsider instead of the leader they used to be. Sega wasn't the cool kid anymore, Playstation was. The hype for the PS2 was probably the greatest in all of gaming, so trying to go up against that was already an uphill battle but add to that also Nintendo with their Gamecube and the new Xbox with MS's limitless money for advertising. Dreamcast was an obvious outsider. Since Sega missed on that sweet mid '90s golden age of 3D franchise making, the Dreamcast didn't have a strong library of sequels people were waiting for while Sony and Nintendo had so many legendary 3D hits in the '90s that the new and improved graphics of the 6th gen were promising to make even better. While Sega was pretty much just coasting on a few recognizable 16-bit era franchises and bran new IPs, largely 1st party. That also made the developers go for the more anticipated consoles with their projects, skipping Dreamcast. Of course when PS2 came out it was game over for everyone, even Nintendo let alone Sega. Then also you have the issue of piracy, Dreamcast's GD-rom notoriously had no protection so people were just burning discs like nothing, undermining the already underwhelming sales. If Sega hadn't floundered the 5th gen with the Saturn and had build a strong library of IPs to carry over to the 6th gen, they still could have been in the business because PS2 steamrolled everyone hard anyway so all you had to do was just survive with some moderate success till the next gen.

Sonic Adventure is kino tbh, in all its goofy glory it was a fun game back than and it is a fun game now. Egorapter is the redditlettermedia of /v/ideo games with his pointless hatred of any 3D sonic game being in the same vain to prequel hatred. Is skies of Arcadia worth a try? Also I heard that Fantasy Star is awesome.

>>5432 >ecelebs

>>5431 I've owned every main Sega console except the Saturn and this kind of factoid-based explanation of why Sega failed has always bugged the shit out of me. It only tracks if you weren't there to see it in real time or if you've had your memories about it replaced with narratives games journalists have come up with, which has happened to most people somehow. Sega had relative success with SMD/Genesis (eventually) but they were still small potatoes. Even if they had a good corporate strategy at the time, their position as close No.2 to Nintendo was definitely not immune from having someone as big as Sony blowing down the doors and taking it from them. Sony had immense brand cachet at the time relative to others, they had deep pockets, and had a lot of consumer hardware experience. They also had the luxury of a blank slate when it came to hardware. Sega had to weigh internal considerations like what was required for easy porting of games running on their varied arcade hardware architectures and it led to a complex system that cost more to produce. Sony didn't have to worry about that kind of consideration since it had no legacy titles to design around, and so their console architecture ended up simpler, cheaper, and was easier to extract performance from. If you can sell your console for less, attract the same adult demographic (and more) with your branding and advertising, have the money to make deals with known studios to get their clout, and pull in all the remaining studios because they know your platform is easier to develop for, then you are going to destroy your competitor. That's why Sega failed with that generation. With its timing it was almost impossible for Sony to not win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RkMNtIBrVA That said, the Dreamcast ruled and it was the most concentrated positive gaming experience I've ever had with a console. No other machine has packed as much enjoyment into just over one year of releases. They really went out with a bang.

>>5426 I've never played a Dreamcast in my life, but I was curious about trying Power Stone once I learned about it. How does it compare to something like Super Smash Bros.? >>5432 >Sonic Adventure is kino tbh A game can't be "kino." > Egorapter is the redditlettermedia of /v/ideo games with his pointless hatred of any 3D sonic game being in the same vain to prequel hatred. The prequels were might have been more creative than the sterile sequels, but they were still dogshit. RLM definitely are unironic hacks and frauds though.

>>5452 >this kind of factoid-based explanation of why Sega failed has always bugged the shit out of me Too bad for you, it's the reality. >I've owned every main Sega console And? Owning a console makes you a historian or some shit? >Sega had relative success with SMD/Genesis (eventually) but they were still small potatoes Lmao, talk about not being there. Genesis was beating Nintendo at its apex, tourist. It was literally the #1 console at the market which is what gone to Sega's head. Same thing happened with Sony and PS2.

>>5453 >How does it compare to something like Super Smash Bros.? Much better than Slop bros.

