What if SEGA came back with an all physical console?

Only if it was being made by Tommy Tallarico.
 
Every Day GIF by PBS
 
I wonder if a cheap console that targets gen6-like graphics would be something that could get a small, but big enough playerbase.

if Sega made a small console, calls it the Dreamcast 2, only sells games on DVD (yes, DVD not bluray), targets graphics at around GameCube level at 60fps and 1080p (maybe even require 1080p 60fps across the board), have DC compatibility through a home made emulator... and maybe launch with sequels to some classic Dreamcast games...
I think that could be a minor success tbh.

it would essentially take the concept of the Evercade, but for Gen6 games. (The Evercade can only handle stuff up to gen5)
 
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It would be dead faster than the Dreamcast.
wrong

Sega in the Dreamcast era had no money
no franchise capable of selling millions
and had two failures under its belt: the Saturn and the 32x.
Sega had a civil war
Sega faced a situation where Square, Konami and Namco gave Sony for free what Microsoft only got by buying Activision.
Sega had some of the most intellectually limited devs in the industry.


The current Sega has franchises capable of selling millions.
The current Sega is a unified company And it's been 20 years; any criticism of Sega is meaningless to Generation Z
No game from any publisher will be denied to Sega, and best of all, Hideki Sato is not part of this new Sega, no single man has harmed Sega more than this guy
 
Unless that Sega console had some noticeable and genuine exclusives, I feel it would be pointless unfortunately especially since there will most likely be nothing to set it apart from other consoles. Sega has a decent amount of fairly popular franchises, but would they be enough to sell the hardware IF they stay exclusive?
 
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Nah, there is no value to Sega bringing back hardware that would do anything in the market, and physical unfortunately is fading from the market that will only sustain as some vinyl collector's market.

All I want to see comeback is Sega having the same creative mentality to make weird games like Jet Grind Radio/Space Channel 5, or pumping out great arcade-style games on hardware people already own.

I want another Skies of Arcadia as well, Valkyrie Chronicles putting some characters in just feels like a tease.
 
While physical game media is being dropped/phased out, do you think there is scope for someone like SEGA to come back from the dead, offering only physical releases? The hardware would be nothing crazy but good enough to play any SEGA/Arcade games, plus whatever else they could licence, while being adjusted for modern TV screens. Think a beefier Evercade type experience.

Would you buy one for $199? I sure as hell would.
yes.gif

Even at 499$ =D
 
Why do people keep suggesting this, it's like they want Sega to finally die.

They've been saved several times, just be happy you still have a Sega that even remotely resembles what came before it. Entering Hardware without some Middle East benefactor who loves Sega, is company suicide.

They can't or won't even entertain a mini Saturn or Dreamcast. Maybe I'm crazy but I think there is a market for a re-release in mini form, with games or collections in physical media of some sort. Imagine an N64 with baby cartridges, key chain carts.
 
why not ?
Because they would lose money hand over fist. They're in a position where the games they release are enough for them to make money. As Microsoft has shown, the hardware business is a boat anchor if you don't know what you're doing.

We can already play Sega's games on the other consoles. Why would anyone want to have to spend more money for the same games?
 
People underestimate the amount of resources it takes to launch a competitive console nowadays. Sega would need to restructure and invest into first-party, it would need to rebuild all the supply chains, support, operations, etc. It would need to rebuild and invest into R&D that does the software development tools and that provides developer support. It would invest into their PR department to establish external dev relations. It would need to invest into teams that do marketing deals and hardware marketing. It would need to hire people that do relations with stores and other sellers that could have shelf space for their hardware.

And that doesn't even include going against Nintendo and Sony, which is also a very significant thing Sega had to deal with.
 
Nah, there is no value to Sega bringing back hardware that would do anything in the market, and physical unfortunately is fading from the market that will only sustain as some vinyl collector's market.

All I want to see comeback is Sega having the same creative mentality to make weird games like Jet Grind Radio/Space Channel 5, or pumping out great arcade-style games on hardware people already own.

I want another Skies of Arcadia as well, Valkyrie Chronicles putting some characters in just feels like a tease.

The prospect of Virtua Fighter 6 releasing on the same day on every platform complete with rollback excites me.
 
Because they would lose money hand over fist.
they would only lose money if the console flops
They're in a position where the games they release are enough for them to make money. As Microsoft has shown, the hardware business is a boat anchor if you don't know what you're doing.
Sega once said that surpassing 30 million units would be a success, however, for Microsoft to sell 30 million is to lose money, this is because the Xbox division has become too big for so few sales. They are different businesses and interests.
We can already play Sega's games on the other consoles. Why would anyone want to have to spend more money for the same games?
For the same reason Hudson Soft made a lot of money making games for the NES and decided to make their own console, for the same reason people bought this Hudson console called the PC-Engine.
 
they would only lose money if the console flops

Sega once said that surpassing 30 million units would be a success, however, for Microsoft to sell 30 million is to lose money, this is because the Xbox division has become too big for so few sales. They are different businesses and interests.

