If Sega didn't make so many poor business decisions, would they be making consoles today?

A lot of this isn't really accurate, although it's quite the prevalent viewpoint these days.

First, the Master System was absolutely a successful system. Its strength against Nintendo in Europe is undoubtedly one of the reasons Sega focused so much on the overseas market for the Genesis/MD. Also, the Genesis/MD had a great start in both Japan and the US, selling about 1 million units in each country in its first year. Second, Tom Kalinske didn't just stumble into the door at Sega and turn things around with a snap of his fingers. Hayao Nakayama saw the potential in the American market, hunted Kalinske down, and gave him free reign (there was nothing reluctant about it - Kalinske readily admits that Nakayama was fully supportive). The only time that Kalinske really succeeded, though, was when he had the right tools handed to him. Namely, powerful, cheap hardware and killer software. Third, they didn't cancel the Genesis until 1997. It continued to sell very well concurrently with the Saturn in North America and saw many new releases. It's a myth that Sega cancelled or stopped supporting the Genesis in 1994. Just look at the games SOA was publishing for the Genesis vs. the Saturn in 1995/1996.

This has been discussed by Hideki Sato:

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showth...on-the-Sega-Saturn-(incredible-new-interview)

That was probably in late 1991 or early 1992. The 68020 would have been woefully under-powered against the PlayStation, so it's hard to imagine that succeeding.

The 32X was essentially SOA's attempt to carry its 16-bit market success into the 32-bit era. The driving fear was that nobody would buy a pricey new console and that they would lose their huge install base. In hindsight, that wasn't the best way to go about things.

 

Nah it's just that Sega Retro has been down for a week and people have un-learned things.


Here's a fun fact that's looking increasingly more true as I look into it - the Dreamcast did actually sell well in Europe (or at least the UK). Right until the end.

As in, it wasn't written off by the general public like the 32X or Saturn. They bought games for it and played those games, and were looking forward to new games. It was a viable platform. It was not perceived to have "failed". The tragedy is that outside factors (i.e. the Japanese market) killed the thing - the disappointment isn't necessarily exclusive to a bunch of Sega fanboys and hipsters trying to be cool in a sea of PlayStation (which might have been the case in the US) - it was genuine for a time. The UK liked the Dreamcast.

 

My understanding at the time (as someone who was 8 when the Dreamcast launched and could only glean anything from magazines and GameFAQs message boards) was the Dreamcast was considered a viable contender in the US as well, but the PS2 took away any momentum it might have had.

It definitely didn't trip out the gate the way the Saturn did. I didn't even know anyone who owned a Saturn back then, and most of the kids I'd talk video games with thought Sega went straight from the Genesis to the Dreamcast.

I on the other hand was the weirdo who hunted down a Saturn in 2000 so I could play NiGHTS...

I figured as I wrote it that'd be much easier said than done, but still, given how the generation played out in general (apart from Japan where the Saturn did well enough), I think Sega America's approach would have been the better one.

I'm just thinking about how Nintendo made bank on the Wii despite its hardware being only slightly improved from the GameCube (which ironically was a failure), though it's very possible (probable, even) Sega couldn't have gotten away with the Saturn being a souped up Genesis during the 3D craze.

 

If Sega could be still making hand-held and home consoles do you think they would make more Ristar games just like Nintendo did with Kirby? I guess they could make their own Super Smash Bros version like Sony and Nintendo did. So cross-play platforming could not exist. Probably Pokémon GO might be ported to arcade machines instead of modern mobile phones.

 

When it comes to me and living in my world in this little coconut head that I got, my PC is the newest SEGA console, official branding be damned. It glows blue, it's got upgraded Saturn+"Dreamcast" (ok they're just xbone pads dont @ me) controllers, it plays the latest SEGA games at higher visual fidelity than the other consoles, and for me, that's enough to fulfill the fantasy. SEGA never died, they just ascended to PC valhalla.

