What If The Dreamcast Had Won?

G4TV: The Dreamcast, like any good dream, was over too quickly. Before we could taste all of the delights it had to offer and all see all of its wonders, we were unceremoniously jolted awake by the cold grip of reality. In less than two years the first system of its generation, the first with HD support and the first with a built in modem was lost to the hard truths of business.

[NukaCola]

I never understood why the Dreamcast failed. It had some great features and benchmarked some of the greatest games of it's time. All it's titles got ported out to GC/PS2/XBOX and it faded away.

Shenmue
Soul Caliber
Phantasy Star Online
Sonic Adventures
Crazy Taxi

[Yi-Long]

... they know how to make great games, yet usually screw it all up in other ways.

With the Dreamcast, one of the major reasons why it failed was an extremely poor marketing.

Here in Holland, even when the Dreamcast had been out for over 2 years, non-gaming friends and classmates wouldn't even had heard of it. The machine was only available in special game-stores instead of the usual (toy)stores...(!)

Also, the people here who did buy it, mostly just copied the games because of the poor protection, and because the games weren't sold in the normal stores.

I loved my Dreamcast though. Excellent machine.

It would be nice if Sega wouldn't screw up all the HD-ports for XBLA and PSN by being so lazy.

[guitarded77]

I'll probably get crucified for this, but I'm glad SEGA is no longer in the hardware market... I like them better as a software publisher/developer. That said, I wish they'd get on to making some epic games. If they were still in the hardware market, shelling out some of the crap they've put out in the last 10 years, they'd be in even worse shape. How hard is it to revitalize some of the classic franchises like Altered Beast and Golden Axe? The best thing they have going for them right now is Yakuza... but then again, the entire Japanese development market is in somewhat of a strange place right now.

[Peaceful_Jelly]

Sega CD, Sega 32X, Saturn... That's why they failed. I'm not saying that these were bad systems, I really loved the Sega CD and Saturn but the marketing was pretty bad and their releases were too close to each other.

Back in the day I had a Sega Master and I really liked Sonic and the Sega brand. I wanted one of the newer system but there were so many I didn't even know what was going on. I was young and a gamer but not very knowledgeable so I went for the popular stuff, Snes and PS1.

Then the Dreamcast came up, their direction was clearer and I bought one but people were already too much into the Sony brand (it dethroned Nintendo after all). It was too late for Sega to restore their image even though the Dreamcast was one of the best systems ever made. Now we are seeing the Wii U and Xbox with their dual-screen controllers and online services that the Dreamcast had since day 1.

[zerocrossing]

Dreamcast failed for a number of reasons.

1. Being it was ridiculously easy to copy and pirate games for.

2. Sony hype caused potential buyers to wait and buy PS2 instead

3. Even though I agree Dreamcast had some of the best games ever made sadly many people didn't agree...

Im sure there are other possibilitys too, But still its a sad shame.

[longcat]

The lack of support from EA was a crucial factor that nobody seems to ever bring up. THis is one of the few times that i have seen it mentioned.

It also lacked jrpgs, and there was the peak of the pokemon phase

Contrary to what is mentioned in the article, there were hardware problems..it was not that durably made

[CrescentFang]

About jrpgs, I own a dreamcast, but have yet to get any. I can only think of the Phantasy Star Online games, Eternal Arcadia (I think it was Skies of Arcadia in the US) and Grandia II. Was that really it?

[8bit_Nes_Rambo]

Nobody mentioned EA, because support from them is inconsequential and would have done little to help the Dreamcasts' situation. Sega just didn't know how to market the thing, simple as that.

[longcat]

@Cresent Fang - those are the only ones that i can think of that are worth mentioning. You could look at Evolution 1+2.
There is this game called Toy Commander that i would really encourage you to check out. The controls are a mess, but the level design is great.

@Rambo - Due to the EA situation, they had to spend resources developing their own sport games - leading to the 2K sports lineup. They could have spent those resources elsewhere.
Remember, Sega was not a huge company - they basically brought their arcade games to home consoles
Other reasons are listed in the article- marketing

[thebudgetgamer]

this will answer your question.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

man i really miss the old g4.

