Dreamcast was selling 100,000 units a day but wasn't enough to take on PS2's launch

[Zeus]

Former Xbox boss and now EA Sports head honcho, Peter Moore has revealed the ins and outs of his glittering career and looks back to the Dreamcast. He revealed that SEGA really thought they could succeed, but they needed absolutely huge sales to just sustain the Dreamcast business and simply couldn't compete with the PS2. Surprisingly he admits that he had the final say on whether to pull the plug on the Dreamcast - "so on January 31 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware – somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day."


We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire – we really thought that we could do it. But then we had a target from Japan that said – and I can't remember the exact figures – but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn't sustain the business.

So on January 31 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware – somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day.

We were selling 50,000 units a day, then 60,000, then 100,000, but it was just not going to be enough to get the critical mass to take on the launch of PS2. It was a big stakes game. Sega had the option of pouring in more money and going bankrupt and they decided they wanted to live to fight another day. So we licked our wounds, ate some humble pie and went to Sony and Nintendo to ask for dev kits.

Actually, the only company that ever called was Microsoft and that became my link with the company, because of the respect I had for Robbie Bach. Xbox had launched, I was onstage with Robbie, I was the only third-party who'd go on stage with Microsoft at E3 - at that time people were saying Microsoft couldn't get it done, but I believed they could, because I believed in online. I always thought that online was going to be the key. And the line I came up with was, 'we're taking games where gaming is going'. Everybody laughed because we had Seganet going with just 50,000 people online… but I always think Dreamcast was the precursor to the next-gen consoles, because we then brought out a broadband adaptor – remember playing Quake 3 through Broadband? Only 5% of people had broadband in those days – it sounds like it was a hundred years ago, but it was 2001!


News Source: <A href="http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31763/Peter-Moore-I-killed-the-Dreamcast" target="_blank">MCVUK</a>

[MaxSay]

i have strong feeling this guy is the ONLY person responsible for the never ending xbox360 RROD problem & he will admit to it one day.

[maxRus]

I loved my dreamcast! I bought it Jan 2000. I still have my dreamcast hooked up to my TV. The only problem I saw when I would go to Gamestop/EB, The Employees would be saying to the customers to wait for the PS2! Its going to be better!!!! even when I bought mine in Janurary 2000. Then when the Ps2 was sold out, Gamestop|EB were not selling any dreamcasts. I remember them trying to push dreamcasts to customers around the time the ps2 came out. Thats what they get! The Ps2 launch sucked too. Well That strategy diddnt work this time around for SONY. the PS3 simply Sucks. If it was Hacked easily everybody would be buying one. I had a PS3 when it came out, and had to sell it to fix my car. I dont regret it. It was either my 360 or the PS3. I am thinking about buying another PS3 though. Now thats its cheaper. might wait for the next Price drop. I need a blu-ray player for my bedroom so might as well buy the one that doubles as a console.



ANYWAYS Ill always have a soft spot for the dreamcast.

[ledah_ein]

I loved my dreamcast! I bought it Jan 2000. I still have my dreamcast hooked up to my TV. The only problem I saw when I would go to Gamestop/EB, The Employees would be saying to the customers to wait for the PS2! Its going to be better!!!! even when I bought mine in Janurary 2000. Then when the Ps2 was sold out, Gamestop|EB were not selling any dreamcasts. I remember them trying to push dreamcasts to customers around the time the ps2 came out. Thats what they get! The Ps2 launch sucked too. Well That strategy diddnt work this time around for SONY. the PS3 simply Sucks. If it was Hacked easily everybody would be buying one. I had a PS3 when it came out, and had to sell it to fix my car. I dont regret it. It was either my 360 or the PS3. I am thinking about buying another PS3 though. Now thats its cheaper. might wait for the next Price drop. I need a blu-ray player for my bedroom so might as well buy the one that doubles as a console.



ANYWAYS Ill always have a soft spot for the dreamcast.

not quite sure where the whole PS3 and 360 thing fit into the story lol

[Negative_Ocelot]

I wonder if we'll ever see a Dreamcast 2? Let's have Sega team up with Nintendo to create the next console. You could have Sonic and Mario exclusive to one console and hopefully Sega and Nintendo could get that powerful lineup of fighting and RPG titles that the original Dreamcast had.

Now THAT would be a great thing!

[crypysmoker]

I was so dissapointed when I heard they stopped developing for dreamcast.

It was so far ahead of its time. The first online console. But, the whole being able to just download and burn out games with no mods killed all the game development for it just like what is happening to the PSP now.

Anyway, I still have a spool of discs, and my 4 year old son plays Sonic adventure everyday on one of them.

Dreamcast 2 will be years off when a much smarter person/company gets the sega /dreamcast license and Makes it all better :)

[Social-Zero]

Bring Sega and Nintendo together? No thanks. Can't imagine the crapgames coming out of that one. Sonic Team have been messing up game after game for years now

[MadMax31]

That was a great console :(

I still remember the great times I had with Resident Evil CV and Soul Calibur to name a few...

[KainXS]

I was so dissapointed when I heard they stopped developing for dreamcast.

It was so far ahead of its time. The first online console. But, the whole being able to just download and burn out games with no mods killed all the game development for it just like what is happening to the PSP now.

Anyway, I still have a spool of discs, and my 4 year old son plays Sonic adventure everyday on one of them.

Dreamcast 2 will be years off when a much smarter person/company gets the sega /dreamcast license and Makes it all better :)

i agree dreamcast was a good console, jet grind radio is still one of the best games i've ever played, the xbox version wasn't even close to the dc version

[siyrobbo]

100,000 units a day? surely thats a mistake? that means 3 million a month, even the wii doesnt sell that many!!

