Preezy wrote:Whilst the PS2 was an obvious and massive factor in the death of the Dreamcast, Sega made quite a few self-inflicted wounds in the previous 2 console generations that contributed to their downfall. The fiasco of the Saturn's release burned a lot of retailers and developers, and the 32X and Sega CD were both expensive flops that Sega shouldn't have pushed so heavily. The conflict between Sega America and Sega Japan was played out in public, which also didn't help
Sometimes the brightest lights burn fastest of all. Sega
Both sides got it wrong from what I remember.
Sega or America wanted to extend the life of the Mega Drive longer than Japan with the add-ons then create a 3D powerhouse to rival the Ultra 64.
Sega of Japan wanted to jump to next gen ASAP as the Mega Drive was aging in Japan at that point and weren't too concerned about 3D (despite Virtua Fighter's massive success there).
In the end they compromised once PlayStation specs leaked, but it was too late. To be honest Sega's vision of a 2D powerhouse was successful in Japan but an utter failure in the West.
Dreamcast was kinda the opposite, an affordable, easily programmable, 3D system, which did better in the West than Japan. For most people though Sega's reputation was trash by that point.