Why did the Dreamcast fail?

[VideoGameCritic]

I was just thinking about how great the Dreamcast was and wondering why Sega gave up on it so fast.

It had cutting edge/hardware, comfortable controllers, and a kick-ass line up of games.  I don't think it was priced unreasonable.  I seem to remember it got off to a good start.  When I heard Sega was pulling the plug in 2001, I was beside myself.

I understand the Playstation 2 was a real juggernaut at the time, but so what if you're not the #1 console?  Seems to me that Nintendo did okay with the GameCube, even though it was considered the #3 console.  

Why do you think the Dreamcast failed?  And do you think Sega should have stuck with it longer?

[Cataclysm1]

Dreamcast failed because Sega ran out of money. It is the Saturn that killed Sega, not the Dreamcast. Sega's finances were on fire after the Saturn failure. Sega wanted to make one last console so they wouldn't leave the console space on such a bad note.

The only way Sega could stay in is if the Dreamcast sold like the Wii did. And that just wasn't possible.

[Leo1]

The reason they bailed on it was that Sega didn't have the money to continue. They were banking on a certain amount of systems to be sold in 2000 and they didn't come close to shipping the amount that they needed to continue. So they were forced to discontinue the platform in order to survive. As for why it happened, it's complicated and impossible to fully quantify. But I would have to think that the dominance of the Playstation, Sega's troubled past, and the promise of the Playstation 2 kept many potential customers away more than anything else. 

I don't think sticking with it much longer would've worked out well. But I think it's a shame that they didn't work harder to get 1st and 3rd party projects that were all but finished out onto store shelves for their millions of dedicated customers that had purchased their system. Shenmue II never made it to North America on the Dreamcast, Sega sat on several finished games that weren't released anywhere, the finished port of Half-Life was cancelled at the last minute by Sierra, etc. 

It seems inexcusable for a company that was still in business to just neglect millions of existing owners when there were finished games of high quality and of interest to their customers that could've made their way out at a minimum of cost and possibly even turned a profit. 

[Verm1]

The specs of the DC were considerably lower than the then upcoming PS2. The Game Cube comparatively, was slightly better, if not noticeably, than the PS2. The Wii was somewhat of an exception, but generally speaking, there hasn't ever been such a gap in the power of the top tier consoles of any generation. Though I may be forgetting an obvious console and which generation the WiiU is a part of is debated by many?

The DC also had a comparatively large focus on the sorts of arcade games that were going out of fashion (for instance, Crazy Taxi) in the mainstream, even if some (i.e many of the regulars here, who happen to be older gamers), like that sort of game.

Personally, I dislike the DC controllers and not just because the lead came out the front; to me the PS2 controllers were much more comfortable on the other hand were near perfect; IMO better than the PS3 controllers.

Also, to throw it out; SEGA's history; 'Insert 32X, Sega CD etc etc fiasco here'

[darkrage61]

Personally I never liked Sony's dualshock controllers, the button layout just feels really cramped and akward for me.  I heard piracy was also a major issue with the DC, supposedly that's why Shenmue failed to meet sales expecatations.  I dunno about the PS2 being better graphically though, IMO DC games like Sonic Adventure 2 look quite a bit better then many early PS2 games.

I heard Bernie Stolar was the guy who really steered Sega down the wrong path, he refused to allow many Japanese titles to be released for the Saturn(it took THREE years for Magic Nights Rayearth to get an American release, which ironically happened to be the LAST game ever released for the Saturn in the U.S.).

[Rev1]

From what I've heard it was basically a money situation after 3 failed consoles (CD, 32X, and Saturn). I was really sad to see the dreamcast fail because I absolutely loved the console. If Sega would have put a DVD player in the console and up the graphics slightly I think the console could have turned out even better. Still, with Sega's limited finances I don't even know if that was a possibility at that point.

[Gamehead1]

The Dreamcast failed simply because of bad timing (like the majority of Sega's failed hardware)

By the time the Dreamcast was released, Sega was on its last leg, and the Playstation was still the #1 system in terms of sales.

People sadly didn't trust Sega, because of all their hardware failures. They released so much hardware, that they looked like they didn't know what they were doing. By the time the Dreamcast was released, people might have bought the system at first, but left it for the PS2. 

 

That's a shame, because the Dreamcast is better then the PS2 in my opinion. It might not play DVD's, but it has so many great games.

[Weekend_Warrior1]

Sega ceased production of the Dreamcast when they realized that they had more DC's stocked up in warehouses than they had in total sale units. And when sales numbers dropped further after release of the PS2 in North America, production was ended altogether. 

[Captain_Crunch1]

I think it failed because people lost confidence in Sega at that point - at least I had back then. I had paid a lot of money for the Sega 32X, that was abandoned very soon after. Then, still loving Sega, I picked a Saturn, but that wasn't a success either. Looking backwards, the Dreamcast was a great console, but back then I just hadn't the confidence Sega could pull it off again...

[VideoGameCritic]

I totally forgot about the DVD player.  I think just as many people bought it for that as they did the games.  And it wasn't much different with the Blu Ray format.