It didn’t had enough muscle for Microsoft’s tastes
Looks like we have now a little more insight about the dark times when Sega changed their business from first to third party.
According to a recent interview given to IGN by Kempin Joachim, Microsoft’s former executive, back when the computing giant started toying with the idea of entering the console wars, their first thought was to buy SEGA, and they even started to join forces with them, by licensing Windows CE to use as Dreamcast OS. But things didn’t go as planned, and they ultimately didn’t do it. Why? Because the only thing that they wanted was to stop Sony. And Bill Gates thought SEGA didn’t have “enough muscle”.
“There were three companies at that point in time, I think this was [Sony,] SEGA and Nintendo. There was always talk maybe we buy SEGA or something like that; that never materialised, but we were actually able to license them what they call Windows CE, the younger brother of Windows, to run on their system and make that their platform.
But for Bill [Gates] this wasn’t enough, he didn’t think that SEGA had enough muscle to eventually stop Sony so we did our own Xbox thing.
There were some talks but it never materialised because SEGA was a very different bird. It was always Sony and Nintendo, right? And Nintendo had some financial trouble at that point in time, so Sony came out with the PlayStation and bang! They took off, and everyone else was left behind.”
What could had happened if Microsoft did buy SEGA back in the day? Would we still have SEGA consoles today, Xbox 360 anyone? Or maybe things could have gone the RARE way and ruined Sega’s IPs, with the blue company making casual games? We will never know. What do you think? Tell us in the comments!
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Wasn’t SEGA briefly Xbox exclusive after the demise of the Dreamcast? We had Jet Set Radio Future, Shenmue 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and SEGA GT come out only for Xbox back then. If Microsoft had purchased SEGA, SEGA wouldn’t have any financial troubles. Hell, if Shenmue 2 did well on the original Xbox, SEGA could’ve asked MS to fund for the third game. But that’s only a hypothetical best case scenario. Worst case scenario, SEGA would end up working on MS’s projects, like Kinect. We could have gotten some crappy hoverboard game in the process, but thank god that doesn’t exist.
I heard about this before as a rumour but I guess the rumour was true. I also heard that the team behind Dreamcast went onto to develop the original Xbox for Microsoft, is that true?
SEGASoft!
@ Sentaro X
“crappy hoverboard games”
Sonic Free Riders,that game is a fuckbutt
Thank God this didn’t happen.
they screwed up rare and now they try to screw up sega
i was wondering why i havent dusted off my 360 lately
Trat just proves how stupid Microsoft really is. So they could had Sega and Nintendo, and finally thought “oh well, we´ll do it alone”, LOL. Just as Sega and Nintendo ignoring Sony, Atari ignoring Nintendo, etc.
Given Microsoft’s abysmal treatment of RARE, I’m glad Sega dodged a bullet.
@Setnaro X
Not really. In the same time frame as those games were made, SEGA released VF4 and Shinobi exclusively for the PS2, the Sonic Adventure games and Billy Hatcher exclusively for the GCN, and multiplats like the PSO Ep I&II.
Anyway, I wouldn’t mind if SEGA were bought by Microsoft rather than Sammy buying them. Because, unlike Sammy, Microsoft actually had interest in the video game industry.
Microsoft…? Buying SEGA!? HA!
Like they would ever want to be owned by them. Lol.
Defenetly go with the RARE way. I COULD IMAGINE “SONIC NUTZ AND BOLTS”
*slapped in the face*
But with all the seriousness, Microsoft buying SEGA? PFFF please, this is just a joke.
Interesting bit of history. I’m glad Microsoft chose not to purchase SEGA, not because I fear they would have ruined the company (just because Rare went downhill doesn’t mean it was guaranteed to happen to SEGA), but because I want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy