Should Sega attempt a resurgence into the console market?

With the WiiU currently on life support, struggling to find it's way back to the light after being hit with a bus, what if Sega snuck into it's hospital room and suffocated Nintendo with a pillow.

With The xbone suffering performance issues/lacking games and the PS4 lacking games do you think now would be a good time for Sega to launch one last assault into the console market? It seems strategically plausible to me, just imagine for a second if they did.

I've always felt since their passing that something has been missing, the edge just isn't there anymore especially since they went 3rd party. What do you think the odds of us seeing a second dreamcast are?

Will never happen. The closest we will get to another Sega console is printing out a Sega logo and gluing it to the front of a PC.

Or Sony get's their act together and starts really pushing the JP titles out.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Shenmue 3 would be a welcome start.

no, they'll need to plan their resurgence as a publisher and developer first

There's pretty much zero chance of that happening.

1. SEGA doesn't have the funds to do it.

2. SEGA's fanbase is probably a lot smaller then when they had the Genesis on retail shelves.

3. Even is SEGA had the money, they wouldn't be able to compete with Microsoft & Sony right now.

4. I could see them trying a handheld system mainly because Japan gamers are huge mobile gaming fans. Many of them have jumped ship from game consoles to handhelds. The demand for the PS4 dried up after just a couple weeks. I don't expect the PS4 or XB1 to sell many units until they get their price down to $250 or less in Japan.

Won't happen, but just for pretend, if it was the SEGA of old, I'd be ecstatic. Unlike Nintendo, they weren't afraid to make new IPs all the time; they liked experimenting with hardcore gameplay mechanics; and they pushed online play dating back to even the Genesis days. Nintendo likes playing it safe (especially now), and flat out doesn't have the soul or ingenuity to make games like NiGHTS into Dreams and Panzer Dragoon Saga. On the flip side, the SEGA of old probably wouldn't survive today, because the masses don't like arcade difficulty and gameplay experimentation. If there's one thing Nintendo is good at, it's making a profit.

As for Sony and Microsoft, they have third party games to make up for their lack of innovation, and they're both competent enough when it comes to online play. Still, neither do enough to distinguish themselves from each other.

yes....but they need to start making great games again.

they dont put effort into their games for other console companys like they did their own and they need to learn how to manage their money better if they do.

and buy theirself back from sammy because sega/sammy is not a good combo..

Yeah I won't argue with them not having the capital, maybe if they kickstarted it :P.

I think the fanbase is definitely still there, just quietly waiting. If sega announced they would like to contend with the big 3 again I could definitely see alot of fan interest gathering, specifically from the hardcore, hell even with older gamers alone. Nostalgia is a powerful thing just look at Nintendo.

Games wise, I think they could really make a dent. They could compete in a myriad of ways with Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo. Definitely have some good franchises still under their belt.

I'd really hate another handheld :(, but I agree Japan won't buy in until the price is right and the games are there.

Ah....to wish impossible things....

Lol not a chance.

They would lose billions of dollars before they even make a profit.

God, I wish they would. Unfortunately, they've gone all in with their new smartphone/PC focus, so... eh.

Nope. A Segafone is more likely than a Dreamcast 2.

Probably not, but they should start making good games, like they used to do for their consoles. A good 2D Sonic game, like the megadrive ones with lots of exploration and a gameplay we can actualy control, would be a good start!

NullDC plus pc = Dreamcast 1080p

Not all titles work that great however and there's still a shitload of bugs.

It's not on the same level as say pcsx2 or Dolphin.

Personally I use reicast on my cell phone 1080p and it works great I can mirror it on my hdtv also.

I'll have to try reicast out on my android, I wonder when they'll have a windows option out.

If they ever get into hardware business, the closest thing to a Sega console we'll ever see is a line of Steam Machines named after the Dreamcast.

Just classic nostalgia syndrome. I grew up a Sega kid, never owned a Nintendo console until Wii. Always had Sega . If everyone loves them so much, where were you? Why'd there support die? Never going to happen, and if it did, they wouldn't be able to match Sony/MS financially. They'd try to go low end in order to turn a bigger profit and it would be treated like the wiiu

That's pretty much what Sega has been doing with their arcade machines over the past decade.

As much as I would welcome this I doubt this would happen. The ONLY way I see this happening is if they strictly stick to 2D gaming. Just make a 2D gaming powerhouse (aka Sega Saturn 2.0). IMO people will hate at first (mainly the newer generation of gamers) but I really miss playing amazing 2D games...

god no.... 3 are enough.

I would love for SEGA to come back into the game, but unfortunately at this point I believe it would be nearly impossible for them to succeed. They would need the console equivalent of lightning-in-a-bottle to stay alive in the current console market. It's rough out there, and SEGA is not as well known as before so they would need to spend a lot in marketing(unless then pull another miracle there with something viral).

Instead, I would rather they use those resources and produce great games. I bought quite a few of their titles last gen, and will likely do the same now.

Not unless they are serious about going bankrupt.

People tend to be more nostalgic toward Sega hardware than anything else I've ever seen. Sega dropped out of the hardware business because they proved too incompetent in that field. With all the restructuring and layoffs lately, it seems like they're having enough trouble trying stay afloat as a developer/publisher.

