Retailer question- Dreamcast sales

[FantasiaWHT]

Noticed something odd, wondered if any of the others out here who work video game retail are seeing the same thing...

We get no Dreamcast business... nobody trades them in, nobody buys the games or the rare system we get, nobody asks about games.

In comparison, we sell a handful of Genesis, SNES, and NES games every day, a double handful of N64 games every day, and dozens of PS1 games every day, all systems older than the DC.

Even when we had the awesome deal on DC's (Buy 5 games, get one for free, basically) there was only a tiny bit of interest.

Anybody else seeing this? Thoughts why? Too old, but not old enough to interest the retro gamers that are buying Gen/NES/SNES?

[jdc]

Well.......when the system was "alive", we felt like we had to CONVINCE people to buy them. You always felt like you were shoving them down people's throats....and that's with games like the beautiful Soul Caliber running on the demo system.

I'd scratch my head as I saw people stand and stare at the Soul Caliber game......and then buy a PSX.

All that I can say is that it's the same damned reason as it was back then. Safety. The Dreamcast left a real sour taste in people's mouths from launch day forward. Depending on where you live, software is really scarce, and the last versions of the hardware crapped out left, right and center. Sega needed their ass kicked for letting such a fine system go unnoticed.

Also......if you're into retro, the Genny stuff can be had for peanuts. As far as the N64 stuff goes, it's the console that I put most of my energy into collecting. Reason being is that the consoles have no moving parts to crap out.....the carts are usually able to fire up, so no software issues.....and I've still got a good chance of getting completes in the wild. Not to mention that strategy guides are still available at most used game shops, being that I've taken to collecting the N64 ones. All for a still reasonable price.

[Habeeb Hamusta]

Well, the dreamcast has a lot of awesome games. The people who have them don't want to give them up because they are good games and in short supply. No one will buy the games that aren't fun for the system. So game stores are stuck with boring games all of the time, because whenever a good game actually does come across, someone grabs it.

Also, buy 5 games get 1 free isn't that great. The stores around here do buy 2 get 1 free on older systems.

[Gapporin]

Well, the local GameStop (and when I mean local, I mean it's about 2.5-3 hours away from here) just decided to stop taking in Sega stuff altogether. Gen/DC/Saturn, etc. In fact, when I was in there last, there was this lady who was wanting to sell off all of her Saturn games. She was told to go to the independent used game store across the street.

[FantasiaWHT]

Also, buy 5 games get 1 free isn't that great. The stores around here do buy 2 get 1 free on older systems.

Actually, you misunderstood me, but I wrote the wrong number anyway.

The number should be 3, not 5.

And it's not Buy 3 Games Get 1 Game Free... it was Buy 3 Games Get 1 DREAMCAST Free.

Yeah there are hardly any expensive Genesis games... nice to collect for :) N64's nice because the game list isn't all that long...

Ahhh poor Dreamcast =(

[Nez]

I noticed that nobody trades in DC games, and at my EB I'm the only one who buys them. Why? I don't know. But it sucks to go into a store 2 weeks later and see that they still have the same supply.

[izret101]

I spen alot of time in a shop and they NEVER (i dont know how much i can stress that) sell and Saturn, DC, N64 or preNES stuff.
They get most of thier buisness from PS2 Xbox and GCN. At least from what i see.
Every now and then they sell a bunch of NES SNES or Genesis games to a person.
Most of the stuff they sell preSaturn is generally to me when i am there. I have bought maybe 150 bucks worth of DC stuff there total in the last 3 years (including the system) compared to my roughly 200 dollars worth of NES games in the last 4 months. And about 100 on displays, promotional items and peripherals in the last 5 months.

[hydr0x]

yeah, there is no game market for dc stuff outside of ebay here in germany, the only dc games you see in the wild are remaining stock, well, of course there are a few stores who get used dc games, but that's only the best known stores, the smaller ones don't get any dc at all

i guess about 90-95% of all used dc games are sold over ebay, maybe has to do with the fact that the average dc owner is well educated, knows about ebay and isn't too lazy to use it...

[Graham Mitchell]

I've kind of noticed over the years that the used sales really start to get good for a system only after a certain amount of time has passed since it's death. There are anomalies though (I haven't seen a TG16 game in the wild for about 8 years. Same with SMS). Maybe there hasn't been enough time, and it'll get better?