For the same reason Hudson Soft made a lot of money making games for the NES and decided to make their own console, for the same reason people bought this Hudson console called the PC-Engine.

The console business is about taking a 30% cut from each copy of a game sold.

If you only have a platform with 30 million customers then it's not enough to cover costs.
 
People underestimate the amount of resources it takes to launch a competitive console nowadays. Sega would need to restructure and invest into first-party, it would need to rebuild all the supply chains, support, operations, etc. It would need to rebuild and invest into R&D that does the software development tools and that provides developer support. It would invest into their PR department to establish external dev relations. It would need to invest into teams that do marketing deals and hardware marketing. It would need to hire people that do relations with stores and other sellers that could have shelf space for their hardware.

And that doesn't even include going against Nintendo and Sony, which is also a very significant thing Sega had to deal with.
Your objections aren't really objections; all of this is very easy for a company like Sega. The only difficult part about launching a console is getting a willing audience to buy it.

Sega sold 8 million Persona 5s. If Persona 6 were made exclusive, probably 4 million of those fans would buy the console. However, the success of any console requires 3 to 7 million units sold per year. That's the real challenge.
 
Your objections aren't really objections; all of this is very easy for a company like Sega. The only difficult part about launching a console is getting a willing audience to buy it.

Sega sold 8 million Persona 5s. If Persona 6 were made exclusive, probably 4 million of those fans would buy the console. However, the success of any console requires 3 to 7 million units sold per year. That's the real challenge.

Last time Sega tried, they failed, they lost money hand over fist for a pretty decent console. with award winning games. This is including having $695M gifted from a dying founder to keep them afloat.

Sega / Sammy does not have the capital to even start a console now, support the r&d and compete. Things are different now. You mentioned Hudson, they needed NEC one of the premiere hardware PC manufacturers of the 80's in Japan just to fail.

Have a look at how much Sony is worth compared to Sega Sammy. The money needed now to get a console off the ground is astronomically more than it was in the 80's or even early 90's.

It doesn't matter if the console was a success, the hard cold truth is - they don't have enough to even launch one. As I joked, unless some rich Middle eastern backer appears.

Hardly easy for a company like Sega, who had maybe one successful console in 1989, and even that is debatable.
 
I don't think they have the money to do it, though. They'd need to accumulate more debt and essentially would have to bet the company on it.
How much do you think it cost to launch a console (ps6, switch 2 like) on the market?
 
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Last time Sega tried, they failed, they lost money hand over fist for a pretty decent console. with award winning games. This is including having $695M gifted from a dying founder to keep them afloat.

Sega / Sammy does not have the capital to even start a console now, support the r&d and compete. Things are different now. You mentioned Hudson, they needed NEC one of the premiere hardware PC manufacturers of the 80's in Japan just to fail.

Have a look at how much Sony is worth compared to Sega Sammy. The money needed now to get a console off the ground is astronomically more than it was in the 80's or even early 90's.

It doesn't matter if the console was a success, the hard cold truth is - they don't have enough to even launch one. As I joked, unless some rich Middle eastern backer appears.

Hardly easy for a company like Sega, who had maybe one successful console in 1989, and even that is debatable.

Nintendo had to team up with Mattell in order to get a start in the US.

Sega had to team up with Mastertronic in order to get a start in the UK.

This stuff is really hard to do, and now you need online infrastructure to go along with it.
 
I heard the number of 1 billion around during the PS360 era. So maybe it's even more now.
Exactly between 700,000 and 1 billion. This money isn't spent all at once; profits from initial sales are reinvested or generate new orders until a break-even point is reached. Ultimately, it all comes down to game sales, which is why having a franchise like Persona is important. Previously, Sega only had one major franchise, but now they have four major games. Sega is investing 1.5 billion to grow the company, and soon all this investment will materialize in the form of a product.
 
I would rather they worked with Microsoft to bring Dreamcast and Saturn compatability to the Xbox, and release their back catalogue on there.
A retro themed PC was tried with the 2020 Atari box. It failed and there is little to no market for it.
 
Exactly between 700,000 and 1 billion. This money isn't spent all at once; profits from initial sales are reinvested or generate new orders until a break-even point is reached. Ultimately, it all comes down to game sales, which is why having a franchise like Persona is important. Previously, Sega only had one major franchise, but now they have four major games. Sega is investing 1.5 billion to grow the company, and soon all this investment will materialize in the form of a product.

Do you have a list of best selling Sega games of all time?

The fact that they have 4 big franchises now is mostly down to being multiplatform.
 
A Sega branded xbox console since xbox are apparently going to be licensing their shit to 3rd parties could be an interesting novelty I guess, but I guess I wouldn't see the point really.
 
Sega is not big enough to make a console to compete with Sony or Nintendo at this point. It would have to be a mega corporation willing to lose billions just for market share, like Apple, Google, or Samsung.
 
While physical game media is being dropped/phased out, do you think there is scope for someone like SEGA to come back from the dead, offering only physical releases? The hardware would be nothing crazy but good enough to play any SEGA/Arcade games, plus whatever else they could licence, while being adjusted for modern TV screens. Think a beefier Evercade type experience.

