Geometric-Crusher
"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
Believe it or not, even today, in the second half of 2024, there are diehard Sega fans who dream of a new console from that amazing company. Wow, in a few months we will be in 2025, so it will be 24 years since Sega left the console market. Dreamcast had a short commercial cycle, at that time there were two releases, one Japanese and one Western a window of 11 months, the GCN was the first console to break this tradition and from the 7th gen onwards the launch of consoles became almost simultaneous in all markets, from a western perspective the Dreamcast only lasted 18 months, but we felt its presence for a while, but by early 2002 the Dreamcast had completely ceased.
The first rumor we can track was an invitation from Sega to the press for E3. That was the content.
"Learn about SEGA's 2004 line-up and hear BIG news you'd NEVER guess"
"explosive news--something even YOU won't be able to guess!"
Average Joe (me) didn't even know that the Dreamcast was a failure, but we knew that Shenmue lost money and that Sega was in a lot of debt, so they left the business.
diehard fans believed in 2004 that Sega would announce its re-entry into the market and that without debt, they would make a 'remodeled Dreamcast'.
that didn't happen, basically it was about the Lindbergh arcade board
The 7th gen ran its course with Sega supporting all consoles, xbox 360, wii and PS3 but in 2008 the rumors appeared again
2007
It is quite possible that someone has taken that press release and tweaked it for their own needs as the original article, an article back in 2004, which discusses Imagination Technologies, working with Sega on arcade hardware; From the Press Release that can be found (link no longer available). So yes at one point, Sega was working with IT, but for arcade systems only, not for a new console.
''Today we can exclusively reveal that SEGA has signed with Imagination Technologies of the United Kingdom to provide, to quote our source "a very high end next generation graphics chipset" for exclusive arcade and console use.
If we were to take an educated guess we would have to say that this emplies the in development PowerVR Series 6, the successor to the PowerVR SGX5XX Series.
Regarding other technicalities nothing is yet known. Thus information such as Ram Configuration, Ram type, CPU, CPU provider etc... currently remain a mystery.''
2010
In 2008 Sega had its biggest loss since the 6th gen, this led them to change strategy so many patents were registered leaving room for speculation, the patents covered a wide range of devices including handhelds but In the end it was the RingEdge arcade board and not a console.
During this period (2010) many articles commented on the rumors, one of them was an interview with Yuji Naka saying that he wanted to work on Dreamcast 2.
Diehard fans said it was a more powerful console than Wii U but it was aborted by a behind-the-scenes deal with Nintendo. In this deal, Sega would make games for the Wii U (don't ask me where they got that from, these guys are very creative).
It appeared before E3 2013 talking about an enigmatic Sega Spectrum ''a new world of entertainment'' again, nothing.
2014 Rumor that Sega in partnership with Valve would have a Steam Machine with its logo.
again, nothing.
2014 was a victory for the fans, Shenmue 3 announced, without a doubt the community contributed because Dreamcast 2 and Shenmue 3 were two mantras. But 2019's Shenmue 3 wasn't that good.
2016 Project Dream petition to make a Dreamcast 2 and give it to Sega
2018 Sega announced the Genesis Mini - diehard fans deduced that this was a strategy to approach retailers, in all markets.
2019 Rumor includes Sega in the project with Google - it was a lie Google did everything alone.
2020 was SEGA 60th anniversary where they showed off their new poster boy Sega Shiro and announced the enigmatic ''Super Game'' project.
2023 December, SEGA made an announcement at TGA for 5 games (there is no mention of the PS5, Xbox, Switch).
Conclusion
None of the rumors were confirmed, I think it was better this way, Sega would be massacred if it launched a console in 2006, at that time Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo injected millions of dollars into marketing, a Sega console would be out of place in price x performance, neither can we forget that Sonic 2006 and Golden Ax Beast Riders flops. The fanfic involving the Wii U is nonsense, even if Sega made a console in 2012, the Xbox 360 and PS3 were at their peak in games and the 8th gen would be released in 2013, it would be a flop cause Sega didn't have Atlus.
The truth is that in this business, there is only chance of sustaining a platform companies with killer apps in at least 4 franchises. Sega has only achieved good sales in the last 5 years in franchises such as Persona, Sonic and Like a Dragon, that is, the room to re-enter the market is in the next generation, Microsoft promises to bring forward the next gen to 2026, the window for Sega would be 2025 or never .
