It's summer 1996. How can the USA Sega Saturn become successful?

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

On November 22, 1994, Sega launched the Saturn in Japan, to great success. But when it came time to introduce the Saturn in America, Sega didn't stick to their original September 2, 1995 launch date, jumping the system ahead to May 11, 1995 and only giving select retailers Saturns. The system came out with few games and many retailers pissed at Sega. Through the summer of 1995, the Sega Saturn sells slowly and the Sony PlayStation, released September 9, 1995, sells more units in its first two days alone than the Saturn could muster in its first four months.

Now it's June 1996. The PlayStation has been kicking the Saturn's ass in sales, and the Nintendo 64 is on its way. What can Sega do to make the Saturn successful in the USA?

I think that to make a successful Saturn, Sega would need to:

1) Keep supporting the Genesis. This seems counterproductive, but Sega itself was being hurt when they de-emphasized the Genesis in 1995. The 16 bit market was still doing very well in 1996: Nintendo only had a 16 bit console for most of that year, and they did well. Cut 16 bit marketing in 1997, not 1995.

2) No regional lockout. Many of the Saturn's best games were Japanese exclusive. Immediately remove regional lockout from newly produced Saturn systems, and let people know.

3) Get translating. Even without regional lockout, uptake of Japanese games will be limited. Localize a lot of the Japanese games, especially RPGs.

4) Sonic X-treme. This is still in development in June '96. Take it to completion and release it, even if it's a late '97 release.

5) "The Saturn is not our future." Don't say that at E3. Keep Saturn development going as long as possible - preferably until the Dreamcast launch.

[gameofyou]

I agree very strongly that they should have done #5. Even if it was just releasing Scenarios 2 & 3 of SFIII and Deep Fear. Also, don't piss off Working Designs, so that they would convert a few more games (like Grandia).

Also, they should have given away their Sega Graphics Library (SGL) to any developer that would take it.

[bb_hood]

Sega should have released alot more actual good games that Japan got that we did not.
The Saturn US library is garbage compared to what was only released in Japan.

Also, instead of a good Sonic game, we got Nights into Dreams. Nights is an excellent game but I think alot of people just diddnt understand/appreciate it.

[Jorpho]

2) No regional lockout. Many of the Saturn's best games were Japanese exclusive. Immediately remove regional lockout from newly produced Saturn systems, and let people know.

I very much doubt the import scene was big enough in 1996 that sales of games in a language most people couldn't read would have saved the system. Localization would be the only way to go. But even then, I don't think any of the titles which were left in Japan would have qualified as a proper system-selling "killer app".

[Greg2600]

While I find each option very well thought up, and probably would have helped a bit, the truth is none of the above. The decision NOT to do a joint "SEGA PlayStation" with Sony, couple later with the E3 release fiasco, doomed the system, and indirectly Sega as well.

[celerystalker]

I very much doubt the import scene was big enough in 1996 that sales of games in a language most people couldn't read would have saved the system. Localization would be the only way to go. But even then, I don't think any of the titles which were left in Japan would have qualified as a proper system-selling "killer app".

I agree. By 1996, too much had gone wrong. Yes, the glut of good shooters and fighters would have been nice, cheap localizations, but that wasn't what people were buying at the time. In 1995, you could have bought copies of games like Galactic Attack and Street Fighter Alpha for next to nothing. People wanted sports games in 3D, Final Fantasy, 3D platformers, and Resident Evil. The Saturn was awesome at a lot of stuff, but it wasn't what people over in the US wanted, and even Dragon Force II and the other Shining Force III scenarios weren't going to change that, and awesome games like Sega Rally and Virtua Cop were getting matched by Gran Turismo and Time Crisis for lengthlier experiences... and the Metal Gear happened.

Going hard after the Dreamcast probably wasn't a terrible idea.

[SparTonberry]

3) Get translating. Even without regional lockout, uptake of Japanese games will be limited. Localize a lot of the Japanese games, especially RPGs.

The RPG genre didn't really get mainstream in America until FF7 was released. In the later part of 1997. After the Saturn was already in pretty bad shape.

[Tanooki]

Ehh...I'll give you some of those points. The first as a line of solid cash. Sonic at #4 would have been a help, but not a solution. And the #5 is something you ever say, ever. You don't see the new 2015 model car come out and the store talk crap about it and say wait for the next one, people learn it's crap, no faith in the product and they go elsewhere.

The thing is I'm sure being a Sega fan you remember the crap Sony pulled to put the first of the final early coffin nails into Sega as a hardware maker. Sure they had already laid plenty of nails with the stupid talk, the 32x, sega cd, getting into spats with EA too. They named a date, and they named a price. Sony laid back and pounced like the tiger on them and put their hardware out a month earlier and for $100 less. That was a death blow going out of the gate. Following it up as they did with the Sony brand, clout, media wing...they buried Sega while also swinging into the lie mode of the N64 kiddie box (despite when that started it having a higher percentage of T/M games.