Would you buy one for $199? I sure as hell would.

It would be smarter for Sega to simply license its brand to the likes of Evercade who then build a Sega branded system that runs Evercade titles. There's nothing stopping Evercade from using a higher end chip inside it and add a port for old Sega controllers.

For those who want to play original carts you have the whole FPGA scene.

There is no reason for Sega to be in the hardware business, the costs aren't worth the revenue for a company of its size.
 
Do you have a list of best selling Sega games of all time?

The fact that they have 4 big franchises now is mostly down to being multiplatform.
Sega's biggest franchise is Sonic.
Sonic 2 sold 6 million units on the Sega Genesis. Before the Sonic franchise, no Sega game had sold as many copies.
without the strength of this franchise during the 5th generation, the company had no game capable of boosting sales.
After 25 years, Sega is mainstream again, Persona, Sonic, Football Manager even Sonic racing , these franchises that allow Sega to bring Skies of Arcadia and VF6 to life.
The console business is about taking a 30% cut from each copy of a game sold.

If you only have a platform with 30 million customers then it's not enough to cover costs.
and 100% when it comes to first-party games. Don't be fooled, other companies don't make their own consoles because tradition is essential.
 
Exactly between 700,000 and 1 billion. This money isn't spent all at once; profits from initial sales are reinvested or generate new orders until a break-even point is reached. Ultimately, it all comes down to game sales, which is why having a franchise like Persona is important. Previously, Sega only had one major franchise, but now they have four major games. Sega is investing 1.5 billion to grow the company, and soon all this investment will materialize in the form of a product.
Nah, I think nowadays it's probably more between 3 - 4 billion, at best. And again, Sega would realign their first-party strategy. Could they do it? Sure. Would they need to bet the company on it? Yes.

The CEO would need to convince the board of directors at SegaSammy to make that happen, tho.
 
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Nah, I think nowadays it's probably more between 3 - 4 billion, at best.
No, it depends on the scope of the project.
A console takes 5 years to develop, including:

x- the hardware itself

Y-the initial games

z-the marketing strategy

Any additional increase in development costs comes from increased spending on marketing campaigns, the scope of the games, or the initial print run of the console, already including the subsidy.

The only real risk is that the company produces 1 million units believing they will sell out in a day, but sales don't occur. So, the second batch of consoles is delivered with 2 million consoles plus the units from the previous batch. At that point, the CEO orders a reduction in future deliveries because the strategy failed. Therefore, this is why Sony spends 3 billion on its consoles. Its marketing budget is huge, while Nintendo spends much less. Believe me, Sega could easily launch and support a low-tech console like the Switch 2. Just because Nintendo costs as much as Sony doesn't mean its projects are expensive. This is a common mistake in the comments on this thread.
The CEO would need to convince the board of directors at SegaSammy to make that happen, tho.
This has already happened, every console that exists, previously existed in the company's laboratories. PS6 already exists for Mark Cerny ok
the Super Game is something that Sega started making 6 years ago, the initial games may have been spoiled, hell they even spoiled Segata Sanshiro's son, the poster boy. Soon they will reveal whether the Super Game is a console or not.
 
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They can be brought back on any current system though.
While true, it wouldn't be the same, lol. Plus, if they had the ability to do hardware, they'd surely have more money for development. Right now, we're not seeing a whole lot of that. Though it's SUPPOSED to change with them releasing remakes of older games. But we'll see.
 
No, it depends on the scope of the project.
A console takes 5 years to develop, including:

x- the hardware itself

Y-the initial games

z-the marketing strategy

Any additional increase in development costs comes from increased spending on marketing campaigns, the scope of the games, or the initial print run of the console, already including the subsidy.

The only real risk is that the company produces 1 million units believing they will sell out in a day, but sales don't occur. So, the second batch of consoles is delivered with 2 million consoles plus the units from the previous batch. At that point, the CEO orders a reduction in future deliveries because the strategy failed. Therefore, this is why Sony spends 3 billion on its consoles. Its marketing budget is huge, while Nintendo spends much less. Believe me, Sega could easily launch and support a low-tech console like the Switch 2. Just because Nintendo costs as much as Sony doesn't mean its projects are expensive. This is a common mistake in the comments on this thread.

This has already happened, every console that exists, previously existed in the company's laboratories. PS6 already exists for Mark Cerny ok
the Super Game is something that Sega started making 6 years ago, the initial games may have been spoiled, hell they even spoiled Segata Sanshiro's son, the poster boy. Soon they will reveal whether the Super Game is a console or not.
I don't think Switch 2 is a low-tech console. It is actually fairly modern under the hood. It's just that it does not have the raw power that the PS5 has for obvious reasons. But I don't think the R&D for Switch 2 was cheap.

But it seems that we disagree whether Sega could/should pull it off. I think their current strategy serves them pretty well and there's no real gain for them by trying to be a console manufacturer again.
 
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