No. What would be the point? What can they bring that other people don't do? We don't need 3 consoles all doing the same shit with different names and a couple of exclusives.

Dreamcast really had some awesome games though, i miss that system so much.

Oh the thought of playing this world again with new graphics and storyline with the same awesome gameplay. Too much awesome.

@vincent380 said:

@bobbetybob said:

No. What would be the point? What can they bring that other people don't do? We don't need 3 consoles all doing the same shit with different names and a couple of exclusives.

Dreamcast really had some awesome games though, i miss that system so much.

Oh the thought of playing this world again with new graphics and storyline with the same awesome gameplay. Too much awesome.

There's been nothing stopping SEGA from making those kind of games for the past 13 years and they haven't. Investing massive amounts of money into hardware would probably make them even less likely to take risks, it'd turn into a Sonic Box.

As long as Wii U is owned by Nintendo, it will never be on a life line. Also, have you seen SEGA games lately? they're often niche games

@bobbetybob said:

@vincent380 said:

@bobbetybob said:

No. What would be the point? What can they bring that other people don't do? We don't need 3 consoles all doing the same shit with different names and a couple of exclusives.

Dreamcast really had some awesome games though, i miss that system so much.

Oh the thought of playing this world again with new graphics and storyline with the same awesome gameplay. Too much awesome.

There's been nothing stopping SEGA from making those kind of games for the past 13 years and they haven't. Investing massive amounts of money into hardware would probably make them even less likely to take risks, it'd turn into a Sonic Box.

This is very true....thanks for crushing my dreams lol

The point of that would be?

Ha, no problem, just call me Dr Dreamcrusher.

No, Sega should never make another console.

I just dont see Sega ever coming back to the console making market, they just dont have the money for it and having 4 consoles on the market would just spell disaster and spread out the already lackluster exclusive game market.

What if Xbox somehow disappeared?

@ReadingRainbow4: I would be fine with that since they're just a liability at this point and have actually gone down hill since their original box days. If MS did leave the console race and Sega jumped in you still have 3 contenders and still a major ripple in the exclusive market. Multiplats were running rampart last gen and I'm honestly starting to miss the exclusives, but we're at a time devs don't want to make exclusives, which almost makes having having 3 consoles irrelevant in a way.

Yeah, the exclusive game comes down to what's financially feasible. It's pretty slim we'll have another generation of dreamcast and ps2 exclusive games, catering to multiple fan bases is just too attractive financially.

Unless they figure out a way to develop for cheaper, production costs have skyrocketed.

No money, no go.

what would their console offer that is not already available? Motion controller, VR, controller with a screen, etc. everything has been done. And not to mention that 90% of their IPs suck. Launching a console at this point would be suicide but more important is the fact that it'd be pointless.

90% of their IPs suck? Hahaha, I guess I shouldn't expect the system wars crowd to know of anything beyond what came out within the past six months.

System Wars only cares about "What have you done for me lately?" Sega's groundbreaking accomplishments during the 70's-90's would be too much history to comprehend.

No. Why should they? Their games are already on Multiple Platforms as it is. It would be suicide if they decided to go back in the Console market at this point.

Pretty much sums up what I was going to say.

you know why it will never happen? i read somewhere that sega has about 4 billion dollars, so it takes at least 2 billion to develop and launch a console, they will not risk half their worth when their last 2 attempts failed. unless somehow maybeeeee a couple million people can somehow pledge about $200 each to get them going.

I will definitely buy a new Sega system. It would look great next to my Xbone, PS4, Wiiu, and my future Steambox!

Actually, Sega does have the funds. In fact, Sega Sammy has a ton of money, mostly thanks to their hugely successful Pachinko gambling business (mainly from Sammy's side). If Valve can afford to develop the Steam Machine console, then there's no reason to believe a much bigger company like Sega can't afford to. They can make a console they wanted, but it just wouldn't make any business sense to take such a big gamble on such a risky endeavour, in a crowded console market that's already been cornered by much bigger companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. There's no way most of Sega's investors/stockholders would agree to something so risky.

I was heavy into NullDC 6 years ago, and i played/finished a boatload of games with little to no bugs/issues. And that was on 1.0.0 Beta 1.6, released in 2007.

drk||Raziel's pure 1.0.4 version was almost flawless for me, personally. Still my go-to Dreamcast emulator. I don't doubt that Dolphin and pcsx2 are on levels above because the original nullDC team quit long ago (3 or 4 years iirc), while the other two are still being updated.

Allthough i never messed with the modern revisions of NullDC, because they may or may not **** shit up due to the noninvolvement of the original team, but maybe the lastest revision (NullDC SVN r150, 2013) is a good choice. I dunno, i don't have the time to check them out.

It's definitely not up to par for skies of arcadia for me. Audio bugs, transparencies not being emulated correctly.

I tried both the regular release and the newest one supposedly r150. Still the same issues.

for the most part Grandia 2 ran great despite some visual bugs with spells and shadows.

Dolphin runs the game much, much better. I checked out reicast and it looks promising but I really just want a full fledged windows version, hopefully they can emulate skies perfectly.