Will Sega Ever Release Another Console?

[matmico399]

Making this short and sweet. But outside of Sony Sega made most of my other fave consoles. I have never been a huge Nintendo or Microsoft fan, outside of the NES, GameCube and 360. I hope but I don't think so. I don't think they have the capital anymore. Your thoughts?

[eneuman96]

Since Sega is a third party now, I'm fairly certain that releasing a new console and thus putting them in direct opposition of the companies whose consoles they currently publish games on would be a bad business strategy for them. People have difficulty choosing between three systems (and a fair amount of people pretend there are only two, ignoring Nintendo entirely), let alone four.

[rockofhysteria]

Making this short and sweet. But outside of Sony Sega made most of my other fave consoles. I have never been a huge Nintendo or Microsoft fan, outside of the NES, GameCube and 360. I hope but I don't think so. I don't think they have the capital anymore. Your thoughts?

I don't think Sega is dumb enough to get back into the Hardware business again. After what happened with the Saturn and the Dreamcast I think they know better now it's much better for them business wise to just make games for all consoles now.

[scotland]

Mmmmm.....could be.

'Ever' is a long time, and what a 'console' is a moving target.

I am not suggesting Sega trying to compete head to head with Sony, Microsoft or even Nintendo in this generation in trying to make a unique console. That is a huge amount of R&D, marketing, fighting the economies of scale of large run manufacturing, agreements with retailers, etc. It would jeopardize their existing relationships, and put the company at risk of complete erasure.

However, here are 10 thoughts of how Sega could re-enter the console market:

1. The Telegames / Android Model - This has been part of the console market since Sears was making telegames versions of super pong and the atari 2600. A console can be made by more than one manufacturer. Each is compatible, but may have different features, controllers, appearance, pack in games, etc. Consider a Sega branded version of another company's console? The more modern approach is less common hardware, but just common operating systems. We see many products use Android OS - imagine a Sega console that runs Windows 10? Could that work?

2. Sega the Reanimator - Imagine a situation where Sega buys unsold stock and all the rights to a recently deceased console. They decide to lobby retailers to give them 1 year or so of shelf space. They double brand the console with both old and new names, and put out some new games. Would it work? Maybe not for the soon to be dead WiiU, but given consoles like the XB360 did fine for years after the XB1, to be sort of the used car dealer of consoles may have legs.

3. Retro Consoles - If Nintendo can make hype with the fixed 30 8 bit games Mini NES with HDMI out, why not Sega with a Mini Genny, or Mini Dreamcast with a slate of built in games and HDMI out? Its a way to leverage their name and catalog before they pass by the nostalgia waves. They could even make SD like multiple game cartridges for it. Imagine a cartridge based Dreamcast with both old games and new games from the homebrew community or Sega itself. House of the Dead rises again!

4. Go large and Find a partner - Deeper pocket companies like Google, Valve, Nvidia and Apple might be able to swim in the same water as the others. Sega has its name, some vestige of being cooler than Nintendo but still kinda family friendly, their back catalog, a certain hedgehog and friends, etc. They would be a junior partner, or a wholly owned subsidiary, but they would be there. An extreme case is just sell out completely to MS, Sony or even Nintendo, but with those companies using the Sega brand in addition to their own.

5. Go Small - Play the minor leagues instead. Make a console half the price of the others, and don't compete with the bigs but tailor the pitch as being everyone's second console. The kids consoles, or the vacation console or the basement console or something. Even if all you have are a few killer apps with the Sega tie-in, the Wii showed that a few good games might be enough to move a console. With going small you can take big risks. Investigate if upgraded motion controls might still have a place, or simpler throwback controllers without the learning curve of analog sticks for casual gamers. Be the little brother of gaming.

6. Go where others fear to tread demographically - Be the educational console, like Vtech. Sonic goes to Sesame Street. Partner with Mattel, of Intellivision days, and make a Barbie or Monster High console for young girls. Make a GI Joe console or Transformers console for young boys. Alternatively, bank older. Get Chuck Woolery to pitch it to older folks - the console with the empty jar guarantee. Beyond young or old, what about other groups. Think nontraditional. For instance, do different ethnicities or racial groups want something different? Just like there are lots of television stations that tailor to different demographics, why not consoles.