Well, the dreamcast has a lot of awesome games. The people who have them don't want to give them up because they are good games and in short supply. No one will buy the games that aren't fun for the system. So game stores are stuck with boring games all of the time, because whenever a good game actually does come across, someone grabs it.


I worry about this, actually. And like hydr0x said: if worse comes to worse, ebay will be where you have to go. Hope you worked overtime this week.

[jaybird]

The Dreamcast is the easiest system to get pirated games for. No modification, just download, burn and play. That may be part of the reason for no sales.

[FantasiaWHT]

The Dreamcast is the easiest system to get pirated games for. No modification, just download, burn and play. That may be part of the reason for no sales.

Oooh yeah good point. Just about everyone I talk to that has a DC pirates like crazy.

[goatdan]

That, and I do agree with the fact that it is both very rare to find Dreamcast games in the wild (I have seen more Saturn and 3DO games in the wild than Dreamcast games since GameStop has stopped selling Dreamcast stuff). I think that this does have to do with the fact that it seems that a lot of people who got a Dreamcast still have their Dreamcast and are still playing it.

From the people that I have talked to randomly about that system (usually when they ask about what the GOAT Store is and I explain we are still producing games for the Dreamcast), the response is that the Dreamcast is awesome, they still play theirs all the time and the best game is _____ (Soul Calibur, Tennis 2K2 and Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 seem to be some of the biggest hits still.) There were a few game stores in the area telling people at Soul Calibur 2's launch that "it isn't as good as the Dreamcast game. You should pick up a Dreamcast and the first game instead."

[Trade-N-Games]

Funny thing at my store I had over 150 dreamcast games just sitting on a rack forever and none would sell. So 2 weeks ago i decided i would now collect dreamcast games and took 1 of each for my collection. And WOW now all of a sudden i only have 20 titles in stock and everyone now wants them? Sold 3 systems in last week and a bunch of games and VMU's. I told eveyone 1 guy came in and wanted to start collecting them and took them all and he would be back to get ones he does not have. I am that one guy :D
Jason

[swlovinist]

The Dreamcast is alot like the Turbo Grafx, it had to dissapear for people to truly appreciate it. The system is really awsome, but will forever be remembered by coming out under the shadow of the PS2. People were just burned out on Sega, and who can blame them. After the SCD, 32X, and the Saturn(and several hundered dollars down the drain) The public saw Sega in a negative light. Now that time has passed, hardcore collectors are now finding out that the dreamcast had some great games...that will never be on the PS2. I think the other reason you do not see more games used...is that the "doom of the disc era". Scratched Dreamcast games are pretty much worthless, many will not play right. I have about 100 of the games and the best of the best. I will never get rid of them! I got to work at Dreamcast launch and it really was a fun time(I wrote the Dreamcast lore in the new DP book) I have fond memories of the system, but I am in the minority of the standard gamer today.

[dreamcaster]

Although I only managed to get a DC a little after you could no longer buy them new (January 2003), I was an avid Dreamcast fan since it's launch.

Though I seem to be in the minority.

I don't sense a lot of dislike of Dreamcast, more just ignorance.

"Dreamcast? What's that? A Nintendo?"

:/

I've recently stopped collecting DC games, for the sole reason that I've pretty much got all the locally released games that I'm interested in.

Once I start earning money again, I'll start delving into the goldmine (much like the Saturn) that is the DC import market.

However, I find this thread kinda shocking. From the point of view that I was always under the impression that Dreamcast was reasonably successful in America.

I was in the US during Xmas 2000, and I expected there to be nothing but PS2 everywhere. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see nothing but Dreamcast TV spots, billboards and store kiosks everywhere I went.

Heck, the games centre at Epcot in DisneyWorld had nothing but Dreamcast. Needless to say I spent many long hours there during our family holiday. :D

[-hellvin-]

I recently got more and more into the system mostly from my friend Nez collecting like crazy for it and never realized there were so many great games for it. It was probably the first "retro" system I got after my xbox when I started collecting and I think I got a total of 5 games for it after almost two years of owning it. Well, now I'm trying to change that ;D. I'm pretty much stuck on SMS and genesis is an ongoing project so I'm working in a little DC collecting on the side, mostly trying to find games I really like (power stone series, snk/capcom fighters, ect) . Got Dream Match 99 and didn't know it was a port of 98 which I was really excited about since that's my favorite of the series. I think wednesday I am going to do a HUGE pawn run since I see games at many of my local pawn shops all over the place and always ignored them.