 

If Sega decided to continue with their own hardware's then if Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy might end up as failure then Disney not Electronic Arts still be making video games.

 

I've always thought of how amazing it would be if they released a new console out of the blue. Like how much nostalgia they could ride to boost sales. "Lol hey guys its the dreamcast 2.0, sup now?". It'd be nearly impossible with how tightly coupled the developer companies are with the current three giants, but a guy can dream...

 

Yeah just in this video. But I think it might happen if Sony never made a PlayStation.

Here's also another video.

Imagine finished first prototype of MOTHER 3 the versions on n64,n64dd and gba could be probably just sequels anthology just like Metal Gear Solid,Nintendo & Sony might end up just like Sega N64DD after that they could start making software instead of hardware.For Atari this means that they could finish Atari Jaguar successor if Sony and Nintendo might allies not rivals Shigeru Miyamoto might leave Nintendo and HAL Laboratory like Yuji Naka left Sonic Team,the most of Nintendo's former employees might start working for Sega so their games might have still Sonic and Mario cross-overs just like in this timeline...etc. This means Hotel Mario and Zelda CD-i games might never exist so no memes,gags such as YouTube Poops,Rare could be able to finish Conker 64 Twelve Tales and Conker Bad Fur Day so in future they might work for Atari instead of Microsoft,but in this timeline Nintendo might stop making Super Smash Bros. so Banjo-Kazooie might never appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate/Super Smash Bros,Nintendo could never make their consoles such as GameCube,Wii,Wii U and Nintendo Switch,Game Boy Advance,NDS,3DS. Special.But if Sega could still make consoles then Sonic might never appear in Super Smash Bros. since Brawl so this means no Mario and Sonic cross-overs,games like Ratchet and Clank series,Spyro series,Freedom Planet,Jill of the Jungle(which is similar to Shantae),Sonic the Hedgehog might be more popular,profitable and sells much better. Games like Cuphead(which is similar to Contra and Gunstar Heroes),Undertale,Deltarune(which is similar to EarthBound series and Chrono Trigger series),Dust An Elysian Tail,Limbo(I guess it was inspired by Rayman 1, Rayman Origins,Rayman Raving Rabidds for gba,Rayman 3 gba,Nokia N-Gage ports, Rayman Legends),Five Nights of Freddy's, Super Meat Boy, Minecraft, Fortnite Battle Royale(I guess the most of skins where inspired by pc,mobile fantasy digital online multiplayer card games aka casual gaming genres such as mmorpg,rts,moba) could be less popular than now really niche. Probably UbiSoft could finish Rayman 4 currently they are working on Beyond Good and Evil 2 as for Michel Ancel he's working on indie game named WiLD.

 

Honestly with how cheap hardware hacking and is these days, it would be kind of neat if some of the old guard threw together a low powered mini console for shits and grins to the effect of a system on a chip kind of deal. Kind of like the Ouya, but not lame.

Edit: Rereading that, it is a horrible description of what I've had imagined and I should also point out that I realize the modern innovation of low cost of disposable hackable electronics does not necessarily translate to a low cost of development for a similar sort of system. I'm dreaming here, but it would be cool.

 

It's hard to imagine a niche that SEGA could capitalize on successfully these days through a BRAND-NEW console. There's Xboxes and Playstations for normies, their pro versions + PCs for enthusiasts, mobile for everyone else and their moms, and the Switch for whatever weirdoes/portable enthusiasts are left. I guess a premium Switch style hybrid console would be cool, with juicier specs and a bigger build than the Switch (Game Gear 2 anyone?). But coolness doesn't translate to business success unfortch.