[gamingdroid]

Sega was terribly managed (and still is), but Sony's FUD was a stroke of genius in the marketing department. Sony managed to convince everyone before PS2's release that it was going to be greatest sh!t you would ever see.

That didn't happen, but the demise of Dreamcast, the rushed original Xbox (with no following) and GameCube didn't put up a fight, so PS2 became one of the most successful consoles ever.

Now if Dreamcast survived, it might be that Xbox may never come to be. A strong partnership between Sega and MS might have happened and eventually MS might have bought out Sega....

[user8397144]

PS2 delivered in every way so what you are talking about? There's a reason it sold 150 million ps2s.

[Studio-YaMi]

Maybe you should wake up from that (hate streak) you have against Sony..

Stupid bubble system.. -,-

[Bell Boy]

yeah right so ps2 accidentally sold well over 100 million units.

Or it might be because Sony had the top games in every genre..appealed to all age groups..and introduced dvd to a mass market

yeah it was an accident

[gamingdroid]

This is well documented. Do some Google searches.

Also, a platform's success is very much a snowball effect. Once you get the momentum going, it just continually increases as nobody wants to release games on a 20 million install base, when they can release it to 60 million people. Nobody wants to buy a platform with no games! It's a cycle that feeds on each other. Sony was just entrenched before the others got a foothold. Most notably Nintendo.

As you can see, Sony's success wasn't some kind of stroke of genius, beyond their marketing department, but rather due to spreading FUD causing plenty of people to wait for the PS2. They sold you a self fulfilling dream!

I'm not saying the PS2 wasn't a great console, but Dreamcast was a great console as well (that got irreparable damage due to piracy), and both the GameCube and Xbox was more powerful. The Xbox even had the most robust and connected console.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

well to me it was in the N64/ps1 gen.

I had 4 of those games you mention and a bunch others. I also had some of the best versions of games from that gen on my DC like Tony hawk 2, Hydro thunder and Soul Reaver.

DC didnt last long but in the short time it was around there were alot of awesome games released for it.

It seemed to me that sega just gave up once the PS2 arrived. In Japan that was before it arrived here in the US, so to me it seemed like sega gave up on the DC before the PS2 was even released.

I still have my DC and like 20 awesome games for it. It was great while it lasted, and was before its time. The DC may be old but it had online gaming and a screen in the controller!!!!!!

[princejb134]

if it would have won we would have had dreamcast 2 by now and maybe dreamcast 3

[longcat]

we would be looking forward to hologram VMUs

[blackburn10]

Definately would have prefered Sega as a competitor then Microsoft. The Dreamcast had so many good ideas and could have been great. Too bad Sony and the PS1 out manuvered it.

[jaredhart]

I love the dreamcast but Sony did have a more complete strategy.

[Kee]

But it didn't, did it?

[killerhog]

main two reason dreamcast failed

1. Piracy
2. DVD format

everything else was small contributing factors.

[user8397144]

Its Sega's fault, they should of have supported the console no matter what. Sony did it with the PS3 when everybody bashed it. It might not be number 1 but is on a very close 2nd. So yeah Sega is to blame and not the dreamcast.

[cooperdnizzle]

Yea but the ps3 sold more in 3 to 6 months then the dreamcast did in its life time. Sony would have been stupid to not support ps3 even if it didn't sell as well as the ps2. Dreamcast on the other hand was dead in the water after about a year and a half on the market. They had more sitting in warehouses then they had sold. And it only sold like 4 million in its life time. Ps3 did that in 3 months.

[N4Gsukballs]

Dreamcast>Wii u

[Darth Stewie]

If Dreamcast Won Microsoft would never had entered the gaming market with the Xbox and the PS3 would be different on account on Sony only entered this gen with a high price tag because they were so cocky and confident that PS3 would sell off name alone.

