Oh My God! Peter Moore Killed The Dreamcast!

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Oh My God! Peter Moore Killed The Dreamcast!


Peter Moore recently revealed that he's the man responsible for killing the Sega Dreamcast [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast], an admission that's added significant credibility to the argument that he's actually Satan in business casual.

In an interview with the EA's [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2008/sep/11/gamesinterviews.microsoft1?gusrc=rss&feed=technology] refusal to publish for the system, ultimately doomed it to failure. Still, Moore added that it was a close thing, saying, "Dreamcast was a phenomenal 18 months of pain, heartache, euphoria... We thought we had it, but then PlayStation came out, that infamous issue of Newsweek with the Emotion Engine on the cover... and of course, EA didn't publish which left a big hole, not only in sports but in other genres. We ended up that Christmas period not being able to get where we needed to be - we weren't far short, we just couldn't get that critical mass."

"We had a tremendous 18 months. Dreamcast was on fire - we really thought that we could do it," he continued. "But then we had a target from Japan that said - and I can't remember the exact figures - but we had to make N hundreds of millions of dollars by the holiday season and shift N millions of units of hardware, otherwise we just couldn't sustain the business."

Ultimately, Sega failed to achieve those numbers and the axe fell, with Moore wielding it. "On January 31, 2001 we said Sega is leaving hardware - somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people, it was not a pleasant day," he said. "We were selling 50,000 units a day, then 60,000, then 100,000, but it was just not going to be enough to get the critical mass to take on the launch of PS2. It was a big stakes game. Sega had the option of pouring in more money and going bankrupt and they decided they wanted to live to fight another day. So we licked our wounds, ate some humble pie and went to Sony and Nintendo to ask for dev kits."



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GenericWit

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May 16, 2008
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Hmm, now what I don't fully get is that he says he knew he could've won, but then he says he couldn't once the PS came out. I don't think it matters either way though because he did fold, and Sega did die out. *shrugs*
 

Retodon8

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Jun 25, 2008
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If I read it correctly, he's saying that Sega would've won if it would have "embrace[d] the concept of a globalized brand", and if EA wouldn't have refused to publish for the Dreamcast.
Actually he says Sega of America knew that they would win (if only; see above), which is different.
I have "known" things in the past that ended up not being fact along the road.
 

SaintWaldo

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Jun 10, 2008
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Maybe if the bulk of their advertisement wasn't a huge middle finger to the winner of the previous generation, they would have been received a lil' better?
 

TheBadass

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Aug 27, 2008
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I've said it before and I'll say it again, that suit is slick. He needs to work on not looking like the devil, though.
 

minoes

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Aug 28, 2008
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He is just trying to make EA look important, by implying that the Dreamcast failed because EA refuse to publish games for it.
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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I think the refusal of EA to publish for the Dreamcast would actually be a fairly big blow.
 

ElArabDeMagnifico

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TheBadass post=7.71584.730554 said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, that suit is slick. He needs to work on not looking like the devil, though.
Now instead of just seeing him say "I slept with your wife" - he's saying "I killed the Dreamcast after sleeping with your wife...hahaha!"

I have a buzz cut, I'll let it grow out, Dye my hair, make it look like I'm kinda balding, and be peter moore for Halloween (of course, in the suit...with a chair that has wheels...that I control with my mind.)
 
Mar 26, 2008
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Malygris post=7.71584.731479 said:
I think the refusal of EA to publish for the Dreamcast would actually be a fairly big blow.
Considering the relationship that EA and Sega had going with the Megadrive, which lead to the dominance of the EA sports franchises and lots of $$$ for Sega it was a massive blow.

In Japan, where consumer brand loyalty is king, Sega burned quite a few of their supporters with their half-baked ideas that followed the Megadrive (32x, Sega CD, etc) and the lack-lustre treatment of the Saturn.

Personally I think Sega's main problem was they just don't know how to market and advertise their product (Microsoft seem to have gone with a similar "less is best" strategy with the Xbox 360). The Saturn, which should have been riding high on the success of the Megadrive, was released to minimal fanfare and when they actually had a winning product like the Dreamcast they didn't actually push it like they believed they had a winning hand and people needed to own one. Sony, on the other hand, was the funky, fresh-faced, new kid on the block that was already winning over people with the Playstation. Sony just rammed it home with their advertising.

It's quite sad actually; I really liked my Dreamcast and I thought it had a bright future at the time.
 

Unholykrumpet

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Nov 1, 2007
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHAxB9oI4Q

...it's thinking. Possibly one of the scariest catch phrases, and one that I don't really want for a console.

"What's it doing? I've been waiting for this game to load for 10 minutes!"
"Sh...it's thinking"

Wow...watching these commercials...just wow. The Soul Calibur commercial is borderline innapropriate, the Jet Set Radio Future commercial is silly, the Seganet commercial has an obvious anti-american tone, and the 2nd Shenmue commercial is basically what Jack Thompson dreams about.
 

Arbre

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SaintWaldo post=7.71584.730534 said:
Maybe if the bulk of their advertisement wasn't a huge middle finger to the winner of the previous generation, they would have been received a lil' better?
Sony's marketing strategy was not exactly kind either. Not to count the huge amount of bullshit they were putting out.
Sega lacked an overall vision, while Sony has an international and strong multimedia background which helped them properly understand how to invade the living room and defeat family style brands.
When you see what happened of Sega since then, it's a miracle Sega still shows life pulses.