>>5434 I just brought the faggot up because I think he is pretty influential in drumming up modern hatred for a perfectly fun game. >>5453 Yeah, I guess I shouldn't crosspost and use incorrect terms also I think that both original triology and prequels are both good films

>>5460 >Owning a console makes you a historian or some shit? I didn't expect you to take it so personally but yeah, me being an old fuck who had each console while they were still in stores at least makes me a lot more of a "historian" than you are. That's how I know you're talking out your ass when you lump in the MegaCD with 32x as both being attempts to prolong the SMD's lifespan, because I actually have a memory of the CD being available in 1992 before even Sonic 2 was released, which marks where the system's real wave of popularity started. More than for any other reason it existed because Sega had to compete with NEC in Japan and their machine's CD addon. Not to mention the development of the hardware probably would've started in 1990 at the latest, practically making it a parallel development with the console itself, not just some desperate attempt to keep the system alive. If you can't get this one simple thing right then maybe you should rethink how confident you are about the rest.

>>5468 not just a historian.... but an historian

>>5468 Yeah yeah I remeber that shit too and how Sega killed the jaguar and all their cd consoles with that one rape game or whatever night invader with the SA scene which is funny because it was the game they would always demo outside radio shack.

>>5477 It's so funny how tame it was too. Controversy over nothing. Everybody I knew who played it because of the buzz came away disappointed lol

>>5489 not just the buzz... but an buzz

Dramcast was the last dream...

I wish normalfags never discovered gaming...

>>5794 how useful was it?

>had an exclusive Resident Evil game >lost it to PS2 It was all over by then.

>>5794 kawaii

What if they make a comeback with Dreamcast 2?

>>6271 I actually long thought about Sega's potential comeback to the console market, like what would it require. Ultimately I don't think it would work in a modern climate where it's basically AAA or burst. Sega would need to come out balls swinging with a whole bunch of bankable recognizable exclusive IPs, at least initially, to get the ball rolling. It does have those but they would either need to develop them internally and have all of them be ready for their new console's release or outsource them to some studios; all would require a tremendous amounts of money that I don't think Sega has now. Alternatively, they could go the lowkey semi-indie route but that's a dead in the water approach. Maybe some mid ground and go for Soytendo's market.

>>7082 Cute Claire.

Sega is legit the most braindead corporation I've ever heard of. >release the SG1000 on the same day as the Famicom, doesn't stand a chance >Master System flops in NA (in all fairness because of Nintendo's policies), but doesn't excuse it flopping in JP. >Mega Drive flops in Japan, but Genesis explodes in NA, giving Sega a slight lead in the market >Fuck all of that up by releasing the CD and 32x, neither of which were impressive nor had games people want. >Release the Saturn months ahead of schedule, alienating developers and retailers, and combined with a lack of killer apps, flops everywhere outside of JP. >Game Gear requires 6AA batteries and doesn't stand a chance in hell against the Game Boy. Also Nomad lol >Dreamcast is finally beloved by everyone but Sega runs out of money and the former president has to donate his fortune to keep them alive.

>>5426 Crazy Taxi on this was so good. Soooooo fucking good like I'm sure people bought the dreamcast for crazy-taxi at home the same way people bought xbox's for halo or ps's for dark souls/bloodborne. Best version? Arcade perfect version except for the lack of a steering wheel, the other consoles couldn't touch it. In fact dreamcast was the best at home arcade console ever. Pwerstone, Rival, Soul, all those had the same feel as if you were playing them on a cabinet.

>>7133 >I'm sure people bought the dreamcast for crazy-taxi at home the same way people bought xbox's for halo or ps's for dark souls/bloodborne. That is actually true lol. Although to be fair, Dreamcast notoriously didn't have a lot of 3rd party games to its name which was part of the issue. It was basically a Code: Veronica and Crazy Taxi machine. And PS2 snatched Code: Veronica, kek.

>>7130 The problem Sega had was orienting itself too much towards the western gaijin. Almost all their mistakes are the result of pandering to the west and even having a western branch which they listened to in their decisions. While Nintendo and Sony were Japan first, they made everything for Japan and only later it came to the west where the gaijin saw the good things that japs had and exported them.

I heard that people back in the day used the Dreamcast as a regular PC because of it's web browsing capabilities, is that true?

