Chapter Thirty-Eight
Part Thirty-Eight: Sega Does What The Rest Don't:
“By the time of the mid-90's, things had grown really stale on the gaming market. You had great games out there and the consoles developed by Nintendo, Apple and Atari had been mainstays in homes around the world for some years. But the self-censorship at the time was really bogging down creativity as the gaming companies involved with the American market were too worried about putting a toe out of line and alienating audiences. Things would have changed at some point, but it wasn't until Sega finally made a move that things started to push forward.”
- Quote from Wwarrior, member of Sufficient Velocity forums, 2018
Sega Mega Drive – The fourth generation console developed by Sega, the Mega Drive would see its most notable success throughout Europe, Australia and Japan. It failed to make much of an impact in North America however, which was already seeing a bitter competition between Nintendo and Apple for dominance over the console market. The Mega Drive was notable for its focus on arcade ports, trying to emulate the look and feel of of those games. Its success would see Sega go onto pursue a console for the fifth generation, the Sega Mercury.
- Extract from The Video Game Encyclopedia, 2009
When it came to searching for markets, the arcade was still a big scene across Japan and North America. The latter had numerous consoles on the market, but they were held back by censorship limiting the games sold to them. Arcades, on the other hand, managed to skirt by as a lot of the focus for the censors was on the home market. A sort of divide of perception existed between consoles and arcades, the latter having a sort of mature quality that appealed to even younger demographics. This was something that Sega and Sony were able to latch onto.
- Extract from The Downfall of the Arcade in America, 2013
“1994 represents a crucial year in gaming when all these different companies were looking to put out the fifth console generation. No prisoners would be taken and out of the five competitors, four would survive, one would fade away within two other console generations and one would reign supreme until the last year of the millennium.”
-Extract from The Console Wars: A European Perspective, a video posted by Kim Justice, 2017
The defining rivalry in North America during the fourth console generation was undoubtedly Apple and Nintendo. The Apple had stumbled onto success with its GAME console and had been followed up by the SYSTEM. Nintendo's NES and SNES had been the ones to stand on top as its numerous franchises such as Mario and Zelda giving it a greater appeal among some audiences compared to Apple's less attention-grabbing output. Completing the trio of console companies was Atari relying on updates to the MSX2 in order to stay in the game and was overshadowed greatly by the other two once Microsoft pulled out of the console market to focus on home computers.
The North American market was quite different to the others across the world, however. Apple and Atari had little to no market share in Japan, which was in turn dominated by Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Sega. The situation was similar in Europe, although there were many home computers which had some form of popularity in their home nations and could be seen as competitors to the consoles. Sega also had a much larger share of the market on the continent, but was still second to Nintendo.
With Nintendo's sheer dominance across the video gaming world, many within the company were confident that this would continue into the next generation, despite the collapse of the relationship between it and Sony that led to Nintendo deciding to stick with cartridge-based games. This proved to be a mistake as companies such as Square, preferring the cheaper costs of CD, ended their exclusivity deals with Nintendo. Square would go onto sign a deal with Sony and look to use the CD based technology to its full extent.
This wouldn't be the first opening a company would have against Nintendo as Sega would use one major factor in the North American market to its advantage. Censorship of home console games in comparison to the arcades. Sega had always aimed to bring the arcade experience into the home and saw an opportunity to do this in a way that would garner them vast amounts of publicity. Speaking with Sega of America, Sega of Japan agreed to a plan of porting all arcade games to the Mercury completely uncensored and starting an advertising campaign that would help the console appeal to a more adult demographic.
The outrage that this caused was both immense and completely intentional. Stoking the fires of controversy was Sega's intention throughout this and found it would use this to highlight its own difference from what had come before. The advertising slogan 'Join The Revolution' was created and used to great effect. The move also helped cover the Mercury's difficulty in handling 3D graphics, with more 2D games being released that were uncensored, it helped hide those initial weaknesses.