I've thought about SEGA attempting to get in on the mini-console trend as well, but lets be real, none of these Android boxes have taken off in any meaningful capacity with anyone for a reason, and that reason is lack of compelling and EXCLUSIVE software. SEGA STILL has the best catalog of IP this side of Nintendo, and they're starting to attempt to utilize it again and that's extremely refreshing to see, but it would take years of rebuilding goodwill and recognition to get to the point where they're ready or willing to consolize again. I hope there's room for them to try again someday but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Right? Back when All Stars Racing Transformed released I thought it was neat to see all of these awesome original characters again, but at the same time it was bittersweet knowing that these one-off references were all I would ever see of them. It's nice to see the modern SEGA starting to remember that they have the rights to franchises that don't involve a spiky blue hedgehog.

 

I guess Microsoft wouldn't let Atari make new console.

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/216595-the-new-atari-the-atari-raptor/

 

Happy halloween everyone to you guys!

 

I always thought Sega and Microsoft not putting aside their differences and just going all-in on their initial alliance with Dreamcast was a mistake that both companies have paid for since. Sega became desperate to fill a giant hole their lack of hardware sales left behind and now has been spending the past several years trying to save their reputation, and Microsoft STILL suffers to this day with having no unique software or public image to stake a claim against the other big two.

I mean who knows where they'd be now, but I imagine Sega ruining their reputation (while getting swallowed whole by Sammy) and MS making hasty decisions swiping up various studios (coughRAREcough), amongst other missteps between the both of them, could've prooobably been avoided. A shame.

EDIT: I've thought about this a lot for a good several months lmao. Here's some sketches of my musings from throughout those times.



A second model controller. After surveying fans for feedback, Sega updated their controller with improved ergonomics, return of the classic d-pad and additions of a right stick, as well as C&Z buttons (mirroring L&R functions on older Dreamcast games, but serving as the black & white buttons on the Xbox controller post it's release). Would've become the standard Sega controller until 2005 with the release of SEGA360 (where they drop the VMU slots, go wireless and C&Z buttons become LB&RB).



The Dreamcast 'Xpansion Unit'. Released August-Sept 2001, it is an budget expansion kit that improves system performance and gives the console a hard drive (if I revised the image, I'd probably realistically make it the lower end 2-4gb HDD. 6th gen didn't NEED the 8 gigs the premium Xboxs had lol). Probably would've also come with an ethernet adapter as an upgrade from broadband, and sold for a hunnid or so.





For users just jumping in on the Dreamcast train in time for the holidays, Sega reveals it's working with Microsoft to create a whole new model of the console: the Dreamcast X, with the hard drive and extra functions built into the system, rocking a nice navy-blueish-black-ish on green color scheme and boldly launching with a Microsoft-owned pack-in title they're calling "Halo: Combat Evolved". In 2003, a budget model Dreamcast (titled Dreamcast S) would've hit shelves and come packaged with Billy Hatcher or Super Monkey Ball or something. You know. For the kids lmao.

But yeah there's that fun little bundle of stuff. It's self indulgent as hell, but isn't the whole subject? It's nice to dream a little.

 

The branches in the timeline that keep me up at night:

• Sega's partnership with Nvidia on the NV1 pans out. The industry embraces quad geometry, both companies proceed with their plan to use the NV2 over the PowerVR for the Dreamcast. The partnership holds out long enough for the Riva 128 and Sega secures hardware supremacy.
• Sonic X-treme programmer and future ZBrush creator Ofer Alon sticks with the company long enough to lend his big brain to a viable product.
• Bernie Stolar doesn't discourage JRPG releases in the west, Sega somehow courts Squaresoft into publishing Final Fantasy VII on the Saturn first.
• Actually they just never hire Bernie Stolar and never have to pay him his $5,000,000 severance package.

 

I thought Chris Senn created ZBrush.

 

If Sega could be still making consoles then mobile modern casual gaming wouldn't be so popular and profitable like it is nowadays.

 

If Sega decided to cancel Sega CD and Sega 32X add-ons for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive then would Doom Sega 32X port be cancelled including Sonic CD and Knuckles' Chaotix?