INTERVIEWS MUST-SEE

Immortal John Hancock Explains Why the Sega Dreamcast Failed

When a Dream Becomes a Nightmare

Sega went from a serious contender against their rival Nintendo in the console wars, to a complete collapse with Sega Dreamcast within just a few years. So what really happened?

In 2019, the Sega Dreamcast celebrated its 20th anniversary since its initial launch in September of 1999. Sci-Fi 3D's Editor-in-Chief spoke with YouTuber and game historian the Immortal John Hancock about the launch, who was actually an employee at GameStop on the ground during the epic event. He’ll give his insights into what the launch was like, what went wrong and much more! Touching on not just the failures of the new system, but the misfires of the Sega Saturn as well. These arguably paved the way for the Dreamcast's failures almost immediately after its release. Be sure to follow John on Twitter @swlovinist, and subscribe to Sci-Fi 3D on YouTube for more great interviews like this! Also, hit subscribe on John's YouTube channel right here.

People sometimes forget that the Sony PlayStation came out of nowhere, and Sega really underestimated them. - Immortal John Hancock

More details on the Sega Dreamcast launch (via Fandom): Hoping to recapture the video game market, it was designed to supersede both the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. Originally released sixteen months before the PlayStation 2 (PS2), and three years before the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox, it was considered to be ahead of its time and was initially successful. However, it failed to gain enough momentum before the release of Sony's PlayStation 2 in March 2000, and Sega decided to discontinue the Sega Dreamcast the in January of 2001, withdrawing entirely from the Console Hardware business and becoming exclusively a third party developer.

Jason Messer | Editor-in-Chief

Covering all things sci-fi, horror, gaming, and tech with an old-school, retro twist. Welcome to Sci-Fi 3D. We were geek…before it was cool!

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