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I remember the days when me and my brother used to run down the game shop on the corner in the hope that the latest Sonic game would be out. We were Sega fanatics - Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast, even Game Gear, they gave us hours of pleasure with classics like the aforementioned Sonic games, Ecco the Dolphin, even ToeJam and Earl. We weren't the only ones either, my friends were the same. So where did it all go wrong?
It can't be the games. Sega's recent and no doubt continued success as a third party developer belies the fact that they should have succeeded as a first party developer. Classic franchises such as Sonic and Virtua Fighter and new ones such as Jet Set Radio and Shenmue have proved that Sega have never lost the ability to make great games. But it is in the console producing department that they have run into difficulties. As Lloyd Grossman would say, lets look at the evidence.
The Master System and Mega Drive were, in my opinion, unresounding successes, and the Mega Drive just pipped the SNES to the crown of best console of that era. Even the Game Gear, with its huge battery consumption, proved successful with its colour screen providing a wonderful alternative to the all-conquering Game Boy. But the the Saturn came along.
At first the Saturn had the makings of a great console, and to hardcore Sega fans (myself included)it is still regarded as one. It had the necessary killer apps (NiGHT's anyone?), but Sega's unnecessary indulgence in releasing add-ons such as the Mega CD and the 32x sowed the seeds for gradual demise, and the first signs of discontent by the game playing public were starting to show. Not least in the price, which compared to the wallet-friendly price of the Gamecube, looks absolutely extortionate. Sales figures were subsequently not as good, and Sega lost serious ground to the new kid on the block, Sony's Playstation.
Sega made a valiant effort to regain their market share upon the introduction of the Dreamcast and seemed to try and fix everything that was wrong about the Saturn. It came in at a lower price, and had 128bit reincarnations of Virtua Fighter and Sonic, as well as the absolutely gobsmacking Soul Calibur and Power Stone, and the groundbreaking Shenmue. It arrived about a year before the much anticpated PS2, giving it a massive headstart, and tried to imitate Playstation tactics, becoming the sponsor of Arsenal. But still it didn't sell.
Don't ask me why the Dreamcast didn't sell. You could speculate for ages why. They had the games in place, the price was low and the promise of internet play (albeit limited) should have ensured the success of the console. But the immovable rock that was Playstation meant that Sega was never able to regain ground. But what now? Well, the quality of games have never been in question, so Sega could have inadvertently ensured their place in the industry in the forseeable future, so hopefully me and my broother can keep running to the shop for many years to come.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your ideas why Sega failed in the console market
It can't be the games. Sega's recent and no doubt continued success as a third party developer belies the fact that they should have succeeded as a first party developer. Classic franchises such as Sonic and Virtua Fighter and new ones such as Jet Set Radio and Shenmue have proved that Sega have never lost the ability to make great games. But it is in the console producing department that they have run into difficulties. As Lloyd Grossman would say, lets look at the evidence.
The Master System and Mega Drive were, in my opinion, unresounding successes, and the Mega Drive just pipped the SNES to the crown of best console of that era. Even the Game Gear, with its huge battery consumption, proved successful with its colour screen providing a wonderful alternative to the all-conquering Game Boy. But the the Saturn came along.
At first the Saturn had the makings of a great console, and to hardcore Sega fans (myself included)it is still regarded as one. It had the necessary killer apps (NiGHT's anyone?), but Sega's unnecessary indulgence in releasing add-ons such as the Mega CD and the 32x sowed the seeds for gradual demise, and the first signs of discontent by the game playing public were starting to show. Not least in the price, which compared to the wallet-friendly price of the Gamecube, looks absolutely extortionate. Sales figures were subsequently not as good, and Sega lost serious ground to the new kid on the block, Sony's Playstation.
Sega made a valiant effort to regain their market share upon the introduction of the Dreamcast and seemed to try and fix everything that was wrong about the Saturn. It came in at a lower price, and had 128bit reincarnations of Virtua Fighter and Sonic, as well as the absolutely gobsmacking Soul Calibur and Power Stone, and the groundbreaking Shenmue. It arrived about a year before the much anticpated PS2, giving it a massive headstart, and tried to imitate Playstation tactics, becoming the sponsor of Arsenal. But still it didn't sell.
Don't ask me why the Dreamcast didn't sell. You could speculate for ages why. They had the games in place, the price was low and the promise of internet play (albeit limited) should have ensured the success of the console. But the immovable rock that was Playstation meant that Sega was never able to regain ground. But what now? Well, the quality of games have never been in question, so Sega could have inadvertently ensured their place in the industry in the forseeable future, so hopefully me and my broother can keep running to the shop for many years to come.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your ideas why Sega failed in the console market
Sony's major marketing ploy was that they were able to attract the casual gamer into buying their products, whereas Sega had a smaller fan base
Plus Sony had the better reputation when it came to PS2 vs. Dreamcast, whilst Sega had been damaged by the Saturn failure
Sony are just better at Marketing. Even if the DC had better games, its just much more cooler to own the sony console.
