Sony Wanted to Partner with Sega, says Former Sega President

[Black Dragon37]

Did you know that Sony and Sega almost partnered on a new video game console in the early '90s? Former Sega President Tom Kalinske has revealed that the two companies had developed a great relationship working on Sega CD, and Sony wanted to partner with Sega, but Sega Japan ultimately said no. More within... (http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13196)

[VG Aficionado]

Interesting. The gaming world could have been so different now. Can't say better or worse, but I wonder if either Nintendo or Sega regret not having partnered with Sony considering Playstation's massive success.

Anyway, there's no turning back now. New partnerships could be possible in the near future though.

[Fredag]

I'm very happy that we instead got the playstation. For me, that was a huge step from Amiga, and I started to play again. As an adult I did not think I would ever would find my way back to gaming again.

[Goki]

It was like prescribed by faith, that Sony man would be rejected by the superiors in the field, only to take on the world on his own 2 hands and rule....

[Black Dragon37]

The stone the builders reject becomes the cornerstone. That's what my momma told me! ;)

[Leedogg]

thats is a very interesting read, and Sega is thinking "what could of been"

[nwo504]

well they almost were with sega and almost with nintendo. now both of them wish they had partnered with sony.

[Viper]

well they almost were with sega and almost with nintendo. now both of them wish they had partnered with sony.
Sega perhaps does but Nintendo still makes more profit than Sony so that's highly debatable in that regard.


Intersting read. I hadn't heard of this one at all before.

[VG Aficionado]

Nintendo still makes more profit than Sony so that's highly debatable in that regard.I guess you're talking in relative terms. I don't think Nintendo made more profit with N64 and GameCube than Sony did with PS1 and PS2 in the end. However, Nintendo still dominates the portable market.

Anyway, it's safe to assume Sega lost more opportunities than Nintendo. Damn MegaCD, 32x, Multimega, several other similar gadgets and ultimately Saturn. They just contributed to kill Dreamcast before it reached its best.

[Beenie Man]

The Dreamcast shouldn't have been killed(it was a amazing and superior system with alot of AAA games).

[venomv]

Lol, what was superior about the dreamcast?

[Media]

^^Had online play first of the generation, minus PC.

[Beenie Man]

Lol, what was superior about the dreamcast?

Well
It had good graphics
AAA games that came out in quick time
Online Gaming
Etc.

However,
It did not have EA
Not as a strong brand as the Playstation

[Applefiend]

In a retro forum I post in, you do see Sega talked about in the past tense...

[Domination]

I'm kinda glad the partnership fell apart; I really didn't care for the controller at all nor their marketing direction. As far as I know, they probably would have had the most influence/say so which might not have resulted well in execution.

[Viper]

Sega and N did what was best foir their companies at the time. Had a big partnership taken place, what kind of influence do you think the smaller comapnies, Sega and N, would have had over the system? Eventually possibly being swallowed by Sony altogether.

Sega couldn't have forseen their downfall and N was top of the market at the time.


Besides, the more consoles makers out there, the more variety and overall better games because of it.

[Applefiend]

Sega had a steady decline from the 32X, and the decline of the arcades, something Sega were a huge part of. The Dreamcast was a lovely machine, it was a real "Indian Summer" of Sega goodness.

Most Segans blame Sony for Sega's fall from grace, the truth is very different. Sega just fell out of fashion along with the arcades, and made terrible business decisions.

[Viper]

Agreed. Sega took themselves out. They simply didn't have the financial grounds to keep up with the red quarters they kept having year after year and the developer support left when they saw the ship begin to sink.

[Domination]

Sega and N did what was best foir their companies at the time. Had a big partnership taken place, what kind of influence do you think the smaller comapnies, Sega and N, would have had over the system? Eventually possibly being swallowed by Sony altogether.

Sega couldn't have forseen their downfall and N was top of the market at the time.


Besides, the more consoles makers out there, the more variety and overall better games because of it.

Well, just like the Famicom featuring a CD ROM before Nintendo pulled out, the console/overall hardware decision was basically still within Nintendo's grasp except for the drive. The same applies to Sega in this very same case from what I can tell. Sony was more like an assistant, which tells me that Sega probably would have had the most influence.

[Viper]

In the case of the Sony/Nintendo system, it was more than just drive supply. Sony actually wanted co-branding on the unit. With Sega, we may never know to what extent the system was to become. Given the fact Sega already had a drive provider, as is obvious with the Sega CD, Sony must have wanted to be more than just a drive provider for Sega especially since the Sega guys clearly states partnership.

[chrismt]

I wonder if this article is a prelude to more news about Sony buying Sega. I doubt it, however, since Sony has made more than enough acquisitions this time around.

[ded5850]

I love reading articles like this. All the "What if?" statements that insue are just fun to think about. Such as this:

Do you think Sega implementing Windows CE on their Dreamcast had any effect on MS stepping into the console market? There are some subtle similarites between the 2 consoles.

If this is common knowledge to everyone else, sorry for being in the dark :doh:

[Viper]

I don't doubt it helped them understand the industry better before putting their foot in it. It more than likely was influencial for MS.

[NickSCFC]

Lol, what was superior about the dreamcast?
The games

[venomv]

He said supperior 'system' and then mentioned the games.