Page 7 - The Edge: Issue 5 2020

But in the next generation, Sega faced yet another decline. Another Japanese company, Sony, had broken into the console industry. While Sony had originally focused on the manufacture of electronics, the company opened a new branch called Sony Interactive Entertainment to develop their new system: the PlayStation.
Like the successful consoles before it, the PlayStation was backed by an extensive marketing campaign – but unlike Nintendo’s and Sega’s platforms, it targeted a mature audience.
Sega’s status as a major seller in the video game industry was at risk. Though Sony had no prior experience in gaming, marketing helped Sony capture a wider audience than other companies. Then, Sega made an unfortunate mistake. Sega was so threatened by Sony’s PlayStation that they decided to release their Saturn console months before the original release date, which incensed developers and retailers, who were expecting to have more time to
prepare – some even dropping support completely.
The Saturn’s release library was severely limited,
because several games which were meant to
launch with the console were not complete by the
new release date.
At the first Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sega announced the Saturn’s early launch at an introductory price of $399. PlayStation’s head of development, Steve Race, came to the podium to say just one thing: “$299.” He left to a round of applause, and at that moment Sega died as a console manufacturer.
The following generation brought the Nintendo Gamecube, the Sega Dreamcast, Sony’s PlayStation 2 – and something new. Microsoft’s Xbox had joined the game.
Microsoft had produced personal computers and software for years, and Bill Gates felt threatened by the PS2, fearing that it would take over computer entertainment and kill the PC. So, he chose to enter the console market with the Xbox. The Xbox’s big win was its integrated broadband adapter and its launch title, Halo Combat Evolved, which refined the already popular first person shooter and introduced online multiplayer, a feature other consoles did not include.
This American company had found its way in and developed into a huge player in the video game industry, a status that it retains today. Two Japanese companies, Sony and Nintendo, continue to compete as they have since 64 bits. Sega is now only a third-party developer. While the modern US console war almost seems two-sided, a dichotomy of Sony and Microsoft, the list of competitors in video games’ early decades ebbed and flowed constantly.
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