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Sega needs to make a new console because there are a large number of nostalgic fans

Ozzie666

Member
People are pretty eager to spend money that doesn't belong to them. Sega doesn't have the cash to back a new real console, a mini dreamcast or saturn? sure maybe.
Sega should release a new console if they want to finally survive going out of business for real this time.
 

6502

Member
The best we could hope for is an online dreamcast mini with downloadable games from their back catalogues across all consoles. But they won't do it.
 

Drew1440

Member
Eh, I'd like an FPGA based system that could play physical games from their previous systems. No chance of an actual modern console though, the engineers are long gone from Sega.
 
No clue, but the advancements in things like ARM chips makes me wonder if it could be viable before too long.

I wonder if it would be worth doing a Saturn Mini at all, it's got a niche fan base on the Internet now but it didn't set the world on fire.

Depends on region

Saturn outsold Dreamcast approx 2:1 in Japan

Dreamcast outsold Satuen more than 2:1 in America

Both did about the same in Europe

There’s likely a lot more people in Japan nostalgic for Saturn than Dreamcast.
 
- Who’s developing, manufacturing and shipping the hardware?

- How will they make up for lost sales on PS5/Switch/Xbox

- How do they convince people to choose it over PS5/Switch/Xbox?

- How will they convince third parties to support it?

- Amd, Hitachi, Nec, Toshiba, Yamaha, Matsushita and some huge chinese brand like TLC.

- There will be new ips for the new system. Sonic it's still going to be on the Switch.

- You can't. Let Sony and Nintendo do their thing. Xbox doesn't exist. Don't worry about them.

- It's SEGA new hardware adventure with AI technology in the future. Everyone will want their games there.
 
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SmokedMeat

Gamer™
A new console for what purpose? To watch them fail miserably again?

They wouldn’t even have their arcade industry to prop their limp console up, like they did with Dreamcast.

They don’t have the creativity of the past.

It wouldn’t go like you think it would.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
It might sound like a good idea at first, but trust me, a new Sega console would make all the same mistakes as the Saturn and Dreamcast.

Plus it’s not 1989 anymore. Sega would be facing some stiff competition from the Atari VCS 800 and soon the Intellivision Amico. I just don’t see room for a third player in the console space in 2024 and beyond.
 
It would have be some niche fashionable collectors item that's made for little money sort of like how Tamagotchi has had a resurgence. Not something meant to seriously compete with Playstation or Switch.
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Hardware is expensive to manufacture. And Sega is better off financially not investing in HW manufacturing and investing in software production. I think their current financials prove that out. They could outsource for a mini nostalgia console like they have.
 
I like the idea of a retro Sega console that has 'virtual' consoles, like Megadrive, Saturn and Dreamcast. The main selling point would be new games made by (proven) indie devs based on classic Sega franchises. I'm sure that, especially in these times, there are many indie devs that have delivered quality (retro style) games that would jump on the opportunity to make games based on Sega IP. Indie dev budgets will be cost effective and pose less risk compared to what we're seeing in the AAA+ space.
Would an actual console/box have enough added value in this scenario? Maybe they could offer the console for the hardcore fans as well as virtual consoles accessible through platforms like Steam. But then, would there be a large enough market to make enough sales?
 

hemo memo

You can't die before your death
"Large number"

Season 3 Laughing GIF by Law & Order
 

Geometric-Crusher

"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
Realistically how many fans are we talking about? The number of people willing to pay for new Sega hardware because they are nostalgic for old Sega is probably a few thousand.
there is no data, but 1 million might be reasonable.
Gamecube was the first console to be released almost simultaneously around the world, a practice that became common in the following generation. Therefore, in a scenario of a worldwide launch of a Sega console, we can think of 3 million units sold, but a worldwide launch could be potentially expensive, so launching in Japan first is an option they could consider if making a comeback is on the table.
 

Geometric-Crusher

"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
To make a console platform viable these days you need a player base approaching 100m.

If Microsoft want to get out of the business at 30m, why should Sega get back into it when their last two consoles only sold 9m?
If Microsoft wants to leave (they didn't say that, they said they are working on the new generation) because they couldn't sell 100 million, it's because a big company thinks big, 30 million consoles for Sega is a very good number.