There won't be a 'Dreamcast 2' But I think Sega fans will be proud again, the Super Game initiative games are very interesting, and whatever that thing is they'll have to show it to us very soon. A physical product for example for a 2025 window needs to be shown this year, a digital product can be released later with less difficulty of course.
The origin of the ''Dreamcast 2'' myth
The first rumor we can track was an invitation from Sega to the press for E3. That was the content.
"Learn about SEGA's 2004 line-up and hear BIG news you'd NEVER guess"
"explosive news--something even YOU won't be able to guess!"
Average Joe (me) didn't even know that the Dreamcast was a failure, but we knew that Shenmue lost money and that Sega was in a lot of debt, so they left the business.
diehard fans believed in 2004 that Sega would announce its re-entry into the market and that without debt, they would make a 'remodeled Dreamcast'.
that didn't happen, basically it was about the Lindbergh arcade board
Second wave of rumors
The 7th gen ran its course with Sega supporting all consoles, xbox 360, wii and PS3 but in 2008 the rumors appeared again
2007
It is quite possible that someone has taken that press release and tweaked it for their own needs as the original article, an article back in 2004, which discusses Imagination Technologies, working with Sega on arcade hardware; From the Press Release that can be found (link no longer available). So yes at one point, Sega was working with IT, but for arcade systems only, not for a new console.
''Today we can exclusively reveal that SEGA has signed with Imagination Technologies of the United Kingdom to provide, to quote our source "a very high end next generation graphics chipset" for exclusive arcade and console use.
If we were to take an educated guess we would have to say that this emplies the in development PowerVR Series 6, the successor to the PowerVR SGX5XX Series.
Regarding other technicalities nothing is yet known. Thus information such as Ram Configuration, Ram type, CPU, CPU provider etc... currently remain a mystery.''
2010
In 2008 Sega had its biggest loss since the 6th gen, this led them to change strategy so many patents were registered leaving room for speculation, the patents covered a wide range of devices including handhelds but In the end it was the RingEdge arcade board and not a console.
During this period (2010) many articles commented on the rumors, one of them was an interview with Yuji Naka saying that he wanted to work on Dreamcast 2.
Diehard fans said it was a more powerful console than Wii U but it was aborted by a behind-the-scenes deal with Nintendo. In this deal, Sega would make games for the Wii U (don't ask me where they got that from, these guys are very creative).
The third wave of rumors
It appeared before E3 2013 talking about an enigmatic Sega Spectrum ''a new world of entertainment'' again, nothing.
2014 Rumor that Sega in partnership with Valve would have a Steam Machine with its logo.
again, nothing.
2014 was a victory for the fans, Shenmue 3 announced, without a doubt the community contributed because Dreamcast 2 and Shenmue 3 were two mantras. But 2019's Shenmue 3 wasn't that good.
2016 Project Dream petition to make a Dreamcast 2 and give it to Sega
2018 Sega announced the Genesis Mini - diehard fans deduced that this was a strategy to approach retailers, in all markets.
2019 Rumor includes Sega in the project with Google - it was a lie Google did everything alone.
2020 was SEGA 60th anniversary where they showed off their new poster boy Sega Shiro and announced the enigmatic ''Super Game'' project.
2023 December, SEGA made an announcement at TGA for 5 games (there is no mention of the PS5, Xbox, Switch).
Conclusion
None of the rumors were confirmed, I think it was better this way, Sega would be massacred if it launched a console in 2006, at that time Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo injected millions of dollars into marketing, a Sega console would be out of place in price x performance, neither can we forget that Sonic 2006 and Golden Ax Beast Riders flops. The fanfic involving the Wii U is nonsense, even if Sega made a console in 2012, the Xbox 360 and PS3 were at their peak in games and the 8th gen would be released in 2013, it would be a flop cause Sega didn't have Atlus.
The truth is that in this business, there is only chance of sustaining a platform companies with killer apps in at least 4 franchises. Sega has only achieved good sales in the last 5 years in franchises such as Persona, Sonic and Like a Dragon, that is, the room to re-enter the market is in the next generation, Microsoft promises to bring forward the next gen to 2026, the window for Sega would be 2025 or never .
There won't be a 'Dreamcast 2' But I think Sega fans will be proud again, the Super Game initiative games are very interesting, and whatever that thing is they'll have to show it to us very soon. A physical product for example for a 2025 window needs to be shown this year, a digital product can be released later with less difficulty of course.
