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No other console tanked the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was fatally wounded as a platform because their DRM was easily bypassed. You didn't even need a special ha

No other console tanked the Dreamcast. The Dreamcast was fatally wounded as a platform because their DRM was easily bypassed. You didn't even need a special hardware dongle or modification. You could instead straight up download copies of games that were modified to work on the system. No point in supporting a platform that was dominating arcades but whose sales were getting obliterated by piracy at home.

VRay 5y ago
I remember that the Dreamcast was already dead by the time piracy started becoming rampant, at least in the USA where I lived
vikingerik 5y ago
As the other reply says, this didn't really happen this way. The Dreamcast was already on its way out after the PS2's launch by the time piracy really started up. Piracy was a footnote, not a cause. Internet access was one constraining factor. Not everyone in 1999/2000 had broadband to download entire CD images. And an even smaller portion ever knew where to find the piracy methods and content - most of it was on Usenet.
timw4mail 5y ago
PS2 marketing killed the Dreamcast.
- MisterBastahrd 5y ago
  Yes, this is far more correct. PS2 marketing had people believing that the PS2 was going to be rendering Terminator 2 level graphics in realtime.
gogopuppygogo 5y ago
Lack of a DVD drive killed the Dreamcast. People saw much more value in a PS2. I had a Dreamcast at launch and still love the games that came out on it. If it had a new revision with a DVD player in it announced at the same PS2 price point to compete with the PS2 and XBOX then Sega might still be in the console business.
- davewashere 5y ago
  It really can't be overstated how important the DVD drive was for the PS2's success. When the first Fast and the Furious movie came out it almost seemed realistic that a criminal gang would risk their lives while attempting to steal DVD players from a truck. That movie's premiere was 8 months after the PS2 was released in the US. A DVD player AND a next gen video game console for $299 was an incredible deal in 2000.

VRay 5y ago

I remember that the Dreamcast was already dead by the time piracy started becoming rampant, at least in the USA where I lived

vikingerik 5y ago

As the other reply says, this didn't really happen this way. The Dreamcast was already on its way out after the PS2's launch by the time piracy really started up. Piracy was a footnote, not a cause. Internet access was one constraining factor. Not everyone in 1999/2000 had broadband to download entire CD images. And an even smaller portion ever knew where to find the piracy methods and content - most of it was on Usenet.

timw4mail 5y ago

PS2 marketing killed the Dreamcast.

MisterBastahrd 5y ago
Yes, this is far more correct. PS2 marketing had people believing that the PS2 was going to be rendering Terminator 2 level graphics in realtime.

gogopuppygogo 5y ago

Lack of a DVD drive killed the Dreamcast. People saw much more value in a PS2. I had a Dreamcast at launch and still love the games that came out on it. If it had a new revision with a DVD player in it announced at the same PS2 price point to compete with the PS2 and XBOX then Sega might still be in the console business.

davewashere 5y ago
It really can't be overstated how important the DVD drive was for the PS2's success. When the first Fast and the Furious movie came out it almost seemed realistic that a criminal gang would risk their lives while attempting to steal DVD players from a truck. That movie's premiere was 8 months after the PS2 was released in the US. A DVD player AND a next gen video game console for $299 was an incredible deal in 2000.