There are a lot of lies in this sector, the truth is that having your own console helps a lot to sell your own first party games with bundles and the company still makes money by charging royalties. Sega became a real big company in the Genesis era, when a console succeeds we are talking about much greater profits than they could obtain just being a softhouse like Capcom or Square.

But as I said, each user will see the glass as half full or half empty depending on whether they like SEGA or not. If a person doesn't like Sega, in his mind the company has to live off Mega Drive Mini and other low-technology products. This is the subjectivity of the topic.
 

lordrand11

Member
Unlike Atari, which made its return to consoles in 1993 after spending half a generation away from it, Sega has not yet made its return and many generations have passed.

However, Sega has something that Atari from 1993 never had, which is a legion of die-hard fans. Modern Sega also has dozens of tested franchises capable of sustaining its business (Valkyria Chronicles, Metaphor, Persona, LaD, Sonic, Bayonetta, Alien, Total War, PSO2, Border Break) something they didn't have before, the luck of a Sega console depended on Sonic, today if a Sonic is bad in sales there is Persona to cover.

x1059221399.1.jpg

Arcade board Sega Alls (Amusement Linkage Live System) a good design for a Sega console would be the middle ground between this case and the Saturn.
vertical console has no Sega DNA.


I've been observing the direction of the industry for a while now and it's undeniable that fans of Sega consoles have become more active in remembering the company's past failures. Yes, a new console is needed, we are alive, Sega is making a profit, they cannot want us to play Sega Genesis until the end, that is not the attitude of a company towards its fans.

If I may say so, it's worth it for Sega fans to protest in front of the company's headquarters to change this reality and draw the company's attention to our cause.

Yes, Atari went bankrupt but we can't compare it to Sega which has the Pachinko market to cover a possible flop. But honestly I doubt it will flop, it's impossible to sell less than 5 million year by year.
Personally I'd prefer they release a Dreamcast Mini console with the ability to download other DC games, like they did with the Genesis and Nintendo did with the NES and SNES.
 

SirTerry-T

Member
Atari has loads of die hard fans...but die hard fans are not going to be enough to bring another Dreamcast to life.
Sega blue runs through my veins but that ship has sailed, unfortunately.
 

Hookshot

Member
I had Sega consoles from the master system to the Dreamcast skipping the Saturn although friends had that and the game gear, I would not buy a new Sega console as I'd question the quality of the few games they did support it with.

The new Shinobi footage that leaked looked good but that alone isn't enough.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
Funnily enough, that's quite literally what the Zuck is doing with Meta's investments in VR. Other divisions are covering the cost. Building the future can be expensive, but someone has to do it.

But SEGA wouldn't be building the future, it would be literally rebuilding the past. They wouldn't be building electric cars, space traveling or augmented experiences, it's just building a console. Sketchy, I would say.
 

mdkirby

Gold Member
Not a fucking chance. Literally the only company capable of feasibly launching a new traditional console are tencent. They can afford to pay third party devs to do ports, and they can afford to finance and release (and have CCP on their side with bottomless pockets) a mountain of Chinese made originals, and arrange timed exclusives for many of the western games/studios they finance already.

No one else is in this sort of position….except ‘maybe’ the Saudi crown prince or Elon musk. SEGA attempting it would be financial suicide.
 

Holammer

Member
D6gXNRe.jpeg


Sega is a dead hardware brand today. Only way you'd see a new Sega branded console today is if they team up or get acquired by someone else and they shit out an Intellivision Amico style product. If they team up with someone, it's a not a relationship where they wear the pants. It's more of an EA horror show where they wear the old brand as a mask.

It was a very different time back when Sega was capable of producing arcade and console hardware AND games at a rapid fire rate.
 

snapdragon

Member
To make a console platform viable these days you need a player base approaching 100m.

If Microsoft want to get out of the business at 30m, why should Sega get back into it when their last two consoles only sold 9m?
Don't really agree with OP but you do not need anywhere close to 100 million unit sales/install base to make a system successful or profitable
 

poodaddy

Gold Member
Sega's killing it with software, and hardware is always a massive investment with an inevitable loss leading strategy for years, and with the price of modern components I don't see why Sega would ever do it. They have far, far more to lose than to gain.
 

