Why wasn't SEGA as influential as they could've been during their glory days?

[Artwark]

I still have a bit of a soft spot for SEGA especially during my childhood days.


But this has always made me wonder.....why SEGA works are often ignored by the community as a whole? What I mean by ignore is that none of the games that SEGA makes win any awards like the Interactive Arts and Science Hall of Fame?


Phantasy Star Online....why didn't that win any awards when its the first console game to have online gaming? Infact, why isn't SEGA that influential to many gamers and critics worldwide.


You often see devs like Square Enix that have games that are groundbreaking and yet when SEGA does it, it seems to be ignored. I don't understand that.

[Team Andromeda]

Phantasy Star Online....why didn't that win any awards when its the first console game to have online gaming? Infact, why isn't SEGA that influential to many gamers and critics worldwide

Think you'll find it won a BAFTA 

[Tad]

It goes back to the early days of gaming sadly. America were predominantly Nintendo's territory back in the day and the legacy and nostalgia that they made stayed with people till this very day. You only have to look at the reaction of Game Freak working with SEGA for Tembo to see it.

It's a disgusting bias that's plagued the gaming media too.

[Artwark]

It goes back to the early days of gaming sadly. America were predominantly Nintendo's territory back in the day and the legacy and nostalgia that they made stayed with people till this very day. You only have to look at the reaction of Game Freak working with SEGA for Tembo to see it.

It's a disgusting bias that's plagued the gaming media too.

I don't understand the comment.....what does that have to do with SEGA not being able to have the attention that it should have had even during their early days....like Periscope? Or what about.....Phantasy Star being ahead of its time?

[FlareHabanero]

I think what he's trying to say is that during the 80's and 90's SEGA had a habit of being "second best" by competitors like Nintendo and Sony so their innovations got skipped over by the public. Sometimes it was a case of messing up like the underwhelming performance of the SEGA Saturn in American and PAL regions due to a lot of questionable choices, or a case of bad timing like with the SEGA Dreamcast being released just a few years before the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox. Of course it kind of depended on the region, for example in PAL regions and South America the Master System was more popular then the NES while in Japan the SEGA Saturn had a better success story.

[Sharky]

SEGA's accomplishments are only ever celebrated in hindsight because they've generally always been the underdog. Especially in the US market where, and I know you don't want to hear it, Nintendo monopolized the market with bully tactics and black mailing retailers. (Go read 'Console Wars' for references.)

SEGA pioneered many, many things that are staple in todays games and game consoles, but most people will never even know.

[Tad]

SEGA's accomplishments are only ever celebrated in hindsight because they've generally always been the underdog. Especially in the US market where, and I know you don't want to hear it, Nintendo monopolized the market with bully tactics and black mailing retailers. (Go read 'Console Wars' for references.)

SEGA pioneered many, many things that are staple in todays games and game consoles, but most people will never even know.

One big reference I don't think that book mentions was with Starfox. Two blokes from Briton created the ability for the SNES to do 3D. Nintendo showed interest and asked them to join them. They did, but as soon as they had their technology, they dumbed them without ever releasing a game.

As for the topic in question, FlareHabanero pretty much answered it. SEGA were seen as the underdog in places like America and their technology was ignored because of it.

[Team Andromeda]

and I know you don't want to hear it, Nintendo monopolized the market with bully tactics and black mailing retailers. (Go read 'Console Wars' for references.)

And maybe you don't want to hear it, but SEGA Europe did much the same . Lets remember both corps were fined for pricing fixing , but granted Ninetndo were twice .  Fair to say all corps have done did so I wouldn't use it to bash NCL or SEGA myself.


You also have the issues than many of the so called NCl or SEGA 1st weren't really  1st at all  and who cares inthe 90's SEGA was brilliant and made the best games and thats all that counts

[Sharky]

I'm not talking about price fixing, everyone bloody price fixes.

I'm talking about Nintendo would bully toy/retail stores into not stocking SEGA products or they would pull out of that retailer completely. As SEGA was up and coming and Nintendo had no real competition at the time with a 90% market share many stores simply wouldn't stock SEGA products out of fear.

SEGA of America ended up setting up their own pop up store across the street from one major retailer because they wouldn't stock SEGA games or consoles. Story is in 'Console Wars.'

[Barry the Nomad]

The awards bit puzzles me. Were there really that many, if any, video game awards back in the 80s and early 90s? I know CES gave nods to games on show, and I am certain SEGA received recognition back then. But the Interactive Arts and Science Hall of Fame began in 1998, and stuff like televised video game awards and the British Academy Games Awards are products of the mid to late 2000s.

Really, the awards back then were sales and market share, which SEGA was strong in their glory days. That's all that really mattered then.

As for modern awards, SEGA has received a lot of E3 recognition and Alien: Isolation won awards in Europe. Also, the Smithsonian has Virtua Fighter in their collection and SEGA received a lot of recognition in that Art of Video Games exhibit.

[Artwark]

I'm not talking about price fixing, everyone bloody price fixes.

I'm talking about Nintendo would bully toy/retail stores into not stocking SEGA products or they would pull out of that retailer completely. As SEGA was up and coming and Nintendo had no real competition at the time with a 90% market share many stores simply wouldn't stock SEGA products out of fear.

SEGA of America ended up setting up their own pop up store across the street from one major retailer because they wouldn't stock SEGA games or consoles. Story is in 'Console Wars.'

Wasn't SEGA responsible to force Nintendo to rechange their policies?


Also, a lot of people say that SEGA dominates the Arcade market.....yet I'm seeing Namco doing higher than SEGA.


I don't think you understand my point. SEGA dominated the arcade market back then. They made the genesis which is a kickass system as much as I love Nintendo in the end. They made the Dreamcast, the most revolutionary system ever!!!


Outrun......After Burner....all the games that SEGA made are revolutionary that they deserve such recognition...yet they don't.

[Tad]

Yup. It sucks. But, history shows how important they were, regardless of what people thought at the time.

[Centrale]

I think the various awards in the video game industry are a complete mess. In many cases you've got games that win all sorts of awards years before the game is even completed and released. Tell me, what other medium has that kind of absurd practice? There are awards from the press, but the American press is populated by people who were gamers as kids in the 80s and 90s... some of whom still have an axe to grind against Sega for toppling the NES stranglehold on the American market by painting Nintendo as "uncool."

Rather than look to awards, I find it more interesting when individual developers and designers themselves discuss what their influences are, and what their favorite games of the year are.

[Barry the Nomad]

What Centrale said. So many successful devs nowadays credit SEGA as inspiration. I know Kamiya is a huge fan of the AM2 arcade games, for example.

[Randroid]

The title of this thread is misleading.

What you seem to be asking is "Why are sega games generally ignored at release?" or "Why do they not win awards?"

It is obvious that Sega's game history has been massively influential to other games throughout gaming history. You'd have to be pretty cut off from Sega's work to not see how it has influenced gaming.

To address what you actually are asking, I would say that your opinion is limited to the NA viewpoint, where either you have the old guard that has to put Sega down since they were the enemy to their first love (Nintendo), or you have the new school which never knew Sega in its heyday. In JP and EUR, Sega is constantly recognized.