Why did the dreamcast fail?

[Jonbob0008]

bdbdbd said:

Tispower said:

Jonbob0008 said:
I'd like to point out a factor that hasn't been pointed out. Another reason the Dreamcast failed was because the library of games for both the Playstation and N64 were so strong. People playing on these systems were still having a great time despite the outdated hardware. They were perfectly willing to wait for either the PS2 and Gamecube (less so) to come out before investing in a new system.

Yeah, suprised no one metioned this before, especially as many people have basically said "why did it die with so many good games", but that doesn't mean there were equally good games on the other consoles. Plus, I'm sure the EA support for other consoles helped, because they do make some good games =P

 

Although that is true and have had effect, but i think no one mentioned that because Saturn and PSX were that time old enough fo generation change. Dreamcast sold well at the start, but then stopped selling. Besides, by that logic, no one would ever buy switch to next generation. Who would be so stupid to buy Wii, 360 or PS3, since PS2, Xbox and Gamecube has so big library of good games.

I said this was ANOTHER factor. On its own, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, but due to the fact that Sega had blundered so bad in its previous console launches, it made a lot of difference. Many gamers at the time were unsure at best at the prospects of the Dreamcast, and so they were not inclined to buy the new system. Sure it sold well at first(It didn't sell THAT great. It had less than 9 million consoles sold within its first two years), but for every one person that bought the Dreamcast, there were at least 5 or more that said "I'll wait for the PS2/Dolphin. At least that's a sure bet. It's not like I'm suffering with my current console."

 If the library of games for either the PSX or N64 had been weaker, the Dreamcast's sales would have been even stronger, perhaps even strong enough for Sega to turn a profit on their system. They may have then survived the initial onslaught that was PS2 and lived on long enough to have its own piece (however small) of the marketshare.

By your interpretation of my logic (which was incorret) we'd still be playing on the NES. I never said people wouldn't upgrade, I just said that with the strong library that PSX and N64 had, there wasn't enough incentive for most gamers to want to risk paying good money for a system that might not make it.

EDIT: You know what, I rescind my statement about the Dreamcast ever selling well. If you look at the sales info this site offers, you'll find that the Saturn had sold almost as well as the Dreamcast did in about the same amount of time, and everyone keeps saying how big a flop the Saturn was. Remember too that the Saturn had competition in both the PSX and N64, while Dreamcast's main competition wouldn't arrive for over a year after it launched. It is now my belief that the intial success of the Dreamcast was, is, and  always has been greatly exaggerated.