7. Go where others fear to tread technologically - The big companies don't want to risk too much in a technology that takes too long to catch on, or is a short term fad, or never catches on at all. Let some other company dip their toe into untested waters. Sega could try that, but its risky. Too late to be that for VR, but there is always something new coming. Holographic gaming maybe, or hallucinogenic gaming, who knows. Its probably only going to lead to being gobbled up shortly thereafter though. (Hallucinogenic gaming....let me put that in my pipe and smoke on it for awhile)

8. Go where others fear to tread geographically - Remember how long Brazil made Sega consoles because of their politics? Remember all the Russian and Chinese famiclones of the 80s? Maybe Sega does something like that intentionally. Maybe there are markets the big players are ignoring or not aggressively competing in, or have little internet connection, or run by a council of scary people. Thats opportunity, baby. Sure, its not the high rent district, but its a district. Sega, the loanshark of gaming.

9. Pray for Mana from Heaven - Maybe a billionaire Sega fan dies and leaves the company a windfall. Maybe a Phantasy Star movie becomes the next Star Wars franchise, etc. Anything could happen.

10. Technology Gets Cheaper - ENIAC filled a Giant room once. Technology is crazy. Remember early LED calculators? At one time in tne 1970s, a calculator was a major purchase. A few big companies competed. As time went one they became so cheap and last so long its hard to see how making them is even a sustainable business. The future is never quite like we think its going to be.

[twilighthotel]

Don't know but they shouldn't considering they are not exactly setting the world on fire with their current crop of third party games. They ought to worry about developing more consistent games before a console, especially since such a console would need better games than what they have been producing IMO.

[BanjoPickles]

I like the idea of Sega releasing a non-competitive console on the cheap! The majority of their franchises don't rely on cutting edge technology, and enough people still buy Sonic to make it somewhat of a killer app for the system.

Rewind the clock to 1989. They had next to no third party support, so they adopted the strategy of creating their own viable franchises. They could do it again, though I'm certain that they won't.

[Sut]

I'm a massive Sega fan but Sincerely hope they don't rejoin the arms race.

I would LOVE them to make a flashback style console, not for the Genesis/MegaDrive, Dreamcast or Saturn but for their arcade games.

Imagine Out Runners, Revenge of Death Adder, Planet Harriers from a console hooked up via HDMI. Awesome.

I actually think their third party quality has increased over last couple of years and I'm really looking forward to Sonic Mania.

[tortimer]

I like the idea of Sega as a developer that makes quality third-party titles while leveraging their back catalog in innovative ways. It might be time for them to begin looking beyond Sonic the Hedghog to expand their portfolio a bit (although this could be happening already and I'm not well enough on top of it).

Number (7) made me think of that holographic arcade game from the early nineties, the one that used live action footage in a kind of Dragon's Lair manner only you played a hapless time-traveling sheriff.

If we're talking about the little brother of consoles maybe something like a low-cost retro handheld with pack-in titles and some additional premium titles available separately as mini carts (complete with case and full color manual with making-of tidbits, concept art and that sort of thing).

[VideoGameCritic]

Sony and Microsoft have been tripping over themselves to push the limits of console hardware, and to what end? Sure the graphics look great, but playing these games is a miserable experience, thanks to buggy games, constant updates, mandatory installations, online requirements, etc.

I'm hoping that the new Nintendo systems (classic and switch) will start a "scaling down" movement. I suspect they will both be a runaway success, forcing the industry to reconsider their current "bigger is better" strategy. This could give Sega an opening. I think people would buy a console predicated on fun even if it was dwarfed by the PS4 specs.

[matmico399]

I agree with You 100% Critic. The first and eighth gen are the only ones I don't have consoles for. I got an XBox One and returned it as there was just way too much downloading and updating. I want to play, not stare at download screens. I've heard the PS4 is better, so I'm waiting for it to drop in price.

I agree that I want games to be simpler again as well. Tremendous graphics and huge worlds doesn't equate to automatic fun. The 4th and 6th gen to me were the best. I also enjoy the 2nd and 7th a lot as well. The Switch I hope really succeeds.