[QrafTee]

100,000 units a day? surely thats a mistake? that means 3 million a month, even the wii doesnt sell that many!!

Peter Moore likes to exaggerate... and it possibly could've been true for like 2-3 days.

[sigma8]

Well That strategy diddnt work this time around for SONY. the PS3 simply Sucks. If it was Hacked easily everybody would be buying one.

Hackers buying consoles that the manufacturer is selling at a loss is NOT going to help the manufacturer.

If you buy a PS3, that's like -$200 for Sony. Then if you mod it and pirate all your games, you leave Sony $200 in debt. "To hell with you", says Sony. If they sold 10 million PS3's and nobody bought any games, they'd go out of business.

From Sony's point of view, they'd be better off if you stole the console, but then bought all your games legitimately. They're already losing on legal console sales, so they'd just lose a bit more if you stole one. As long as your kept buying games, they'd eventually recuperate their losses (although you'd probably have to buy quite a few), and maybe even turn a profit.

This can't be proven conclusively one way or the other, but it might be the fault of people like you that the Dreamcast died out.

[sigma8]

i agree dreamcast was a good console, jet grind radio is still one of the best games i've ever played, the xbox version wasn't even close to the dc version

Yeah, seriously. What was up with that? I remember being horridly disappointed with JSRF. It was still cel-shaded, still on skates, yet sucked in comparison. I never bothered playing it enough to put a finger on why.

I recently hooked my DC back up! It's giving me scares too, because the controller port #1 seems to be a bit dodgy, and my Shenmue disc wasn't being read until I wiped it clean (but it didn't look dirty beforehand). I'm going to be sad if/when it totally dies :(

I want to at least beat Shenmue I and II (imported #2)

My problem with Shenmue is that it can be a little dull, and I frequently get halfway through December and then something else gets my attention and I shelve my Shenmue progress.

[someoldguy]

Hackers buying consoles that the manufacturer is selling at a loss is NOT going to help the manufacturer.

If you buy a PS3, that's like -$200 for Sony. Then if you mod it and pirate all your games, you leave Sony $200 in debt. "To hell with you", says Sony. If they sold 10 million PS3's and nobody bought any games, they'd go out of business.

From Sony's point of view, they'd be better off if you stole the console, but then bought all your games legitimately. They're already losing on legal console sales, so they'd just lose a bit more if you stole one. As long as your kept buying games, they'd eventually recuperate their losses (although you'd probably have to buy quite a few), and maybe even turn a profit.

This can't be proven conclusively one way or the other, but it might be the fault of people like you that the Dreamcast died out.

I'm glad that at least one person here has their head on their shoulders when it comes to this subject. I'm pretty sick of people actually believing that they're helping console makers by not buying games (not saying I don't, obviously. I'm here, right?)

You could easily get away with, "There isn't any hard evidence to support the idea that piracy kills consoles."

Or, "The lost revenue figures companies spit out is bull."

Even, "I couldn't give less of a **** if the console dies."

But assuming that you're *saving* consoles? Come on.

[gooki]

But assuming that you're *saving* consoles? Come on.

Name the last console that was it's generation winner that wasn't easy to play pirate games on?

[DSnoob]

Sad day for Dreamcast owners when they pulled the plug, i bought it soon after launch, loved every minute of it, played it like crazy, i still turn it on sometimes, i was frickin pissed when they said no more dreamcast, it was the best console of the generation, Way better than the ps2 and Gamecube gameplay-wise in my opinion.

[Nemo29]

Yep absolutely awsome console, really deserved to last longer, the games were brilliant and graphics were great too.(online was good but 56k made it a pain at times). I was so pissed off though, the day i found out that it was over:(

Side point, it was really good for 4 player gaming(so many split screen/good party games), which i used to love, but many companies seem to just drop it for online play instead now :(. May sound weird but i prefer playing my friends and having a laugh in person, than over the internet with annoying kids screaming crap.

Anyway I must try and stop reminiscing as its all i ever seem to post about :D

[NewBeginning]

Some of you don't seem to know the difference between how bad piracy was for Dreamcast and how bad it has been for consoles since. In short, it was much more rampant and widespread on Dreamcast than it is on today's consoles. Even those who weren't savvy to the methods of downloading/burning games etc., had pirated Dreamcast games. On today's systems, it's still possible but not to the extent it was on the Dreamcast.

[Xenogears V]

Is the market that chooses the winner.

[Nemo29]

Is the market that chooses the winner.

no **** sherlock.


dreamcast piracy was insane one of my friends had over 100 games all pirated, and most people i knew had a fair few.

[sigma8]

Name the last console that was it's generation winner that wasn't easy to play pirate games on?

Huh? Howabout name the last console that was its generation's winner that was too easy to play pirate games on.

And can you even begin to explain how "pirate sales" help a console? If pirated games are helping to move hardware, but the hardware is sold at a loss, can you explain how this contributes to the success and healthy game development for a platform?

[DSnoob]

Some of you don't seem to know the difference between how bad piracy was for Dreamcast and how bad it has been for consoles since. In short, it was much more rampant and widespread on Dreamcast than it is on today's consoles. Even those who weren't savvy to the methods of downloading/burning games etc., had pirated Dreamcast games. On today's systems, it's still possible but not to the extent it was on the Dreamcast.

Dreamcast piracy only truly "blossomed" after Sega stopped producing the consoles.