Sega was just screwed, there was no being successful. The Saturn was a great system and had some nice stuff, especially games that didn't get imported and the Sega arcade games. But when Sony would setup timed or outright exclusives repeatedly on Sega right up to their death (Half Life Dreamcast finished, bribed company, canned it for PS2 release.) Sony kept driving one more nail into their final resting place as much as Sega did it to themselves with repeated mismanagement. It also didn't help they had a non-3D system doing sort of sloppy 3D through brute calculation with a system that was tricky enough as is to code in compared to the ease the PS1 had with that and it did to 3D stock.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I should clarify. By "successful" I don't mean "PS1-beating". The PS1 was going to be the generational winner. Maybe the N64 might have had a shot, but I doubt it. In North America, Saturn sold 2.7 million units. Sony sold 40.8 million PS1 units, and Nintendo sold 20.4 million N64 units. So "successful" would probably mean at least about 12 million unit sales in North America. At least 30% of PS1 sales. I think it could have been done. The 2D prioritizing hardware of the Saturn was never going to beat the 3D prioritizing PS1.

[sfchakan]

I think dropping the Saturn hardcore like Stolar did was not beneficial to Sega at all. Merely coasting and providing support, continuing to supply hardware and existing software would have been more beneficial in the long run. These were services the company had already invested in and could see some return on.

Surely, localizing a game here and there could have helped. There were still worthwhile games left in Japan. Were they killer apps? I'm not so sure, but there were definitely desirable games.

No, instead we buried SoA in a hole so deep they never got back out of.

Just earlier tonight, I was reading about how SoA cut off Working Designs' supply of memory carts. They were selling them to gamers since SoA decided to stop supplying them to retailers.

[Greg2600]

I should clarify. By "successful" I don't mean "PS1-beating". The PS1 was going to be the generational winner. Maybe the N64 might have had a shot, but I doubt it. In North America, Saturn sold 2.7 million units. Sony sold 40.8 million PS1 units, and Nintendo sold 20.4 million N64 units. So "successful" would probably mean at least about 12 million unit sales in North America. At least 30% of PS1 sales. I think it could have been done. The 2D prioritizing hardware of the Saturn was never going to beat the 3D prioritizing PS1.

Okay then. #1 would have helped for sure, continuing Genesis support. How much I don't know, because it was clear by '95 that Sega had little in the pipeline. Nothing like the titles SNES was still getting, many thanks to SuperFX and like chips. #2 regional unlocking was not happening...ever. Last thing Sega needed was to anger retailers further by allowing gamers to import games via black market rather than buy from them. #3 also not much of a help. Japanese RPG's on Saturn were a niche, that's all. Most of them wouldn't have sold enough to justify translation and import. #4 the overall treatment of Sonic at the time was very bad, but they really had run out of ideas. A true 3D Sonic likely would have gotten a colder reception than Crash, and definitely been dwarfed by Mario 64. #5 in order to not wave the white flag over Saturn, it would have had to be more successful. Third party support seemed lukewarm to begin with, and vanished quickly. I doubt it would have returned. Sega of Japan screwed the pooch every which way they could. The Dreamcast was DOA regardless. Sega has pissed off too many game publishers and retailers, it had no chance. They weren't winning them back that easily.

[bb_hood]

I dont see how continuing Genesis support would have helped at all. People were sick of the repeated systems that attached to the genesis that failed to support a large number of quality titles. When Saturn/Playstation came out nobody cared about genesis and would not be down for spending 30+$ on any genesis title. The 32x was a total mess, and I think alot of people thought the Saturn was going to be just more of the same. Back then people really diddnt care much about backwards compatibility.

People wanted sports games in 3D, Final Fantasy, 3D platformers, and Resident Evil. The Saturn was awesome at a lot of stuff, but it wasn't what people over in the US wanted, and even Dragon Force II and the other Shining Force III scenarios weren't going to change that, and awesome games like Sega Rally and Virtua Cop were getting matched by Gran Turismo and Time Crisis for lengthlier experiences... and the Metal Gear happened.

PlayStation really delivered when it came to the games. They released alot of stuff people wanted. All the really excellent games for saturn came out right before it was about to die. Even games like Panzer saga, magick knight rayearth, shining force 3 couldnt compare to Final Fantasy 7. Once FF7 was out that was it. FF7 was huge and many people bought a PlayStation just for FF7.

Gran Turismo is a great example as well.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I dont see how continuing Genesis support would have helped at all. People were sick of the repeated systems that attached to the genesis that failed to support a large number of quality titles. When Saturn/Playstation came out nobody cared about genesis and would not be down for spending 30+$ on any genesis title. The 32x was a total mess, and I think alot of people thought the Saturn was going to be just more of the same. Back then people really diddnt care much about backwards compatibility.

In 1995, the 16 bit market was still 64% of the total market. And that's with the PS1 and Saturn being out for a good chunk of the year and a shitload of other "32 bit" systems on the market. December is the most important month for video game sales, especially back then. Probably half of the console and game sales back then were in the 4th quarter of the year (October-December). So from summer of 1996, there was still the vast majority of '96 video game sales coming up. The SNES remained Nintendo's largest breadwinner even through the end of 1996. The news was on the 32 bit systems in 1995-1996, but the 16 bit systems were still making the most sales. The 32 bit systems didn't have a majority of the market until 1997.

