We have discussed why Dreamcast failed; why did SEGA SATURN fail?

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

• First 32 Bit console
• Established fanbase from Master System and Genesis
• Established franchises
• Ports of HUGELY successful arcade games (sega rally, virtua fighter, and I think timecop and HOTD)
• Expandable Ram which was packaged with

Cons

• $100 more than PSX at launch [but they had the brandname, sony didn't]
• Complex hardware to code for
• Sonic X-Treme was scrapped

For those of us who were around then, explain why A.) saturn failed, and B.) why you didn't buy saturn

 

[ProfessionallyTrill]

Rented one from blockbuster to play Virtua Fighter but this thing called Playstation was about to crush the buildings

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-9861122-17.html

 

[Liquid]

E3 was a monumental fukkup

Not even the xbox one E3 disaster was as bad...you don't try to Apple it up like that

Real reason why it failed? That's easy. Sega already had the rep of launching things and not supporting them for long...

The..
Sega channel
32X
Sega CD

All had extremely short life spans

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

Rented one from blockbuster to play Virtua Fighter but this thing called Playstation was about to crush the buildings

nobody knew that at day 1. Playstation was a slow bubble that kept getting better as the catalog improved and software prices got low.

 

[Kodie]

32x and Sega CD killed American confidence in Sega. Even Genesis was getting outsold by SNES late in that cycle. N64 had tremendous hype already I believe. No good mascot game at launch. Pretty expensive.


It was a solid system that ended up not being as powerful as Playstation but I think the cons I listed kept it from people buying. Price for me was prob the #1 issue at the time. I ended up getting it for much later at prob <$100.

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

32x and Sega CD killed American confidence in Sega. Even Genesis was getting outsold by SNES late in that cycle. N64 had tremendous hype already I believe. No good mascot game at launch. Pretty expensive.


It was a solid system that ended up not being as powerful as Playstation but I think the cons I listed kept it from people buying. Price for me was prob the #1 issue at the time. I ended up getting it for much later at prob <$100.

Yeah. I personally believe that Saturn could've been better than N64 especially if you compare the controllers, the solid arcade ports, the fighting games (its a GOAT system for that surpassed only by PS3 actually), but its potential audience was content waiting for N64, or taking a risk on PSX.

Software sold playstation. The reviews on Resident Evil, Gameday, and other early titles made people take the risk on the unknown...

 

[The G.O.D II]

Overstauration from the CD and 32x before, ports were absolute shyt, expensive. They pissed off a lot of developers with the E3 stunt where they literally announced that the console was on shelves that day, forcing companies to scramble with their titles. I know EA was like fukk Sega for life after that just like how they are now with Nintendo. (btw why did EA and Nintendo fallout?)

 

[The G.O.D II]

And the only reason it was rushed to the market was because US Sega was furious Japan Sega was eating so good off the Saturn while they were stuck trying to market and program the flopped 32X. Sega of US wanted that money ASAP

 

[Cladyclad]

Overstauration from the CD and 32x before, ports were absolute shyt, expensive. They pissed off a lot of developers with the E3 stunt where they literally announced that the console was on shelves that day, forcing companies to scramble with their titles. I know EA was like fukk Sega for life after that just like how they are now with Nintendo. (btw why did EA and Nintendo fallout?)

Always wondered why Live never made it to Saturn

 

[ItWasWritten]

 

[Kodie]

Saturn was pretty dead before PS got popular. PS was a slow burn.

 

[ItWasWritten]

Saturn was pretty dead before PS got popular. PS was a slow burn.

How so ?

They both debuted in 1995...

I think playstation was out in 94 in japan too and people were waiting for it to come over here


Saturn came out first from what I remember and then playstation A few months after.

 

[Ed MOTHEREFFING G]

Overstauration from the CD and 32x before, ports were absolute shyt, expensive. They pissed off a lot of developers with the E3 stunt where they literally announced that the console was on shelves that day, forcing companies to scramble with their titles. I know EA was like fukk Sega for life after that just like how they are now with Nintendo. (btw why did EA and Nintendo fallout?)

E3 was a monumental fukkup

Not even the xbox one E3 disaster was as bad...you don't try to Apple it up like that

wow I don't remember this backstory, tell me more.

They announced AT E3 that the console was ON SALE TODAY???

 

[The G.O.D II]

Always wondered why Live never made it to Saturn

Yea thats why they focused so heavy on their on in house 2k franchise by their next console launch. Companies were caught with their pants down big time. Here they were thinking they had another four months of development for their titles and Sega of America just sneak launches their console out of nowhere. A lot of retailers were fukked too because they had difficulty stocking the system. The PS was cheaper and superior graphically to the Saturn in every way. ( funny how history repeats itself) Sega got everything right with the Dreamcast but the damage was already done

 

[Kodie]

How so ?

They both debuted in 1995...

I think playstation was out in 94 in japan too and people were waiting for it to come over here


Saturn came out first from what I remember and then playstation A few months after.

As I remember it, Playstation was a slow seller in America due to the price for the first year.