Most of the right answers are about hardware - Atari, the Nintendo Playstation.
My answer :
The Sega Saturn and how it derailed Sega's future
I think an enormous missed opportunity was Sega in their preperations for their Mega Drive/Genesis successor.
They took their success for granted, and didn't take their next steps seriously. They allowed company squabbles to escalate to the point that their East and West interests were in disharmony. They allowed parallel, ill-considered hardware projects (Mega CD and 32X) to dilute their standing with gamers. They allowed teams to hoard over tools and IP rather than sharing them across the company. Disruptive people were allowed to be disruptive. They didn't market well, they didn't leverage their considerable IP. Their strategy was dire.
Their mistakes resulted in an expensive, underpowered, difficult-to-program-for successor - the Sega Saturn - which was released with no marketing, into a confused marketplace alongside the 32X. This began the death-spiral for SEGA. They weren't able to offer anything against the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, and their lack of profit curtailed any opportunity to make the Dreamcast the success it should have been.
Here is what they could have done with the hardware:
- No Mega CD and 32X. No NOMAD. No SEGA PICO. No Sega Mega PC. No CD-X/Multimega. Consolidate all R&D (aside from arcade) into the Saturn. Ensure the Saturn software teams and arcade teams are alligned, to make ports as efficient as possible, and ideally debeloped in parallel.
- Consider changing the name. "Saturn" is sci-fi. Find something that appeals to a wider audience. "Sega CD" or "Sega Phoenix" or something like that.
- Remove or address obstinate teams or staff.
- Ensure hardware is capable of receiving low-res PC ports
- Memory card slot backwards-compatable with Mega Drive/Genesis games to ensure software continuity. The slot was the same size as the carts anyway! Make sure parents know that their kids can still play their existing game collection.
- Four controller ports - an immediate differentiator to its predecessor and to the PlayStation
- Ensure demo disks could be printed cheaply (this was a death knell in marketing Saturn games in this timeline!)
- Adopt standardised hardware shell/ software cases across all regions to bring costs down.
- Parental controls - be the family-friendly machine from the get-go.
Key IP in place for launch:
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Complete - a quick and easy port of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, with CD-enhanced music and effects, chuck in a new zone or two to show off in commercials. Sonic was enormous, Sonic fans wanted more content, they really needed to capitalise on this ASAP.
- Micro Machines, Street Racer and Bomberman to sell the four-player party/family machine factor - something that differentiates the hardware from its predecessor
- DOOM (use every hardware trick to ensure four-player split-screen deathmatch is possible). Develop Sega-exclusive episodes with new WADs so the commercials depict what looks like a brand new product, call it Sega Doom and market it everywhere.
Key arcade ports in place for launch:
- Sega Rally
- Virtua Fighter
- Virtua Cop
- Daytona
- Star Wars Arcade
In the pipeline:
- Sonic 4 (2.5D for graphics wow factor - relative for the time) in development. Hype this to hell and include trailers in launch software
- Key Sega Mega Drive/Genesis sequels -
- Streets of Rage
- Altered Beast
- Golden Axe
- Shinobi
- Castle of Illusion
- Gunstar Heroes
- ECCO
- Landstalker
- Shining Force
- Phantasy Star
- Outrun
- Road Rash
- Crusader of Centy
- Comix Zone
- Toe Jam and Earl
- Desert Strike
- Columns
There was enormous brand recognition and affection for these titles, sequels should be in development and heavily advertised
- Sega Arcade Classics: Alien 3 - The Gun (rebrand as a new Alien adventure); SegaSonic The Hedgehog; Burning Rival; Spider Man Arcade; etc. Port these all over, rebrand as new and exciting releases.
- Final Fantasy VII (don't let Sony get this as an exclusive, at least get a port)
- Pay Square Enix for enhanced ports of their SNES classics (Chrono Trigger, FFVI) - show that the old rules of exclusives are being broken. The SEGA audience may not have played these before.
- Ports of existing PC games - e.g. Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Star Wars Dark Forces, TIE Fighter, Sim City, Syndicate, Little Big Adventure, Wing Commander - Sega could be the gateway to these games for the console audience! These could be ported with the resources that would have been used to develop ilk like "Bug!", "Clockwork Knight 1/2", "International Victory Goal" and "The Mansion of Hidden Souls", all of which are irrelevant and don't need to exist.
Strategy
Ensure as cheap a launch price as possible (even if this means taking an initial loss and propping with profits from Mega Drive/Genesis sales),
If you can't launch cheaper than Sony, then add value to the product. Bundle games, include built-in Mega Drive classics, a second controller, anything! Include this in the marketing ("With SEGA, you don't need a memory card, its built in! You don't need a second controller, its in the box!")
Ensure the launch is well-advertised, build up marketing hype with TV and cinema trailers showing upcoming games - don't overcomplicate with marketing rubbish, just show the console, the games, and really hype that this is the true successor to all of the beloved experiences that the Mega Drive/Genesis gave you. Try to replicate the enormous international success of "Sonic 2uesday", which made headlines, was featured in newspapers, etc.
Be radical with marketing. With multi-disk games, give away the first disk for free with Sega Saturn Magazine to encourage sales. Give away entire small games on the demo disk (such as Master System ports -
many of which were not familar to USA players such as Psycho Fox, Alex Kidd in Hi Tech World and Asterix) to ensure that customers see that there is massive added value in buying the console. Work better with your magazines and comics franchises to ensure their stories allign with the marketing.
Build a better relationship with partners - EA in particular - things were so bad in the original timeline that EA released their own multitap that co-existed (but was not compatble with) Sega's own. Get FIFA ready early.
Court Square Enix early.
Ensure steady stream of arcade ports, PC ports, enhanced Mega Drive/Genesis ports, draw in third parties, and be far better placed to combat the PlayStation and Nintendo.
Really capitalise on existing IP. Sega has this in abundance, Sony had none at launch.
Ensure that there are no missed opportunities with localisation - have high-profile releases localised
during development rather than after the fact, for both first party and partners. No one should be missing out on Radiant Silvergun, Magic Knight Rayearth, Bubble Symphony, Grandia, and Shining Force 3 episodes 2 and 3.
No marketing will out-do the launch of the Nintendo 64 with its advanced 3D graphics, so have a price drop ready with software bundles to keep the Sega offer marketable.
Ensure that a cheaper version of the Sega Netlink is developed (Not $199!) and be ready for the internet age. If the above as worked, and the Sega Saturn userbase is now made up of tens of millions, then there is a business justification for a western-compatible SegaNet.
When the business is secured, consider releasing games for the Gameboy/Gameboy Colour. There is no strategy for SEGA to win this market, so instead embrace it and make some money. Let your Gameboy output be a gateway to reaching Nintendo gamers, and tapping into their market.
No opportunities missed
Win the generation.
Change the landscape of gaming forever, and still be a powerhouse to this day.