>>7156 Well, I know japs used everything as a PC. I remember using my PS3 as a PC when my PC croaked.

is Dreamcast late 5th gen or early 6th gen?

>>7177 Definitely 6th gen. I count gens by the visual style/capability and Dreamcast could easily do PS2 games and had superior to PS2 multiplats.

>>7130 it's all just a roll of a dice. Sega just lucked out with Sanic being popular with turbo autists.

>>7177 literally nothing about it is 5th gen

>>7130 >>7225 >but Genesis explodes in NA >it's all just a roll of a dice, Sega just lucked out Tom Kalinske as president of Sega of America is the answer to their success, it wasn't luck but the guy doing a well-planned schedule that was constantly busted by the jap counterparts being mad at his numbers and marketing tricks winning more rather than their japanese pure technical prowess

>>7278 >dishonest lying marketing "tricks" about Genesis' non-existent blast processor >japs not wanted to be part of that and they were right

>>7280 You still need marketing to pull the nigger cattle masses who know no better, see the Saturn, dude said they needed a good campaign to prioritize the arcade factor of the console with the fighters and shooters in constant high framerate but the japs wanted to showcase the thing being able to do 3D without the machine doing it with ease, something he criticized because they knew well in advance the next gimmick would be that.

>Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi inviting SEGA to become 3rd party after Saturn bombs: >“To launch a new console, you really need 50-60 billion yen at the least. You have to sell those first million units. If your costs are 30,000 yen per unit, then that comes to 30 billion yen for 1 million units. And you have to design the hardware and create the electronics, make the molds and do the tooling, and this will soon use about 10 billion yen. And then you have to create the games and do advertising. You need about 500-600 people. Without all this, you can’t launch a home console. You can’t do it little by little. You really have to go all in. >Sony had annual sales of 3 trillion yen. They made their own CD-ROM drives. They had their own semiconductor factories. Once when I was talking with Ken Kutaragi [the creator of the PlayStation], he said “Hideki-chan”—he refers to me using the “chan” diminutive—“Hideki-chan, there’s no way you can beat me. Where are you buying your processors? From Hitachi. From Yamaha. What about your CD-ROM drives? You’re buying everything. By buying from Hitachi, Hitachi is profiting. You can’t make anything yourselves. We can make everything ourselves, including custom parts. We have our own factories.” Near Nakashinden, they had a huge factory where they made audio equipment that they were using for the PlayStation. Their cost structure was completely different. >“That’s the way it is, Hideki-chan,” Kutaragi told me. “So quit the hardware business. Why not just do software? We’ll give you favorable treatment.” He wanted us to go third party. We had been going for so long in the hardware business, for better or worse, and to go third party now? We had been half-heartedly successful in America once, and this made it impossible to quit the hardware business. Maybe if the Mega Drive, the Genesis, had been a failure, things would have been different. But we had a strange taste of success.

>>7490 Kutanagi rolling like a boss.

>>7500 Both examples of excellent designs.

>>7502 It's funny how with Playstation in particular each new generation got progressively uglier than the last, with PS5 being so ugly I can't even look at it. Of course PS4 and PS5 were made by jews in commiefornia but the point stands. Nothing will ever match the elegance of the PS2.

>>7504 >Nothing will ever match the elegance of the PS2 I agree. Backwards compatible too and it was a tank, never had a problem with it breaking or a crash.

>>7505 No useless gimmicks too. It's like the exact opposite of modern consoles in every single way.

dreamcast was the last true console

>>7490 savage

>>7524 Oh shit I weep. A sega dedicated to game making without burdening themselves with the cost of console development? We wouldn't have got the dreamcast, but maybe the arcade crossover games for Sony would have been tighter and they def would have come out with some bangers of their own. Sega really was out of their element once they went past the genesis, watching them release the dreamcast, knowing it was better but that it was doomed because you could just copy games to disc, everyone I knew with a dreamcast also had a huge binder full of ripped games, if you knew an asian kid with family anywhere in kung-fu land you could get all sorts of bootleg games, even bootleg nintendo and ps1/2 games.

>>7525 >A sega dedicated to game making without burdening themselves with the cost of console development? They've been doing that for the last 25 years. In fact they are now the software makers for longer than they were the hardware makers.

>>7525 than what?