Anniversary 25 Years Ago Today, Sega Killed The Saturn

Still a shame looking back, that some level of support couldn’t be continued (at least localisations of Japanese releases).

they never really capitalized on the fact that saturn (also all of their other consoles) was THE console for 2d games, and arcade ports. its not even close.

when sega killed the DC, that whole wing of gaming just folded completely, quickly to be replaced by "PC style gaming" in the console world. ☠️

RIP sega, you were great, you had a purpose, and you were good at what you did.

The Saturn era was interesting, probably the worst of times for Sega's home console market, but probably the best of times for their arcade machines. Sadly we never saw enough cross-over, but some of it has been timeless. It's failure really goes down to all the drama between Sega of America and Sega of Japan during the time. That's probably why it sold so much better in Japan, and why the Dreamcast was pretty much an all-Japanese console. I think Sega of America really did an amazing job with the Genesis, but they really messed up after.

@Hikingguy Yeah I remember how the Saturn felt like a brief blip on the radar as far as the American gaming market went. In the mid-90's the Genesis and SNES was still going strong, and by the time everyone started getting PS1's and N64's the Saturn was already on it's way out and nobody really wanted one or even seemed to remember it existed. Then the Dreamcast came out, a distinctly millennium era console that got a lot more attention, but sadly not enough to keep Sega afloat.

@Hikingguy Sounds like you got the revised history take from the guy who sank Sega of America. He's become notorious for that, even though I love what he did during the Genesis years, there is no doubt that he made some very bone-headed decisions as they were entering the mid-90's. For starters the 32X was pretty much entirely his idea and a Sega of America undertaking, so whoever told you it was all Sega of Japan was lying.

The story goes that since he was such a big Sega Genesis guy, and since the Sega Genesis was so big in America, he thought it would have been a good idea to come out with an upgrade for the Genesis as opposed to releasing a new console. Meanwhile Sega of Japan was busy working on the Saturn, and they had no interest in trying to extend the Mega Drive since it wasn't nearly as big of a hit in Japan, but the two had very poor communication. It's why the Saturn released shortly after the 32X, and also why the Saturn had such a bad launch in the US. It's also why the Saturn was such a success for Sega in Japan. Basically Sega of America was still trying to push the 32X in the west while the Saturn was trying to launch, so that sorta messed everything up. It wasn't an issue in Japan however, where the Saturn was properly supported from day one.

Now one area where you could probably lay blame on Sega of Japan is the death of Sonic Extreme, because Sega Team over there was pretty much opposed to the game and allegedly went out of their way to eventually sabotage it. It's kinda crazy just how dysfunctional the two branches of Sega were during that whole mid-90's era, and you can tell some of the big figures from back then still have issues with how everything went down.

@Hikingguy Yeah Tom! That's the guy! I definitely have a love hate relationship with the guy, and he has a reputation for bending and twisting the truth regarding his past history with Sega. There's been numerous high ranking company men from the Japanese side who have told their side of the story (where I got my info), so I'm inclined to believe them as well, but that's probably hard to reference in the west as it's usually been found in Japanese journalism and books, but I've heard translations. As they say, there's always two sides to every story.

I think the truth is probably a blend of both sides. Sega of America had their agenda, and Sega of Japan had theirs. It's just kinda funny how both sides are trying to pass off the blame for the 32X, but despite that there is no denying how Sega of America was the only one to truly embrace it for a while.

@Hikingguy Yeah it's like although I don't like what happened with either branch of Sega during that mid-90's period, I have to agree that Tom had some great ideas during his run at SOA and there was definitely some logic in his attempt to keep the Genesis alive. I mean he was essentially the #1 reason Sega became such a hit with that console in the first place. It's just as time went on, I think he just wasn't very good at coming up with the next big thing. It's like he tried, but he ultimately failed and it's a hard thing to admit, especially when there was a lot of fighting with SOJ that held SOA back during the Saturn years, so I can understand the frustration he must have had. That and Sony came out strong with none of that drama, so it pretty much eliminated Sega from contention.

I mean that's just Sega during the mid-90's, at least when it came to their home console market in the west. Just a dysfunctional mess, looking back it's a miracle how Sega managed to make somewhat of a comeback with the Dreamcast, even though it ultimately proved to be too little too late. I think their arcade business kept them going during the years between the Saturn and Dreamcast, because I remember them having some great machines in arcades back then.