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[jax]

It's the year 1995. After a heated meeting with the Sony executives, Sega finally decided against their original decision of dropping Sony support, and a few years later the Sega PlayStation is announced.

Would a modern hardware platform Sega be more successful than Nintendo at this point? What would the gaming landscape be? What if they still said No to Sony? Would it be Nintendo/Sega/Sony? Nintendo/Microsoft/Sega? Sega/Sony/Microsoft?

Would Nintendo still exist as a third party publisher? Would they be more successful than modern Sega?

Sound off!

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

If Sega was still a first party I imagine it would've been a Microsoft and Sega console anyway.

 

[jax]

If Sega was still a first party I imagine it would've been a Microsoft and Sega console anyway.

They had many opportunities to partner up with both Sony and Microsoft, so it would surely be one of them. Would the console retain Sega branding though? Alternatively, who would their main competition be?

 

[Shang]

The Playstation isn't a fresh new thing, isn't nearly as enticing. I think both consoles stay and the Xbox has a 50/50 chance of ever existing.

 

[EightBitNate]

Sega's 10 times as clueless as Nintendo. Probably just a third PS4/X1 type console.

 

[PdotMichael]

It's crazy that Sega had with Virtua Fighter that first big 3d game in the arcade but decided to make a 2d focused console with the Saturn first.

Meanwhile Sony after seeing the success of VF to make a mainly 3d console.

 

[jax]

Sega's 10 times as clueless as Nintendo. Probably just a third PS4/X1 type console.

The Saturn was pretty on point. If it took off better in America it could have been a huge success. The Dreamcast was also pretty revolutionary at the time.

 

[D.Lo]

Not Sega.

Their entire history in consumer consoles is about them screwing up opportunities. Even when they had their fourth console in five years actually succeed in the US, the cut off its legs with a bunch of add ons.

Sega = brilliant engineering and game design, terrible management.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I don't see a scenario where Sega doesn't eventually leave hardware development. Maybe Sony would have eventually purchased them or something.

 

[NeOak]

The Saturn was pretty on point. If it took off better in America it could have been a huge success. The Dreamcast was also pretty revolutionary at the time.

Saturn? No

Dreamcast? Yes

 

[Ninja Scooter]

IN this alternate reality Sega finds a way to ruin the Playstation and gaming never becomes as big as it was during the 2000s and is now.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

1995? You have to go back further than that to undo Sega's mistakes.

32x and Nomad should have never existed. It's arguable the same is true for the Sega Cd.

Saturn should have had emphasis on 3d power.

Sonic should have been released by 1997 on Saturn.

There's a lot of mistakes Sega made. Making Saturn concentrate on 2d strengths, the 32x, not pushing Sonic out the door, Sonic Team not working on 3d Sonic and doing Nights instead, the Nomad, releasing the Saturn out of nowhere? There's so many mistakes to count.

1995 is too late with a lot of the damage already done.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

1995? You have to go back further than that to undo Sega's mistakes.

32x and Nomad should have never existed. It's arguable the same is true for the Sega Cd.

Saturn should have had emphasis on 3d power.

Sonic should have been released by 1997 on Saturn.

There's a lot of mistakes Sega made. Making Saturn concentrate on 2d strengths, the 32x, not pushing Sonic out the door, Sonic Team not working on 3d Sonic and doing Nights instead, the Nomad, releasing the Saturn out of nowhere? There's so many mistakes to count.

1995 is too late with a lot of the damage already done.

Was the Nomad really that big of a problem for Sega? Everything else I agree with you on 100%.

 

[Shadoken]

A Sega Playstation would have been pretty much the same as a Sony PS. Sega and Sony pretty much target the same audience with pushing technology and mature audience. Unlike Nintendo who never really targeted that space much.

IN this alternate reality Sega finds a way to ruin the Playstation and gaming never becomes as big as it was during the 2000s and is now.

That makes no sense, If Sega made a better system AND marketed it better than the Playstation. And Ultimately outsold the PS1 , Gaming would still become just as big as it was during the 2000s.

 

[Nanashrew]

I'd have Ristar 2.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Was the Nomad really that big of a problem for Sega? Everything else I agree with you on 100%.

Well it's just another way to splice up the Genesis market and confuse people.

By the time Saturn came out people actually thought it was just a new Genesis. That's how much Sega fucked up.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Well it's just another way to splice up the Genesis market and confuse people.

By the time Saturn came out people actually thought it was just a new Genesis. That's how much Sega fucked up.

Oh ok. I see now that the Nomad was released in 1995. I thought it came out a year earlier. Yeah, having that product launch the same year as Saturn was probably a pretty bad idea.

And Sega CD was 1992 and 32x 1994, right? What the heck were they thinking... Sega completely flooded the market.

A Sega Playstation would have been pretty much the same as a Sony PS. Sega and Sony pretty much target the same audience with pushing technology and mature audience. Unlike Nintendo who never really targeted that space much.

Sure, Sega and Sony targeted a similar audience, but that doesn't automatically mean they were both the same. Sony was significantly better at executing on their plans that Sega ever was.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

A Sega Playstation would have been pretty much the same as a Sony PS. Sega and Sony pretty much target the same audience with pushing technology and mature audience. Unlike Nintendo who never really targeted that space much.

