For a select band of devotees, there will be a one-minute silence at 11 o’clock today. Sega’s baby and last hardware hope has sadly died a terrible death. The Coroner’s report cites neglect as the cause of death, as it seems the Dreamcast never received the attention it deserved.
Strong rumours from a Japanese newspaper suggest that Sega has announced that at the end of March 2001 they will cease production of the Dreamcast. This is a sad day for video-gaming, but many people secretly knew that this outcome was inevitable. Sega has made a few hardware mistakes in the past and the Sega CD, 32X and Saturn undermined public confidence in the company. Despite the Dreamcast being an excellent console with fantastic software, Sega just could not compete with the might of Sony.
The Dreamcast has sold more than 7 million consoles worldwide and currently sports the most impressive software library of any next-generation console. It was the first console to feature Internet access out of the box and it brought on-line gaming into the living room. Even though Sega constantly takes the lead with technological innovation, they do not have the money to properly market their new ideas. This is mainly because for the last four years in a row, Sega has posted consecutive losses.
Selling hardware as a loss leader is a common practice in the video game industry. There is more money in software sales and companies like Sony and Sega sell their consoles for less than what they actually cost to manufacture to counterbalance this equation.
So what does this mean for Sega? They previously announced that they planned a ‘tactical withdrawal’ from the hardware market. They intend to concentrate on producing the great software that they are famous for and bringing their technology into new areas. Sega firmly believes the future of gaming is network-based distribution and on-line play, and is beginning to move into that area.
Stuart Turner from Sega’s UK press office offered this comment about the situation.
“Sega has globally reaffirmed its commitment to Dreamcast with more than 100 games coming out in the next year.”
Presently, it is unclear exactly what direction Sega will be taking in the future but the bottom line is that the Dreamcast will continue to be supported with quality software from Sega and other third party developers.
Strong rumours from a Japanese newspaper suggest that Sega has announced that at the end of March 2001 they will cease production of the Dreamcast. This is a sad day for video-gaming, but many people secretly knew that this outcome was inevitable. Sega has made a few hardware mistakes in the past and the Sega CD, 32X and Saturn undermined public confidence in the company. Despite the Dreamcast being an excellent console with fantastic software, Sega just could not compete with the might of Sony.
The Dreamcast has sold more than 7 million consoles worldwide and currently sports the most impressive software library of any next-generation console. It was the first console to feature Internet access out of the box and it brought on-line gaming into the living room. Even though Sega constantly takes the lead with technological innovation, they do not have the money to properly market their new ideas. This is mainly because for the last four years in a row, Sega has posted consecutive losses.
Selling hardware as a loss leader is a common practice in the video game industry. There is more money in software sales and companies like Sony and Sega sell their consoles for less than what they actually cost to manufacture to counterbalance this equation.
So what does this mean for Sega? They previously announced that they planned a ‘tactical withdrawal’ from the hardware market. They intend to concentrate on producing the great software that they are famous for and bringing their technology into new areas. Sega firmly believes the future of gaming is network-based distribution and on-line play, and is beginning to move into that area.
Stuart Turner from Sega’s UK press office offered this comment about the situation.
“Sega has globally reaffirmed its commitment to Dreamcast with more than 100 games coming out in the next year.”
Presently, it is unclear exactly what direction Sega will be taking in the future but the bottom line is that the Dreamcast will continue to be supported with quality software from Sega and other third party developers.
Companies:
SEGA
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