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:

Delay the Sega/Mega CD to allow themselves more time to rewrite the graphics ASIC to include 3D rendering capabilities.
Cancel the 32X and Saturn; they were never even announced. The Sega CD is the next gen console.
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.

[–] B0NK3RS@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

Sega was their own worst enemy

Arguably they still are today. Can't stop being a fan though!

[–] frezik@midwest.social 6 points 3 months ago

But to be fair I also think Sega was their own worst enemy.

More true than you might realize. A lot of the missteps of the Sega CD/32X were from fights between Japan and US divisions. There was a push for the next console to be simply a Genesis/CD/32X melded together in one box.

Sony is also incredibly good at taking advantage of its competitors mistakes.

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

I personally don't think that would have worked. We've seen repeatedly from multiple companies that selling anything as an "addon" just results in failure because developers can't assume that people will have it. You have to bake the function in the lowest SKU or it ends up a novelty.

Perhaps if they rolled out the canceled Neptune as the half-step between Mega Drive and a delayed Saturn. It would have been the an excellent base SKU developers could target, with cheaper CD media as a bonus... but I just don't see an enhanced Sega CD/32X going up against the PS1 and coming out any better than the Saturn did. I guess they wouldn't have hemorrhaged all that money on wasted hardware though.