Sega and Sony circa the mid to late 1990s could not have been any different in terms of competence. You are giving Sega far too much credit in thinking they could done "pretty much the same" was what Sony did with the Playstation. Sony helped revolutionize the industry.

 

[Kozak]

They had many opportunities to partner up with both Sony and Microsoft, so it would surely be one of them. Would the console retain Sega branding though? Alternatively, who would their main competition be?

I reckon Microsoft would have been keen to keep the SEGA branding around.

If SEGA never falter, we'd still have SEGA World in Sydney

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

SEGA+Microsoft would be awesome. It honestly isn't too late...

I mean, SEGA is a shell of what they used to be anyway. Microsoft should pick it up next time they take a trip to the dollar store.

 

[Shadoken]

Sure, Sega and Sony targeted a similar audience, but that doesn't automatically mean they were both the same. Sony was significantly better at executing on their plans that Sega ever was.

Sega and Sony circa the mid to late 1990s could not have been any different in terms of competence. You are giving Sega far too much credit in thinking they could done "pretty much the same" was what Sony did with the Playstation. Sony helped revolutionize the industry.

Hence the title "If Sega never faltered" . I am assuming that means they didn't fuck up in terms of decisions and were just as competent as Sony.

What I meant by they both did the same thing means they both targeted the same thing but Sony pulled it off way better obviously.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

Oh ok. I see now that the Nomad was released in 1995. I thought it came out a year earlier. Yeah, having that product launch the same year as Saturn was probably a pretty bad idea.

Sega neutered their brand by releasing endless products, often things no one could afford or want to begin with. Then you start to think "well that sucks" and by the time Saturn came out "well that sucks" was the norm with Sega hardware. When you release Sega CD, 32X, Game Gear and other hardware only to abandon them it's pretty easy to think Sega will abandon the Saturn as well. So you don't buy the Saturn because you're not a fucking idiot.

And that's just ONE of the Ssturn's problems.

1995 is too fucking late and any Sega fan knows it.

 

[JordanN]

You still don't own a SEGA 4K yet? Are you waiting for Sony to make one?

Spoiler

Actually, one thing I miss about SEGA are the commercials. They weren't afraid to talk down the competition.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Hence the title "If Sega never faltered" . I am assuming that means they didn't fuck up in terms of decisions.

What I meant by they both did the same thing means they both targeted the same thing but Sony pulled it off way better.

So basically if Sega were Sony but were called Sega? Not sure what kind of discussion you can get out of that hypothetical. It's like asking "If Spud Webb were 7 feet tall what kind of NBA career would he have had?"

 

[Renekton]

It's the year 1995. After a heated meeting with the Sony executives, Sega finally decided against their original decision of dropping Sony support, and a few years later the Sega PlayStation is announced.

Sega would be fked hard by Sony on CD royalties. Maybe exit the hardware business before Dreamcast.

 

[GP_Socks]

Sega would have released the Phoenix and gaming would be perfect from then on.

 

[MrCunningham]

It's the year 1995. After a heated meeting with the Sony executives, Sega finally decided against their original decision of dropping Sony support, and a few years later the Sega PlayStation is announced.

Would a modern hardware platform Sega be more successful than Nintendo at this point? What would the gaming landscape be? What if they still said No to Sony? Would it be Nintendo/Sega/Sony? Nintendo/Microsoft/Sega? Sega/Sony/Microsoft?

Would Nintendo still exist as a third party publisher? Would they be more successful than modern Sega?

Sound off!

In 1995 Sega was in total meltdown after E3...

This is the moment that shot down Sega and put them into a plummeting tail spin. The moment that the $299 announcement happened, Tom Kalinske knew that the company was truly fucked. But he did hang around until 1996.

There would have been no saving this company in 1995. Their home console division was doomed.

You would have to jump back to about 1992/ 1993 when Sony was looking into a partnership with Sega.Though Sega had a lot of interesting "what if's?" that happened around this time. They also had first dibs on the N64 hardware around this period, MIPP's went to Sega before they went to Nintendo.

To be honest, I think Sega's biggest downfall was the broken communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. The civil war that happened internally was the real killer.

 

[Deleted member 74300]

Someone would have to travel back to stop Bernie Stolar and Peter Moore from fucking up the extra damage they did to Sega.

Most of those lovely Sega Xbox exclusives would have stayed on the Dreamcast. They wouldn't be as pretty though.

 

[D.Lo]

1995 is too late with a lot of the damage already done.

Yep.

Look at their console release history:

1983 SG1000
1983 SC3000
1984 SG1000 II (pretty dramatic redesign)
1985 Mark III
1987 Master System (Japanese version with extra features built in)
1988 Mega Drive
1990 Mega CD
1993 Pico
1994 32X
1994 Saturn
1998 Dreamcast

Even discounting redesigns/relaunches and the pico and Game Gear, that's seven distinct game formats released in 15 years.

Saturn was actually the first ever console they released which was given room to breathe without a new console/add on breathing down its throat.

