As I understand it right before the end, Sega was in discussions with MS for a possible buyout. - GigaShadow
That was a rumor, a myth, and nothing more. There was no evidence to back that up or any real indications aside from the Dreamcast being able to run games made with WindowsCE in mind. There were also rumors of Nintnedo buying out Sega, and Sony buying out Sega. It all depends on which fanboy you heard it from. The only rumors which proved true, was that Sega would end up developing games for "X" console... which as it turns out they\'re developing games for ALL consoles.
I also find it pretty hard to swallow that the 32x and SegaCD REALLY had all that much to do with Sega\'s financial position today. I mean, I hear a lot of people say they were dissapointed in those two addon\'s... but together, those two devices sold less than 2 million units. The gaming market is HUGE, well over 80 million gamers. How can THAT many people be dissapointed by devices they didn\'t even own.. and that weren\'t even serious efforts like the Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast was? I think the 32x and CD disspointment is more of a scapegoat for people who want to put on the appearance of being objective gamers, but just can\'t hide their bias against Sega.
The reason why Sega did so poorly, IMO, is linked directly to the Saturn. After a $400 price tag, an insanely difficult archetecture, and overall less than PSX quality graphics.. it just didn\'t have much of a chance. Advertising and distribution peetered out early on, leaving America\'s mindshare pretty much open territory for Sony until Nintnedo game along with the N64. Besides, with as much as the games industry has grown in the 32/64 bit era.. Sega could have really used that extra mindshare. Unfortunately they were nowhere to be found in either the US or Europe... leaving only Japan as the country which was truely supported. (They actually sold quite a few Saturns in Japan, as well as produced some of their best games for it which are JP only)
I blame it directly on Advertising. As far as the casual gamer is concerned, Sega just dropped off the radar for around 5 years. Out of sight, out of mind, and that made it very difficult to sell DC consoles in the face of Sony\'s PS2 hype tsunami. Regardless, the DC still sold roughly 25 - 30 million consoles worldwide.. which is actually a very good number considering where they were. If Sega could have gathered more developers and weren\'t shelling out every penny they had to make the DC the best console they possibly could.. as well as advertise agressively, they\'d probably be in a much better position today.
Oh, and Cloud.. you do realize that Sega didn\'t own themselves didn\'t you? They had plenty of money to keep the DC going through their owners CSK (or something like that) who also owned several other Japaneese buisnesses. The problem is... getting them to fund Sega when they aren\'t turning a profit. I guantee you that 7-8 years of either the Xbox or PS2 doing just as poorly.. and Sony & Microsoft would start cutting funding to their divisions as well. Nintnedo is unique because their game & hardware division is a top priority to their corperation. Nintnedo owns several other companies as well as a Seattle(?) baseball team. They\'re money dosen\'t just come in from videogames.. even though that is their main focus.
