vfguy on 13 December 2014
A system with a built-in DVD drive would have been cost-prohibitive in November 1998, especially for a system with a $199 launch price tag (29000 yen in Japan).
Sony launched the PS2 with an expensive DVD drive in 2000, but the same strategy backfired with the Blu-ray drive in the PS3 in 2006.
The perception that the PS2 was going to be soooooo much better than the Dreamcast was a bigger part of what killed it. Sony touted Episode 1-level graphics and a bunch of other PR drivel. Had the Dreamcast launched head to head with the PS2 at $100 cheaper, history may have been different (Other factors like lack of EA support, Sega's financials, Sega's previous failures, etc. obviously also played a part.).