 

[Shadoken]

So basically if Sega were Sony but were called Sega? Not sure what kind of discussion you can get out of that hypothetical. It's like asking "If Spud Webb were 7 feet tall what kind of NBA career would he have had?"

Dont look at me , I didnt make this thread lol. But If Sega was competent thats the route they would have gone.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

To be honest, I think Sega's biggest downfall was the broken communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. The civil war that happened internally was the real killer.

Yes. Absolutely, 100% this. Sony didn't destroy Sega. Sega destroyed Sega.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Dont look at me , I didnt make this thread lol. But If Sega was competent thats the route they would have gone.

I took the OP to mean "If Sega never faltered" to mean specifically to the decision not to work with Sony/Playstation. My guess is that even if 1995 Sega had any kind of say or control over the Playstation they would have found a way to fuck it up. That company simply had no vision, foresight or managerial competence at that time, which is everything Sony didhave, and why they were able to turn the Playstation into such a success.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

To be honest, I think Sega's biggest downfall was the broken communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. The civil war that happened internally was the real killer.

Tell them...

 

[rrs]

honestly, Sega's problems wasn't with this deal but rather making a console Japan wanted rather than one for both markets, SoA wanting nothing to do with 2D games, and the 32X raising eyebrows of consumers thinking Sega was going to pull a quick one again.

If Sega still managed to keep up market share, I'd easily see Microsoft pumping funds into Sega to counter Sony's attempt to conquer the living room.

 

[captainraincoat]

If sega didnt fault i dont think you would have sony around now in its current form....i think they would of still being pursuing the combined console idea and once Nintendo knocked them back i think microsoft would of been open to the idea of a microsoft playstation.

Hard to say really as sega had a massive library of 1st party ips and they have managed to stay afloat for so many years after exiting consoles just milking them....some may argue their first party was more diverse and better than Nintendos

But sega really did dig its own hole with the megacd/32x and saturn bombs eroding the funds of what could of being used to promote an awesome console (dreamcast) and perhaps drop it to a more reasonable price at launch.

 

[Golnei]

If it means Bayonetta wouldn't exist, I can't get behind any dream alternate history scenario for the rest of the company.

 

[CertifiedFP]

To be honest, I think Sega's biggest downfall was the broken communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. The civil war that happened internally was the real killer.

THIS THIS THIS.

Especially certain egotistical manchildren at Sanic Team who had too much power and esteem - Like Yuji Naka who threatened to quit and take half the team with him because filthy baka gaijin were using " ' " """his""" " ' " engine for Sonic X-Treme.

And to this day he has the gall to pretend he didn't murder it. And the Saturn with it. Also allegedly he makes fun of people with disabilities.

 

[shouamabane]

Every console maker has faltered.

 

[ProtomanNeo]

If Sega was still a first party I imagine it would've been a Microsoft and Sega console anyway.

Dat first post.

 

[Shadoken]

To be honest, I think Sega's biggest downfall IS the broken communication between Sega of America and Sega of Japan. The civil war that happened internally was the real killer.

fixed.

It never went away.

 

[Cindi Mayweather]

fixed.

It never went away.

How so? I need deets.

 

[Deleted member 74300]

If it means Bayonetta wouldn't exist, I can't get behind any dream alternate history scenario for the rest of the company.

The course would have most likely stayed the same for Kaimya. Saturn gets Resident Evil 1, 2 (or Dreamcast still gets it). Resident Evil Zero is still made for the N64 or Gamecube. Whatever game he worked on for the PS2 is now for the Dreamcast or Gamecube. Clover dies (again) and then Platinum is made for Sega to throw tons of money for exclusives.

 

[D.Lo]

sega had a massive library of 1st party ips and they have managed to stay afloat for so many years after exiting consoles just milking them

Um, no.

Sega was in massive debt and was acquired in 2004 by Sammy, a pachinko company. Technically a merger, but was actually an acquisition. They are now just a Subsidiary of Sammy (or the holding company Sega Sammy Holdings).

 

[Santar]

Then we'd have Sonic and Mario at the Rio Olympic games and not Mario and Sonic at the Rio Olympic games that's where we'd be at!

Spoiler

 

[Ban Puncher]

Still making bad Sonic games.

 

[dlauv]

Probably still overcharging for arcade games which aren't acclimated to current tastes at all.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

It's hard to say. "Faltered" makes it sound like a singular event, when it was really a series of bad decisions over the course of the span of half a decade or so

 

[pizzacat]

 

[petran79]

If Sega was still a first party I imagine it would've been a Microsoft and Sega console anyway.

In that alternate reality it would not be Microsoft they'd be partnering with. It would be either Commodore, Atari or Panasonic

 

[gelf]

I wonder if I would even like a more market savy Sega anywhere near as much. In that alternative history they probably don't focus on the arcade style games I love and they don't make such a wide variety of IPs. We would have better Sonic games and modernised sequels to Mega Drive classics at the expense of the likes of Panzer Dragoon, Jet Set Radio, Nights etc which don't pass the greenlight phase because they look too weird for mainstream audiences.