I think tha main problem with Sega was that they couldn't capture the mass market the way Sony could
I remember the days when me and my brother used to run down the game shop on the corner in the hope that the latest Sonic game would be out. We were Sega fanatics - Master System, Mega Drive, Saturn, Dreamcast, even Game Gear, they gave us hours of pleasure with classics like the aforementioned Sonic games, Ecco the Dolphin, even ToeJam and Earl. We weren't the only ones either, my friends were the same. So where did it all go wrong?
It can't be the games. Sega's recent and no doubt continued success as a third party developer belies the fact that they should have succeeded as a first party developer. Classic franchises such as Sonic and Virtua Fighter and new ones such as Jet Set Radio and Shenmue have proved that Sega have never lost the ability to make great games. But it is in the console producing department that they have run into difficulties. As Lloyd Grossman would say, lets look at the evidence.
The Master System and Mega Drive were, in my opinion, unresounding successes, and the Mega Drive just pipped the SNES to the crown of best console of that era. Even the Game Gear, with its huge battery consumption, proved successful with its colour screen providing a wonderful alternative to the all-conquering Game Boy. But the the Saturn came along.
At first the Saturn had the makings of a great console, and to hardcore Sega fans (myself included)it is still regarded as one. It had the necessary killer apps (NiGHT's anyone?), but Sega's unnecessary indulgence in releasing add-ons such as the Mega CD and the 32x sowed the seeds for gradual demise, and the first signs of discontent by the game playing public were starting to show. Not least in the price, which compared to the wallet-friendly price of the Gamecube, looks absolutely extortionate. Sales figures were subsequently not as good, and Sega lost serious ground to the new kid on the block, Sony's Playstation.
Sega made a valiant effort to regain their market share upon the introduction of the Dreamcast and seemed to try and fix everything that was wrong about the Saturn. It came in at a lower price, and had 128bit reincarnations of Virtua Fighter and Sonic, as well as the absolutely gobsmacking Soul Calibur and Power Stone, and the groundbreaking Shenmue. It arrived about a year before the much anticpated PS2, giving it a massive headstart, and tried to imitate Playstation tactics, becoming the sponsor of Arsenal. But still it didn't sell.
Don't ask me why the Dreamcast didn't sell. You could speculate for ages why. They had the games in place, the price was low and the promise of internet play (albeit limited) should have ensured the success of the console. But the immovable rock that was Playstation meant that Sega was never able to regain ground. But what now? Well, the quality of games have never been in question, so Sega could have inadvertently ensured their place in the industry in the forseeable future, so hopefully me and my broother can keep running to the shop for many years to come.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your ideas why Sega failed in the console market
It can't be the games. Sega's recent and no doubt continued success as a third party developer belies the fact that they should have succeeded as a first party developer. Classic franchises such as Sonic and Virtua Fighter and new ones such as Jet Set Radio and Shenmue have proved that Sega have never lost the ability to make great games. But it is in the console producing department that they have run into difficulties. As Lloyd Grossman would say, lets look at the evidence.
The Master System and Mega Drive were, in my opinion, unresounding successes, and the Mega Drive just pipped the SNES to the crown of best console of that era. Even the Game Gear, with its huge battery consumption, proved successful with its colour screen providing a wonderful alternative to the all-conquering Game Boy. But the the Saturn came along.
At first the Saturn had the makings of a great console, and to hardcore Sega fans (myself included)it is still regarded as one. It had the necessary killer apps (NiGHT's anyone?), but Sega's unnecessary indulgence in releasing add-ons such as the Mega CD and the 32x sowed the seeds for gradual demise, and the first signs of discontent by the game playing public were starting to show. Not least in the price, which compared to the wallet-friendly price of the Gamecube, looks absolutely extortionate. Sales figures were subsequently not as good, and Sega lost serious ground to the new kid on the block, Sony's Playstation.
Sega made a valiant effort to regain their market share upon the introduction of the Dreamcast and seemed to try and fix everything that was wrong about the Saturn. It came in at a lower price, and had 128bit reincarnations of Virtua Fighter and Sonic, as well as the absolutely gobsmacking Soul Calibur and Power Stone, and the groundbreaking Shenmue. It arrived about a year before the much anticpated PS2, giving it a massive headstart, and tried to imitate Playstation tactics, becoming the sponsor of Arsenal. But still it didn't sell.
Don't ask me why the Dreamcast didn't sell. You could speculate for ages why. They had the games in place, the price was low and the promise of internet play (albeit limited) should have ensured the success of the console. But the immovable rock that was Playstation meant that Sega was never able to regain ground. But what now? Well, the quality of games have never been in question, so Sega could have inadvertently ensured their place in the industry in the forseeable future, so hopefully me and my broother can keep running to the shop for many years to come.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear your ideas why Sega failed in the console market