The Sega Dreamcast, remembered nowadays as a cult favorite, was the unsuccessful gaming console that attempted to compete with the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Released on 9/9/99, the Dreamcast is often described as “ahead of its time,” as it did a lot of things well but ultimately failed to establish itself as a viable alternative to Sony’s massively successful PlayStation 2, which was released the following year. Sega would discontinue the Dreamcast in 2001 after less than 2 years on the North American market. With disagreement over the company’s future, Sega decided to abandon the console business and become a third party developer. Here are 10 reasons why the Dreamcast suffered this untimely fate.
10. EA Sports
In anticipation of the Dreamcast’s launch, Sega purchased sports game developer Visual Concepts, (the company that would become responsible for the “2K-series” of videogames), in order to produce sports games for their new console. Electronic Arts, the publisher behind the popular Madden, NBA Live, and FIFA series, among others, informed Sega that they would not be supporting the Dreamcast unless they had the exclusive rights to produce sports titles for the console.
Sega scoffed and decided to continue with their original plan. This turned out to be unwise, as EA titles were growing in popularity, and the Madden brand in particular was becoming a console-seller. The 2K series would prove to be critically acclaimed, but the mass public never got to experience these titles because they were drawn to EA’s brand on competitors’ consoles. NBA 2K lives on but Visual Concepts sold the rights to Take-Two Interactive. Sega no longer profits from the series and this decision to alienate EA hurt them dearly during the Dreamcast generation.
http://sportsunbiased.com/ncaa/college-football/16522/ea-sports-drops-ncaa-football-series/ Source: sportsunbiased.com