Peter Moore Explodes Dreamcast Death Myth
Former Sega America President on 'proving the naysayers wrong'.
Peter Moore, Electronic Arts' sports division leader, has written a retrospective on his blog today about his time with Sega America fronting the Dreamcast launch on the 9th September 1999. Suffice it to say, Peter's got lots of good memories, explaining how Sega's ill-fated console truly paved the way for online gaming, and even setting the record straight on some urban myths.
Alongside the sharing of corporate memories, the blog was also used to address a "misconception about the final days of the Dreamcast" - explaining that the call within the company to drop the Dreamcast came from Sega Japan and not America. While Peter's office was the source of the conference call announcing the fact, it appears that Japan's decision came after considering low sales numbers following the Christmas 2000 period.
On the Dreamcast's 56K modem and the ability to play against others around the world in games like NBA 2K and Phantasy Star Online, Peter was particularly proud of the achievements made. The way the online gaming world has evolved was borne specifically from technology that was ahead of its time:
"I don't think it is an overstatement to say that the Dreamcast and it's online network laid the ground for what we all take for granted today - online game play, linking innumerable gamers from around the world to play, compete and collaborate, as well as enabling new content to be delivered in addition to that which was delivered on the disc."
The EA Sports boss also took some time to reflect on the actions of his own company during the console's life - specifically, the lack of support that was given to Sega that has since been largely considered a fatal blow to the platform's sustainability. Upon reflection, Peter had to acknowledge the developer draw that the impending PlayStation 2 had over Sega's white box.
"That we will never know. But it is hard to argue with EA's rationale at the time and the ultimate outcome - get in position for the impending arrival of the Playstation 2, deploying all resources against the newest version of Sony's already wildly successful video game platform. You can't argue with the results. EA came out of the blocks strongly in support of the PS2, and enjoyed tremendous success throughout the key years of that console's life cycle."
Today is a "bittersweet" one for all involved - Sega fans, Dreamcast die-hards, internal studios and the people behind the marketing and production of the console itself. But Peter doesn't regret his time at the house of Sonic, stating "I was fortunate to have worked at that time with some of the most amazingly dedicated individuals, all of whom were galvanized around a single goal : prove the naysayers wrong".
Read Peter's blog in full here.
Alongside the sharing of corporate memories, the blog was also used to address a "misconception about the final days of the Dreamcast" - explaining that the call within the company to drop the Dreamcast came from Sega Japan and not America. While Peter's office was the source of the conference call announcing the fact, it appears that Japan's decision came after considering low sales numbers following the Christmas 2000 period.
On the Dreamcast's 56K modem and the ability to play against others around the world in games like NBA 2K and Phantasy Star Online, Peter was particularly proud of the achievements made. The way the online gaming world has evolved was borne specifically from technology that was ahead of its time:
"I don't think it is an overstatement to say that the Dreamcast and it's online network laid the ground for what we all take for granted today - online game play, linking innumerable gamers from around the world to play, compete and collaborate, as well as enabling new content to be delivered in addition to that which was delivered on the disc."
The EA Sports boss also took some time to reflect on the actions of his own company during the console's life - specifically, the lack of support that was given to Sega that has since been largely considered a fatal blow to the platform's sustainability. Upon reflection, Peter had to acknowledge the developer draw that the impending PlayStation 2 had over Sega's white box.
"That we will never know. But it is hard to argue with EA's rationale at the time and the ultimate outcome - get in position for the impending arrival of the Playstation 2, deploying all resources against the newest version of Sony's already wildly successful video game platform. You can't argue with the results. EA came out of the blocks strongly in support of the PS2, and enjoyed tremendous success throughout the key years of that console's life cycle."
Today is a "bittersweet" one for all involved - Sega fans, Dreamcast die-hards, internal studios and the people behind the marketing and production of the console itself. But Peter doesn't regret his time at the house of Sonic, stating "I was fortunate to have worked at that time with some of the most amazingly dedicated individuals, all of whom were galvanized around a single goal : prove the naysayers wrong".
Read Peter's blog in full here.
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Comments
DC Man 9 Sep 2009 15:26
1/1
The Dreamcast may have had an early death by Sega, but as long as people still play the console it lives on today! There is even a third party publisher called the Goat Store who announced the game Irides today for the Dreamcast that will be coming out by the end of this year! I'm excited and hope that more games follow!