By late 1994, the setting for the fifth generation console war was in place. Each company brought its own selling point to the table. Nintendo was having its beloved franchises enter the 3D age with all the care and quality that entailed. Apple was promising a technological innovation with its HOME console and a rapid increase in the number of games by first and third party companies. Sony was focusing on a more mature crowd with the Playstation entering the 3D era with a host of games that would push the technology to its greatest extent. Sega promised a system that would go uncensored, finally bringing the complete arcade experience home with some arcade classics. Finally, there was Atari whose Panther console was simply a last attempt to stay in the console market by promising advancements and games that they couldn't deliver on launch.
The first casualty of the Fifth Generation War was certain before it even began.
- Extract from The Console Wars: 1985-2008, 2019
“So Atari shipped this out almost a year before the Mercury came out, boasting of its 64 bits capabilities, but that didn't save it from being a giant piece of shit! For all their talk about 64 bits, Atari failed to think about how to develop games for it, meaning that there were huge gaps of nothing coming out for people who bought the damn thing! Developers couldn't make games, so no one bought it so developers didn't make games! What were they thinking?!”
- Extract from Atari Jaguar (Part One), a video posted by the Angry Video Game Nerd, 2010
The failure of the Jaguar, coupled with the Jaguar CD becoming renowned for its technical issues rendering it unable to work in many cases, meant that Atari was forced to bow out of the console market. The losses involved meant that the company that had once defined the home console market for an entire generation would now close its doors, its assets sold to Richard Branson's Virgin corporation as it looked to break into the handheld market. It was an end to Atari as an independent company as it would be reshaped into becoming something new as a new competitor tried to enter the handheld video game market.
- Extract from The Console Wars: 1985-2008, 2019
“When getting the job of CEO of Sega America, I realised the challenges before us. 1993 saw the Saturn coming up on the horizon and our research showed that many customers and companies were chaffing under the strict censorship imposed by console manufacturers. We needed to break out and do something new, which is when we hit upon the idea for the more mature games and greater freedom for developers. I had my doubts about the Mercury as a console, so I thought this approach was best to help cover up its drawbacks. It would lead Sega to more than tripling its share of the market in North America and make it a leading force for gaming.”
- Extract from an interview with Tom Kalsinke, 2018
“So Sega's offering us complete carte blanche?”
“That's what they've said.”
“Get John and American in a room together. I think they'll like to hammer something out.”
- Conversation between Kevin Cloud and Tom Hall, 1993
“By the time of the mid-90's, things had grown really stale on the gaming market. You had great games out there and the consoles developed by Nintendo, Apple and Atari had been mainstays in homes around the world for some years. But the self-censorship at the time was really bogging down creativity as the gaming companies involved with the American market were too worried about putting a toe out of line and alienating audiences. Things would have changed at some point, but it wasn't until Sega finally made a move that things started to push forward.”
- Quote from Wwarrior, member of Sufficient Velocity forums, 2018
Sega Mega Drive – The fourth generation console developed by Sega, the Mega Drive would see its most notable success throughout Europe, Australia and Japan. It failed to make much of an impact in North America however, which was already seeing a bitter competition between Nintendo and Apple for dominance over the console market. The Mega Drive was notable for its focus on arcade ports, trying to emulate the look and feel of of those games. Its success would see Sega go onto pursue a console for the fifth generation, the Sega Mercury.
- Extract from The Video Game Encyclopedia, 2009
When it came to searching for markets, the arcade was still a big scene across Japan and North America. The latter had numerous consoles on the market, but they were held back by censorship limiting the games sold to them. Arcades, on the other hand, managed to skirt by as a lot of the focus for the censors was on the home market. A sort of divide of perception existed between consoles and arcades, the latter having a sort of mature quality that appealed to even younger demographics. This was something that Sega and Sony were able to latch onto.
- Extract from The Downfall of the Arcade in America, 2013
“1994 represents a crucial year in gaming when all these different companies were looking to put out the fifth console generation. No prisoners would be taken and out of the five competitors, four would survive, one would fade away within two other console generations and one would reign supreme until the last year of the millennium.”
-Extract from The Console Wars: A European Perspective, a video posted by Kim Justice, 2017
The defining rivalry in North America during the fourth console generation was undoubtedly Apple and Nintendo. The Apple had stumbled onto success with its GAME console and had been followed up by the SYSTEM. Nintendo's NES and SNES had been the ones to stand on top as its numerous franchises such as Mario and Zelda giving it a greater appeal among some audiences compared to Apple's less attention-grabbing output. Completing the trio of console companies was Atari relying on updates to the MSX2 in order to stay in the game and was overshadowed greatly by the other two once Microsoft pulled out of the console market to focus on home computers.
