Innovators are
almost never the market leaders and often times are unable to capitalize on
their own innovations at all. This happens in every industry, ideas and
concepts are introduced by one party then iterated on by almost everyone else
until naturally one or two market leaders rise. It's a natural occurrence in a
capitalist market and a direct result of competition but very rarely does
lightning strike twice. Sega was a titan when it came to innovation in the
hardware space, foreseeing the forthcoming of the connected video game
experience and the lucrative subscription service model; but just like most
other innovators Sega was to much to soon and despite their ingenuity were
forced out of the hardware market entirely.
Welcome welcome
welcome everyone welcome back to LegalSpeak a ColdNorth Production. I'm
TheLawMorris and this is the video essay series in which I get to talk about
the games I've been playing and what I think of the medium as a whole. Don’t
forget to check out everything we do including both of our podcasts all in one
spot over at ColdNorthPro.com. This week we'll be discussing two separate times
that Sega introduced something that can easily be called a game changer to the
video game industry before it was ready. Lets talk about Sega Channel and
Seganet.
For almost two
decades internet connectivity has been an integral part of almost every single
video game to come to market. Whether those be multiplayer games in which
players use the internet to connect to other players and play together or
single player games where developers can patch out bugs and deliver new content
an internet connection has become an absolute must for owning a console in
2019. PC players were connected to the internet and using these features long
before console players but that was in a time when the two markets were so
separated that people still widely referred to console games as video games and
PC games as computer games. Sega saw the two markets converging and becoming
much more competitive platforms before most people did and as a result with the
introduction of the Dreamcast in 1999 they sought to bring the connected nature
of a PC to the console market.
Seganet was Sega's
online service that connected Dreamcast players to one another over the
internet. Through an optional modem add on for the Dreamcast players had the
capability to connect to Seganet and play games head to head or cooperatively
online. Popular games like NFL 2K, Jet Set Radio, and Phantasy Star Online are
fondly remembered as the pinnacle of Seganet. In the years since its demise and
Sega's exiting the hardware space the Dreamcast has become somewhat of a cult
classic console with many people still swearing by it as the best console of
all time, even today. And in a sense those people are right. Despite being
discontinued in March of 2001 the Dreamcast was extremely forward thinking and
later that year Microsoft would enter the market with the original Xbox
sporting a built in modem for internet connectivity.
A connected console
is something that is so commonplace in today's market that the vast majority of
the consumer base doesn’t even think of it as a feature its become something
that's simply expected. When pressed to tell you who started the connected console
movement that vast majority of consumers would probably respond with Microsoft
for their Xbox live service that launched in 2002, or maybe they're one of the
two dozen or so people that played Socom online and they would tell you the PS2
was the first connected console. While both Sony and Microsoft have gone on to
refine the idea and benefits of a connected console it was Sega that paved the
way for their success. Sega brought an internet service for console gaming to
market in the mid 90's on the Saturn and made it much more widely accessible in
1999 with the Dreamcast but even then it was still just ahead of it's time and
while Sega was preparing for and building the console of the future the
consumers were more interested in the console of right now and both the Saturn
and Dreamcast lacked games and major third party support when compared to Sony
and Nintendo.
While the connected
console is something Sega saw coming a couple years ahead of the rest of the
market there was something else that we have all hailed as a monumental
achievement in pushing the delivery of video games to new heights that Sega
predicted not only years but decades before it would take the world by storm.
Sega Channel was a
very strange concept that starting in 1994 allowed users to order the
capability to download as many games as they wanted from the list of games
included with the service and play those games for as long as they wanted. The
service was delivered through cable TV providers who would send a tech to
customers houses with a specialized Genesis cartridge that sported a coaxial
input to connect to the cable provider. Sega Channel was operational from 1994
to 1998 for $13 per month and when adjusted for inflation that comes out to
about $22 per month in 2019. A bit more than two times $9.99…
The potential of
unlimited access to games from a set list for a flat monthly fee has been a
holy grail of sorts that the industry has been chasing for decades now and it
all started with Sega Channel. The idea has ben attempted by many others
including third parties that aren't in the video game industry but the retail
industry. The closest any company has ever gotten to realizing that vision
prior to 2017 for me personally was actually Blockbuster. In 2003 Blockbuster,
rest in peace, introduced in what is undoubtedly the worst bit of branding of
all time the Unlimited Game Rental Freedom Pass for $14.99 per month or $20.87
per month in 2019 dollars. The freedom pass allowed subscribers to hold one
game out for as long as they wanted and swap it out for any other game as many
times as they liked, effectively making the only limiting factor be what
blockbuster happened to have in stock at the time. In 2017 Microsoft announced
their new program called Gamepass, at the start of the eighth generation of consoles
Sony acquired Gaikai for their streaming technology and now offer PSnow, EA
offers EA access, and Ubisoft just announced Uplay+. Starting in 2017 a whole
23 years after Sega Channel the idea of an all you can play subscription buffet
is a wildly popular one, another part of the gaming industry pioneered by Sega.
When most people
(myself included prior to writing this) look back on Sega's time as a hardware
developer they picture the glory days of the Genesis and the tailspin that was
the Saturn. But Sega is almost never remembered for the incredible innovations they
brought to market before the market was ready for said innovations. In a very
strange way without Sega we definitely would have gotten to the connected
console world and the subscription service model we have today but it could
have potentially taken much longer than it did. Sega opened the door on two of
the biggest most revolutionary concepts in video game history and while they're
still out there publishing software like Alien Isolation (great game) and Sonic
Forces (a less than great game) I think we should all take a moment to pour one
out for their hardware division.
What are some of the
major game changers that you think changed the industry either for better or
for worse? Let me know in the comments down below. And if you had any
experience with either Seganet or Sega Channel please let me know about it
while you're down there!
If you liked what
you heard don’t forget to subscribe for new videos and two new podcasts every
week. Just one more reminder that you can see everything we do all in one spot
over at ColdNorthPro.com. I will be back next week talking about Gears 3 so until
then just go play some games.
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