Why did the Dreamcast fail?

[Preston Garvey]

Why did the Dreamcast have to fail? I never understood this. I thought it was a hell of a video game system. It was very well made. hell you cant even get a x-box to last 1 year. but i still have a dreamcast that works as good as the day i got it.

[rogoth]

because the tech that it was built on was old hat, and it couldn't have supported more modern games, also, with teh way sega were going, they couldn't finance such a big tech push when u were fighting alongside sony or nitendo and then when microsfot weighed in, there was just no chance, sega had, had it's turn to rule the gaming market with the mega drive and saturn (which was the very first compact disc based gaming console), and they just didn't have the capital to compete on the big stage back then.

[xylophone]

The Dreamcast has no games.

[Collegeguy]

The Dreamcast had plenty of games, and it was amazingly built tech. It's pretty hard to find a dreamcast that is not working.

There was one main reason really. Market loyalty and reputation. Sega had the worst in this. Customers just didn't trust Sega. Even developers and companies didn't trust Sega. They had a bad reputation of making consoles and abandoning them. The did some naughty things to customers and companies with the Sega CD for example.

If the Dreamcast had a different name on it, I am 100% certain it would have done much better.

It just goes to show you how important label reputation is. Something that Electronic Arts might learn as well.

[spaace]

I loved my dreamcast. Phantasy Star Online, Sonic...

did it have other games?

[ngc2440]

Watch and learn.

[hellosaltygoodness]

i don't know, i thought it was awesome, i still do. dreamcast is what made me into a gamer in my own right, before that the main reason i played was to hang out with my "cool older brother" and his friends. then one day he bought shenmue.... and suddenly i started playing games even when he wasn't around xD

[Vargas]

Probably because people were already hyping up the PlayStation 2.

[Taros]

because the tech that it was built on was old hat, and it couldn't have supported more modern games, also, with teh way sega were going, they couldn't finance such a big tech push when u were fighting alongside sony or nitendo and then when microsfot weighed in, there was just no chance, sega had, had it's turn to rule the gaming market with the mega drive and saturn (which was the very first compact disc based gaming console), and they just didn't have the capital to compete on the big stage back then.

Pretty sure Turbo Duo, Sega CD and Amiga were all before Saturn.

[DownButStillOut]

I built my ambition to game from House of the Dead 2 on the Dreamcast.
Never forget your first zambies.

[Achaman]

Watch and learn.

nice vid stfu char limit

[Henako]

Because historically, Sega has awful timing with console releases.

[Yuni]

Because historically, Sega has awful timing with console releases.

This basically. Dreamcast's predecessors were the N64 and PS1. Dreamcast flourished for a little while, then when the PS2 got announced to release around the holiday season like a year after Dreamcast's release, everyone jumped ship. Poor Sega Some of my favorite games of all time are on the Dreamcast.

[lokithor]

I think that video pretty much summed it up.

[xpolockx]

Mostly, it was the timing as others have said.

Personally, I also blame the controller being terribly designed. It was awkward to hold and not ergonomic in the least. It still holds top billing on my list of worst controllers ever (though the original xbox controller is close.) Haha.

[Yuni]

Mostly, it was the timing as others have said.

Personally, I also blame the controller being terribly designed. It was awkward to hold and not ergonomic in the least. It still holds top billing on my list of worst controllers ever (though the original xbox controller is close.) Haha.

You need three damn hands to properly operate the original Xbox controller. Lol. It was an... interesting design, the Dreamcast controller, but the memory cards with the screens was pretty innovative at the time, though most games didn't utilize it all that much. I personally think the DC controller was a blueprint for the Xbox controller. Before then, nobody had thought to put the analog stick ABOVE the d-pad and the shape favors old Xbox controllers.

[zoefschildpad]

I think marketing also had a lot to do wih it. I pretty much never heard of the dreamcast until years after it was released

[lucred]

Marketing, glut of sega consoles, bad timing... all came together to crush sega.
Now, as for worst controller... how is anyone saying anything other than n64? A controller literally designed to be held by three hands simultaneously. Who came up with that?

[Rooflesstoofless]

Had plenty of games and was well built...

...my only guess is it had something to do with being super duper easy to pirate games. Once you had a crack for a game you could simply copy it with a CD-ROM burner.

[Lovestar]

aw man, Dreamcast was awesome! Some of my earliest gaming memories there. It was such a charming system with a charming selection of games.

I'm really not sure what went wrong with Dreamcast. I loved it. But then I loved Sega Saturn too. And the old Genesis I stole from my cousin...

Maybe I just have bad gaming taste.