Which competitor is more responsible for the demise of Sega?

[darthv72]

The majority who took the poll chose Sony as they were the ones directly responsible for Sega finally deciding to exit the console hardware market but it really was Sega themselves who caused their own downfall years prior. Just from the onset of the Saturn release, making the hardware cumbersome while also powerful that very few were able to really utilize it. This was just one of many missteps just like the 32X and the proposed Neptune. It wasn't just one bad decision, it was several over quite a few years. Saturn was a great platform and the bulk of the successful titles were left in JP. Whose idea was that??? Had they localized many of the games, the Saturn could have held on longer and build up a report with the users instead of its plug being pulled so quickly with the DC coming out.

Dreamcast is a fantastic way to go out. It did things even the PS2 couldn't but one aspect they could never get around was the DVD. Sony made it very easy for people to buy into the PS2 even if they never intended to play a single game on it. Sony marketing pretty much told people to hold off buying any other next gen (at the time) platform because PS2 was coming with DVD movie support... and it worked. I knew of many who just ignored the DC and its plethora of quality titles in 99 and waited until 2000 for the PS2. They didn't care that the early games didn't even take advantage of the DVD capabilities or weren't as polished as the DC titles. And so that train kept rolling and DC sales declined. EA might have kept the DC alive for a bit longer but due to their mismanagement of the Saturn, EA had given up on Sega and weren't about the go back, no matter how good the DC was. So Sega had to come up with their own sports titles (which i find to be more enjoyable than EA).

And again, bad decision making kept certain games from being released outside of JP. Sony was paying for all kinds of exclusivity before the DC launch like Tomb Raider 2 and Resident Evil 2. You ask people to pick who was the most responsible but don't even include who was actually responsible. It looks like you would rather blame an outsider instead of who really was responsible... SEGA.