The Gaming Historian - Sega Dreamcast (Part 1)

Throughout history, empires have come and gone. The Mongols, The Romans, The Franks, they were all once great empires of the known world. Even in the video game world, once great companies eventually fall. Look at Atari. The once powerful company that brought gaming into households now publishes Dragonball Z fighting games. One company that will never be the same, is Sega. What was once the #1 rival to Nintendo's hardware machine now makes software for various companies, including Nintendo. Sega's final days were with the Dreamcast, the first 128 bit home console, and the first home console to come with a modem out of the box. Although the Dreamcast is basically dead, it is still considered one of the greatest gaming systems ever put out by Sega.

Our story begins with the Sega Saturn. After Sega's repeated attempts to keep the Sega Genesis alive with the Sega CD and the Sega 32x add-ons, they finally decided to release an actual new 32 bit console. It was supposed to be launced in September of 1995, but Sega wanted to jump ahead of the new Sony Playstation, so they pushed the release date forward to May 11th, 1995. This move irritated many developers for games of the Saturn, who suddenly did not have time to take advantage of the saturn launch day. Despite this, Sega launched their new 32 bit console May 11, 1995, about 4 months before the release of the Sony Playsation. However, Sega was about to get a rude awakening.

I'm going to explain this pretty clearly. The Playstation launched on September 9th, 1995. By this time, 80,000 Saturns had been sold. On the first day alone, Sony had sold over 100,000 Playstations. I dunno if I can describe that as an epic fail or just a big slap in the face. To make matters worse, the Nintendo 64 launched on September 29, 1996. Nintendo sold 400,000 systems within four months. Suddenly, Sega was in 3rd place. By 1997, Sega controlled only 12 percent of the console market. It was obvious that this once prominent company was slipping away. Sega realized their situation and decided on their last ditch effort. A brand new 128 bit system. Codenamed "Katana" in development, Sega officially announced the Dreamcast on May 21, 1998. It would include a 56k Modem for online play, stereo sound, and a 3d graphics chip made by NEC. The games were made on GD-Roms, which were double density CD's that could hold over 1 GB of data.

The Dreamcast launched on November 27, 1998 in Japan. The launch seemed successful, but due to a shortage in graphics chips from NEC, Sega felt it went horribly wrong. Sega shipped about 450,000 systems in the first few weeks, but felt "200,000 to 300,000 additional units could have been sold if we could have had enough supply [graphics chips]." Then came the worst news Sega could possibly imagine. On March 2nd, 1999, Sony officially announced the Playstation 2 in Tokyo, Japan. The Playstation 2 was expected to launch in the next year and would have amazing capabilities. To compare, the Sega Dreamcast could render 3 million polygons per second. The Playstation 2 could render 60 million polygons per second. The Dreamcast provided 56k dial up capabilities, while the Playstation 2 would support broadband internet. It would also have games on both a CD and DVD. The Playstation 2 would also be capable of playing DVD movies.

Even before the launch of the Dreamcast in America, the system was already obsolete. The Playstation 2 was simply a more powerful machine, and with an expected release date in the next year, Sega's plan was this. Install a huge fanbase and provide alot of great software before the arrival of the PS2. Sega's Bernard Stolar responded to the PS2 with "Sony's machine sounds impressive, but the fact is, its still on paper. Dreamcast is here now. While Sony is working to create that hardware, Sega will already be in the marketplace with Dreamcast."

As launch day approached however, Sega ousted Stolar and replaced him with Peter Moore. Yes, Peter Moore. Many know Peter Moore today as the President of EA Sports and as the former vice president of Microsofts Interactive Entertainment Business division. Peter Moore began his work for Microsoft based on his experience with the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was hyped up with ads stating the launch date, 9/9/99 for 199 dollars. The North American launch was a big success for Sega. Retailers were demanding the console after selling out. Sega sold over 500,000 units in just two weeks. Much of the success can be credited towards the great launch titles and online connectivity right out of the box. Titles such as Soul Calibur, Sega Sports NFL2k, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, and of course, Sonic Adventure. In total, there were 15 launch titles with the Sega Dreamcast.

By the end of 1999, Sega had sold 1.2 million Dreamcasts. However, the Playstation 2 was still looming over them like a rain cloud to ruin their day.