The North American market was quite different to the others across the world, however. Apple and Atari had little to no market share in Japan, which was in turn dominated by Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Sega. The situation was similar in Europe, although there were many home computers which had some form of popularity in their home nations and could be seen as competitors to the consoles. Sega also had a much larger share of the market on the continent, but was still second to Nintendo.
With Nintendo's sheer dominance across the video gaming world, many within the company were confident that this would continue into the next generation, despite the collapse of the relationship between it and Sony that led to Nintendo deciding to stick with cartridge-based games. This proved to be a mistake as companies such as Square, preferring the cheaper costs of CD, ended their exclusivity deals with Nintendo. Square would go onto sign a deal with Sony and look to use the CD based technology to its full extent.
This wouldn't be the first opening a company would have against Nintendo as Sega would use one major factor in the North American market to its advantage. Censorship of home console games in comparison to the arcades. Sega had always aimed to bring the arcade experience into the home and saw an opportunity to do this in a way that would garner them vast amounts of publicity. Speaking with Sega of America, Sega of Japan agreed to a plan of porting all arcade games to the Mercury completely uncensored and starting an advertising campaign that would help the console appeal to a more adult demographic.
The outrage that this caused was both immense and completely intentional. Stoking the fires of controversy was Sega's intention throughout this and found it would use this to highlight its own difference from what had come before. The advertising slogan 'Join The Revolution' was created and used to great effect. The move also helped cover the Mercury's difficulty in handling 3D graphics, with more 2D games being released that were uncensored, it helped hide those initial weaknesses.
By late 1994, the setting for the fifth generation console war was in place. Each company brought its own selling point to the table. Nintendo was having its beloved franchises enter the 3D age with all the care and quality that entailed. Apple was promising a technological innovation with its HOME console and a rapid increase in the number of games by first and third party companies. Sony was focusing on a more mature crowd with the Playstation entering the 3D era with a host of games that would push the technology to its greatest extent. Sega promised a system that would go uncensored, finally bringing the complete arcade experience home with some arcade classics. Finally, there was Atari whose Panther console was simply a last attempt to stay in the console market by promising advancements and games that they couldn't deliver on launch.
The first casualty of the Fifth Generation War was certain before it even began.
- Extract from The Console Wars: 1985-2008, 2019
“So Atari shipped this out almost a year before the Mercury came out, boasting of its 64 bits capabilities, but that didn't save it from being a giant piece of shit! For all their talk about 64 bits, Atari failed to think about how to develop games for it, meaning that there were huge gaps of nothing coming out for people who bought the damn thing! Developers couldn't make games, so no one bought it so developers didn't make games! What were they thinking?!”
- Extract from Atari Jaguar (Part One), a video posted by the Angry Video Game Nerd, 2010
The failure of the Jaguar, coupled with the Jaguar CD becoming renowned for its technical issues rendering it unable to work in many cases, meant that Atari was forced to bow out of the console market. The losses involved meant that the company that had once defined the home console market for an entire generation would now close its doors, its assets sold to Richard Branson's Virgin corporation as it looked to break into the handheld market. It was an end to Atari as an independent company as it would be reshaped into becoming something new as a new competitor tried to enter the handheld video game market.
- Extract from The Console Wars: 1985-2008, 2019
“When getting the job of CEO of Sega America, I realised the challenges before us. 1993 saw the Saturn coming up on the horizon and our research showed that many customers and companies were chaffing under the strict censorship imposed by console manufacturers. We needed to break out and do something new, which is when we hit upon the idea for the more mature games and greater freedom for developers. I had my doubts about the Mercury as a console, so I thought this approach was best to help cover up its drawbacks. It would lead Sega to more than tripling its share of the market in North America and make it a leading force for gaming.”
- Extract from an interview with Tom Kalsinke, 2018
“So Sega's offering us complete carte blanche?”
“That's what they've said.”
“Get John and American in a room together. I think they'll like to hammer something out.”
- Conversation between Kevin Cloud and Tom Hall, 1993
