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h3mlocke ,

It was the best.

Psythik ,

And all because the PS2 could play DVDs and the Dreamcast couldn’t. Fucking DVDs. As ridiculous as that sounds today, people went apeshit over DVD playback capabilities back in the early 2000s.

But to be fair I also think Sega was their own worst enemy. In the 90s alone they released the Sega CD, 32X, the Saturn and the Dreamcast. Not to mention the Genesis 3 and CDX as well. If they would have slowed their roll and stopped cannibalizing their own sales, they might have done alright. The addon idea could have worked out better if done right. Hindsight is 20/20, so if they had a crystal ball they should have done something like this, and they’d still be making consoles today:

  1. Delay the Sega/Mega CD to allow themselves more time to rewrite the graphics ASIC to include 3D rendering capabilities.
  2. Cancel the 32X and Saturn; they were never even announced. The Sega CD is the next gen console.
  3. Sell it as an addon for $199, and cut the price of the base Genesis to $50. Release in 1994, along with bundle deals for $249 with an included game (for people who don’t already own a Genesis), and proceed wipe the floor with Sony before they even get a chance to compete.
homesweethomeMrL ,

My Friend: Did you hear? Sega cancelled the Dreamcast.

Me: …

Me: … (still waiting for the punchline)

pearsaltchocolatebar ,

Huh, never thought I’d see a reference to Don McLean in the wild that wasn’t American Pie.

KingJalopy ,

I thought it was a NOFX song for years

BossDj ,

Wii U too. Two consoles with a whole extra screen on your controller. Brilliant and cool features. Misunderstood or poorly timed?

The_Picard_Maneuver OP ,
@The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world avatar

The way I felt about the Wii U was probably similar to how adults felt about the Dreamcast back then.

It seemed really cool, but it didn’t feel worth the money while there were other great consoles already. I was still getting a ton of use out of my original Wii.

skulblaka ,
@skulblaka@sh.itjust.works avatar

Misunderstood for sure, I think. The Wii U suffered from what was probably the worst marketing campaign of any game console, ever. I didn’t even know it was a new console and not yet-another-Wii-addon until halfway through it’s life cycle and I think that was a pretty common misunderstanding.

RudeOnTuesdays ,

I had an entire binder of pirated Dreamcast games back when this came out. I can’t remember if I actually owned a genuine copy of a game (it was too easy to run pirated game discs).

I have good memories of the console though.

JeromeVancouver ,

Haha I also had a giant binder full of pirated games. The other thing I remember about it was how loud it was reading the discs

null ,

We all had binders of pirated Dreamcast games…

I think I’m starting to see why it died.

ByteOnBikes ,

So did many! It was so easy!

SurfinBird ,

*cries softly into Seaman microphone

umbrella ,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

dont cum in your dreamcast

edgemaster72 ,
@edgemaster72@lemmy.world avatar

Well there goes my plan to make new baby Dreamcasts

_bcron ,

Be me, stuck in rural nowhereville, wandering around in Shenmue imagining what real life must feel like

ByteOnBikes ,

Be me, not allowed to have pets, and having a VMU with a Chao on it

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Do you know where the sailors are? I’m looking for some sailors.

JayTreeman ,

I remember being blown away by some of the games back then, and also disappointed that it wasn't a more popular console.

_bcron ,

The games not only looked amazing but the VMU was icing on the cake. Resident Evil with the ammo counter on the controller. Dreamcast was mind-blowing. 9.9.99

KingJalopy ,

I used to play the maze puzzles for quake 3 arena to unlock cool shit like unlimited ammo, low gravity. My dreamcast was in use for many years being taken to parties where we played quake 4 player with crazy game options like that. That vmu got passed around to the point we were mapping out the maze on paper. Those were great times.

SteveFromMySpace ,

Sega was already in dire financial straits after the Saturn, so they panicked during the Dreamcast and ended the console’s life cycle very early making developers abandon it within just a couple years.

I’m not sure if there’s anything they could have done differently to be honest. Sony pushed them over the edge with the price war during the Saturn, which was very inefficiently built in comparison making their production costs way higher than that of their competitors. If I remember correctly they were losing about $100 per unit before PSX did its first (very early) $50 price drop and they had to keep up, so that became -$150/ea before the console was even a year old. It was disastrous.

Kyrgizion ,

Sega was too early with several innovations like online game downloads, which meant they weren’t profitable enough. Technically however they were ages ahead of the competition who later gladly absorbed their knowledge.

SteveFromMySpace , (edited )

The Sega Saturn is a prime example of how that was not the case. They brute forced it and it cost a fortune as a result. Sony essentially matched it with generic parts for cheaper and developed it in a shorter amount of time along side them, the Saturn build did not directly inform its development.

Edit: in one of the books I read on this subject - I think it was either Replay or Console Wars, there is a great account of how when the Saturn dropped somy was very nervous because it was out well before the PlayStation was released. They immediately grabbed one and disassembled it, only to discover the monstrosity under the hood that made them feel very secure in their decisions. The two dedicated chips getting 3D to work right out the gate drove the cost up immensely. They knew they didn’t need to beat Sega to market because they were bleeding cash at an unbelievable rate. The game sales would never cover that.

ByteOnBikes ,

They released 32x, Sega Genesis, then Sega Saturn so freaking close to each other that really left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Dreamcast came out with Sonic, Shenmue, Power Stone and then the most perfect version of Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and started to become attractive.

Then everyone discovered how to pirate Dreamcast games. Like it was so stupidly easy. People in my campus started giving copied Dreamcast games away.

SteveFromMySpace ,

No one is saying Dreamcast didn’t have a great library. The problem was Sega was on the brink of financial ruin when it launched and it simply didn’t move units due to its price point, awkward timing between consoles, and as you said prior saturation with their consoles.

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

It was actually the opposite problem… they sold plenty of hardware. But they lost money on every sale and didn’t make it back on software purchases as was the plan.

In fact, the Dreamcast had sold more than the Xbox and Gamecube combined for the first several years of their lifespan.

SteveFromMySpace , (edited )
  • the Xbox was a financial disaster that was basically a massive loss leader by a larger company that could absorb it just to tee themselves up for next generation. Microsoft’s Xbox division was $2bill in the red when it was all said and done.
  • the GameCube sold the worst of all the big 3 consoles (Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo) at 21 mill total. Xbox 24mill. The Dreamcast sold just 9mill. That’s less than half of the 3rd worst selling system.

You’re cherry picking your numbers it seems to ignore Dreamcast’s count at 9mill units sold. First years are only part of the story. The story is they did very poorly.

Your comparisons are not propping up the Dreamcast. The fact that it did worse than GameCube and Xbox despite the fact that both did not do well at all just further indicates how disastrous it was.

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