Geometric-Crusher

"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
- Who’s developing, manufacturing and shipping the hardware?
there was an old rumor on a website that no longer exists.
the supposed insider said that the specs that Sega would be researching were ARM, a processor codenamed ''Sakura'' with many cores and the power of an i5 ''yve bridge'' . The ''rumor'' was focused on a console to challenge the ps4's successor.
well there is no Sega console challenging the PS5 but if there was it would be a 30fps console as the yve bridge cpu today pushes games at 30fps.
- How do they convince people to choose it over PS5/Switch/Xbox?
The first step is for them to let people know they are back. Let's wait for this Super Game, sooner or later SEGA will have to tell us what it is, if there is any hardware the window to make it public is from today until October 2025.
if the Super Game is a big nothing, we may go back into the shadows again.
 
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MarkMe2525

Gold Member
But SEGA wouldn't be building the future, it would be literally rebuilding the past. They wouldn't be building electric cars, space traveling or augmented experiences, it's just building a console. Sketchy, I would say.
Oh I wasn't suggesting it would be a good business model for Sega, just making an observation and pointing out the error in making such a blanket statement. Admittedly, the model described only works in niche and specific scenarios.
 
I don't think it would be hard for Sega to make some sort of streaming console where they could just sell their old back catalogue online, perhaps sell mobile tier games and the like, and even have arcade games on demand. Maybe they could develop a RiscV system with some kind of FPGA support chip?
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Unlike Atari, which made its return to consoles in 1993 after spending half a generation away from it, Sega has not yet made its return and many generations have passed.

However, Sega has something that Atari from 1993 never had, which is a legion of die-hard fans. Modern Sega also has dozens of tested franchises capable of sustaining its business (Valkyria Chronicles, Metaphor, Persona, LaD, Sonic, Bayonetta, Alien, Total War, PSO2, Border Break) something they didn't have before, the luck of a Sega console depended on Sonic, today if a Sonic is bad in sales there is Persona to cover.

x1059221399.1.jpg

Arcade board Sega Alls (Amusement Linkage Live System) a good design for a Sega console would be the middle ground between this case and the Saturn.
vertical console has no Sega DNA.


I've been observing the direction of the industry for a while now and it's undeniable that fans of Sega consoles have become more active in remembering the company's past failures. Yes, a new console is needed, we are alive, Sega is making a profit, they cannot want us to play Sega Genesis until the end, that is not the attitude of a company towards its fans.

If I may say so, it's worth it for Sega fans to protest in front of the company's headquarters to change this reality and draw the company's attention to our cause.

Yes, Atari went bankrupt but we can't compare it to Sega which has the Pachinko market to cover a possible flop. But honestly I doubt it will flop, it's impossible to sell less than 5 million year by year.
No
 

Impotaku

Member
It's amazing that Sega fans really can't let go it's like seeing kids wishing for santa at xmas. Sega is never coming back into the hardware realm the best you can hope for is another mini console or unrelated plug n play. Even getting them to release a saturn or DC mini would be a push, people always going on about the diehard fans but in the realworld they mean shit it's easy to talk about the glory days but sega needs people to buy stuff not just talk about it. MD mini was only created because it was cheap to do so, to even try to do their later consoles it would end up been so expensive they would take a hit as outside the bubble of fandom they will not sell enough to make it viable.

They are no longer in a position where they can throw away millions on hardware risks, they fucked up in the md era with pointless hardware additions and slowly paid the price which is why we only get games from them now.
 
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GermanZepp

Member
We are dozens.gif c'mon man we sega fans are in the boomer zone. My love for the dreamcast was real but Sega can't pull this one off 💔. I mean they couldn't back in the day when they were stronger.
 
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mrcroket

Member
Not only is it unfeasible for SEGA to be able to compete in today's hardware market, but there is also the issue of games developed by their in-house studios.

Especially Sonic Team and Sonic games, despite having a huge fandom, SEGA is unable to release quality Sonic games, being these always in a range between okay and bad.
 
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