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The death of Sega's consoles: history's warning
Ryan Lambie
Sega used to make games consoles. Then it took its audience for granted, and they didn't like it. Now Sega only makes games...
It’s hard to believe now, in a videogame world dominated by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, that for one brief period in the early nineties, Sega produced the biggest selling console in the world – the Megadrive, or Genesis as it was known in North America.It’s similarly hard to believe that, following the success of the second gen console (their first, the Master System, released in 1986, sold comparatively poorly against the hugely popular Nintendo Entertainment System), Sega’s later systems failed to capture the public’s imagination.
The rot set in early on with the Game Gear, released shortly after the Megadrive in 1991. A handheld console designed as a technologically superior answer to Nintendo’s iconic Gameboy, the Game Gear was hamstrung by a bulky, less than portable design and terrible battery life (two hours, at best).
Sega muddied their reputation further with a series of ill-advised and ill-fated expansion units for the Megadrive; the Mega CD and 32X both failed to sell in significant numbers.
Despite these setbacks, Sega fought on, and in 1995 released the Megadrive’s successor, the Sega Saturn. This too, failed to sell outside Japan, and hastened by the popularity of the Playstation, was axed three years later.
Sega’s final console, the Dreamcast (1998) was, initially at least, a success; released more than a year before Sony’s PS2, its early burst of healthy sales (reportedly, half a million consoles in just two weeks) gave the impression that Sega had finally recaptured a reasonable market share. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Playstation 2, and Microsoft’s Xbox shortly after, meant the end for the Dreamcast, and the end of Sega as a console manufacturer – in 2001 the company became a games developer for other platforms, including their former rivals, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Today’s ‘big three’ console manufacturers would do well to learn from the mistakes that led to Sega’s untimely demise; Sony’s attempt to outdo Nintendo’s DS with superior technology (the PSP) has several disconcerting similarities to Sega’s Game Gear – not least among them the short battery life, the slow sales and lack of games. Its apparently complacent attitude to the Xbox 360 has also hurt initial sales of the PS3 – thanks to Microsoft’s twelve month head start, the 360 has so far sold approximately 17 million units, versus Sony’s more modest 5 million. While it’s highly likely that the PS3 will bridge the sales gap in short order, recent news that Microsoft have finally cracked the normally Sony-loyal Japanese market could be bad news in the long term.
And while Nintendo’s Wii sales have been quite staggering – particularly in the light of the less than astronomical success of the Gamecube – they too, have some lessons to learn. Before the Dreamcast’s eventual death, Sega released a veritable avalanche of peripherals and accessories: lightguns, fishing rods, microphones, maracas, digital cameras, as well as a plethora of other controllers. Sound familiar?
The console market is a continually shifting battlefield, and success in one generation doesn’t guarantee success in the next – even technological superiority over rivals isn’t necessarily vital, as Nintendo has consistently shown. Ultimately, Sega’s fate is an object lesson to other manufacturers, one ignored at their peril.
User's Comments
Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningInteresting column. I don't think that Sony and Nintendo are making the mistakes of Sega, however - console creators have always said that the consumers want more variety, and normally that includes gimmicks. It's been happening since forever (remember the Virtual Boy?) and what isn't taken into consideration is that the public do have quite short attention spans when it comes to said novelty.
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Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningThe one thing Nintendo has done that Sony, MS, and Sega all failed to do in the console market is consistently make a profit. Just because the Gamecube didn't sell a billion units doesn't mean the company didn't make several hundred million dollars off it. You don't have to win the battle to win the game, you just have to keep bringing in money. | |
Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningI remember it all too sadly... I actually have my Dreamcast sat on the shelf in front of me in the office, it's still an awesome console and still looks great graphically... ahhh the joys of wondering around in Shenmue and asking where the sailors hang out... | |
Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningI think Sony were a bit over confident at first. At least they've realised things didn't start great and they've lowered the price. The PS3 will survive and I think it will overtake the 360 even if it's down to the blu ray player.
Nintendo has sold loads and IF casual gamers stopped buying it then the hardcore gamers will keep it going as they did in many ways with the gamecube.
But still, they should be wary of what consumers want and not make something that they think we need. | |
Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningSony were very arrogant initially, and I think they've now been spanked into line again. The Wii60 movement is strong and it should be - it's by far the best gaming combination currently.
Nintendo are very good at being consistant with profit-making, as someone pointed out here. Though they're launching lots of add ons, they're making profit. So long as they continue to do this, they'll still be around to make another earth-shatteringly popular incarnation of the gameboy philosophy ;) | |
Re: The death of Sega's consoles: history's warningI do worry though that we'll end up with millions of people owning a wii but not buying new software for it. Then it would just be like last gen with only hardcore gamers buying the few decent games nintendo churned out. |
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