[longcat]

The initial ps3s were sold at a significant loss. THe high price tag had a lot to do with bluray and the fact that MS forced them to market earlier than they expected. Not because they felt like it.

That whole arrogance thing was just part of their marketing / price justification

[Darth Stewie]

Nope because if Dreamcast won Sony would have had to come up with a new strategy just like Nintendo did for this generation.

[mcstorm]

IMO The Dreamcast has been the best console ever released and then the N64.

But I disagree with this post as the dreamcast was a sucess in terms of sales it sold someting like 30 million consoles before Seag pulled the plug on the console. Its down fall was piracery. You did not need to chip the console all you needed was a boot disk to play copied games.

I still see Sega comming back into the console market but I see it being done by Microsoft buying them to help them get the xbox name into Japan. Sega has give us some of the best games we have ever seen. Sonic, JSR,Shenmue, Crazy Taxi,Sega rally, sega GT NHL 2k ect. But the Dreamcast also had games like Soul Caliber & MSR which were amazing for the time they came out.

The one thing Sega did do though is open the door for Microsoft when they left the Market and because MS worked with Sega on the Dreamcast it game them a good start when they designed the Original Xbox. To me Xbox live is what the Dreamcast live would of turned out to be. But to me the Dreamcast was a generation ahead of its time with internet and VM graphics ect.

I think alot of people would like to see Sega make another console but the only way I see it happening is by them teaming up with Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft.

[cooperdnizzle]

It did not sell 30 million consoles dude. All the sale's that they have released are some where near 4 million. When it launched it did sell pretty well, 345,000 in the first week, and had pretty good sales through out the first year.. But know where near 30 million. You pulled that # out of thin air.

* if it had sold 30 million units in the hole two years in was being sold they would have not dropped the program. Those #'s would have put it higher than the ps2, You really have no idea what your talking about. They say for Shemeu to have made money that would have had to sold it to everyone who had a console twice, meaning that they had to sell about 6 million copies of shemeu. So at that time there were only 3 million in the market. hahah

[NoobJobz]

Shenmue

[cooperdnizzle]

Yea Shenmue, i didn't want to have to go look up how to spell it correct, But anyone that doesn't believe me, look up sega numbers for your self. This dude is way off.

[BattleAxe]

SEGA:Genesis sold 39 Million Worldwide

SEGA:Master System sold 13 Million Worldwide

SEGA:Dreamcast sold 10.6 Million Worldwide

SEGA:Saturn sold 9.5 Million Worldwide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

No wonder SEGA got out of the console business, all of their consoles barely sold as many units as the PSP combined.

[mcstorm]

Sorry I did not mean 30 Million my mistake I should of read what I put in I should of put 10 million. Which in 2 years is not bad.

[Dogswithguns]

Whatever happened.. I love my Dreamcast.

[Thecraft1989]

As much as I love shenmue the money they spent on the game and not getting much back must of really effected them. I think this could been massive factor to dreamcast death that along with piracy and lack advertisement.

[cooperdnizzle]

It actually wasn't advertisement. If ya watch the video fall of the dreamcast, sega really got behind it with advertising. Everybody always says that, but its not the case at all. I think its because weather people want to admit it, there games were kinda causal and not all so great. I still own my dream cast, and most of the games i have are more arcade ish then anything. House of the dead, zombie revenge, Soul caliber, taxi drive, the tony hawk games, the horrible 2k baseball games and football, which totally suck. Go back and play them you'll see for your self. Like i said i have the console.... Its just okay at best.

[killerhog]

Nba 2k-2k2 and NFL 2k-2k2 destroyed everything ea did from 2000-2005. NFL 2k5 is still praised by NFL fans as the best NFL game ever made.

[DW74]

I know it would not and could not ever happen, but the kid in me wishes that Sega would come back to the hardware business, and revive all of it's old classics.

[leonlion]

They failed because they forgot to add awesome blast processing

In all honesty the dreamcast lives on in the xbox 360.

After m$ put windows ce in the dreamcast m$ had the lust to get into the gaming market

M$ killed the dreamcast with their exorbitant licensing fees