[bb_hood]

In 1995, the 16 bit market was still 64% of the total market. And that's with the PS1 and Saturn being out for a good chunk of the year and a shitload of other "32 bit" systems on the market. December is the most important month for video game sales, especially back then. Probably half of the console and game sales back then were in the 4th quarter of the year (October-December). So from summer of 1996, there was still the vast majority of '96 video game sales coming up. The SNES remained Nintendo's largest breadwinner even through the end of 1996. The news was on the 32 bit systems in 1995-1996, but the 16 bit systems were still making the most sales. The 32 bit systems didn't have a majority of the market until 1997.

I think many people had the 16 bit systems already so they would buy games for them. However nobody would choose Saturn over PS1 because it could play genesis carts.. and for Sega to create more genesis software (over Saturn games) would have been a really bad idea. The launch games for Saturn were pretty lackluster to begin with.
The SNES is a totally different beast, that system had a following from beginning to end. Genesis was impressive at the beginning but once all the really good SNES titles were out the Genesis, to alot of people at least the Genesis became stale.

[Guntz]

I think dropping the Saturn hardcore like Stolar did was not beneficial to Sega at all. Merely coasting and providing support, continuing to supply hardware and existing software would have been more beneficial in the long run. These were services the company had already invested in and could see some return on.

Surely, localizing a game here and there could have helped. There were still worthwhile games left in Japan. Were they killer apps? I'm not so sure, but there were definitely desirable games.

The first main problem with that scenario is translation and localization costs money. Businesses must always balance the investment with the eventual return on said investment. Video game companies are still businesses. Back in 1996, I don't really blame Sega for not localizing niche games, because of their limited market appeal.

That leads to the second problem with the localization theory. Arcade games and RPGs were not very popular in the mid 90s. Final Fantasy 7 was an enigma that only really helped Squaresoft. Other RPGs that copied FF7 didn't do nearly as well. Arcade games really died off as the 90s came to a close, no hope of big sales there. Anything else on the Japanese Saturn was completely unmarketable in America, like the dating sims.

Sega's only real hope in 1996 would be to spend some money acquiring licenses to port popular western games to the Saturn. Fighting to get Tomb Raider 2 for instance would have been a good option. Any sort of FF7-like games for 1997 would have really helped too. Really, whatever was popular in America during 95 - 96, Sega should have been working to get on the Saturn somehow.

[sfchakan]

The 16 bit market was definitely still there. I don't know off-hand what SoA could have brought to the States for the rest of that holiday season, though. Surely there were some high-quality games that just needed a localization.

Perhaps partnering with Capcom for a US physical release of Mega Man: The Wily Wars? The game was fully developed and just had to be manufactured.

Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter ports were planned originally to use the Sega Virtua Processor used in Virtua Racing, but those games were scrapped at some point.

[Guntz]

The 16 bit market was definitely still there. I don't know off-hand what SoA could have brought to the States for the rest of that holiday season, though. Surely there were some high-quality games that just needed a localization.

Perhaps partnering with Capcom for a US physical release of Mega Man: The Wily Wars? The game was fully developed and just had to be manufactured.

Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter ports were planned originally to use the Sega Virtua Processor used in Virtua Racing, but those games were scrapped at some point.

Golden Axe III, Pulseman, MegaMan: The Wily Wars and Alien Soldier should have been obvious choices for localization. Those four were actually on the Sega Channel, so maybe 5 Americans got to play them. Bring over older Sega classics like Monster World IV too. The Genesis had a lot of classics stuck in Japan, Sega was literally leaving money on the table in 1995.

[homerhomer]

I bought PlayStation back then. And if I remember right, Sony was cheaper and seemed to have there sh!t together. Wasn't there rumors about the Saturn running hot?

Magazines would compare graphics ( because they were everything back then )of games and must of the time the PlayStation would look better (Toshinden, too funny) and with it being cheaper...$299 and with Sony having a reputation of quality. Plus I remember there not being that many games at the local game store. PlayStation was killing it.

Bad reputations are hard to fix.

Sega would need to beat Sony on all fronts with quality, power, price and library.

, 2015 and nothing has changed. It's just Sony vs Microsoft. I have to admit Microsoft can sure scramble when they need to.

[Gentlegamer]

Final Fantasy 7 was an enigma that only really helped Squaresoft.

Final Fantasy VII could be said to have been the first "AAA game." It had huge mainstream marketing that hadn't been seen for a video game before.

[Aussie2B]

I don't know if anything could've saved the Saturn in the US. They needed to make an easier system to develop for, first of all. If they wanted to continue the kind of success they had with Genesis, then they needed to get more Western developers on board making games that people were actually interested in. In terms of Japanese games, I don't think most of the Japan-exclusive library would've made a big impact in the US. They needed to make a Sonic 4 or something. Continue the best-selling Japan-developed series that were on Genesis. Those are the main things.