Dream(cast) Scenario:
Sega releases a powerful handheld console - the most powerful on the market - and does so at a competitive price point.
This "Dreamcast 2" appeals to gamers who want more traditional games. It has a focus on "AA" titles, and there's an initiative for creatives to bring weird, quirky games to the platform. SEGA becomes the home of the games of yesteryear, where new games shoot for a HD-PS2 sort of look (and there's something to said for PS2 games upscaled to high resolutions - they can look incredible, even today), using art assets that don't take hundreds of millions of dollars to create.
Because online games usually shoot for low system requirements anyway, there's plenty of room on the console for mainstream online games, too, like Fortnite (gag me with a f'ing spoon, man), so that casuals aren't left out in the cold, but also can be courted to try something with a different flavor occasionally.
No game pass nonsense. Games priced at 50 bucks across the board, sometimes even lower. SEGA puts a "classics" catalogue on the console - great old games played using emulation. You buy 'em once at a reasonable price (10-20 bucks each) and keep 'em forever. Shocking, innit? Dreamcast favorites like Blue Stinger, Shenmue, Powerstone, etc, each one tweaked to work flawlessly on the console, while being upscaled to a 800p/1080p handheld screen with good colors and maybe even 60fps when possible. Other consoles might be represented, too, depending on how well SEGA can navigate the perils of licensing agreements. All of these classics reasonably priced and purchasable, no subscription needed, right from a reputable storefront with a history steeped in nostalgia. No subscription needed, or even offered.
And because even a Steam Deck can handle modern games reasonably well, there's no reason that studios can't support this theoretical console. I mean, there's a lot of support for the Steam Deck right now, because it has a respectable install base. If it uses similar architecture, it wouldn't be terribly hard to get a lot of great PC games running in "console mode" right there on our Dreamcast 2. It's not like the old days where a port from one console to the other was a huge deal.
Persona is a console exclusive now. Because.
This'll happen. I promise.
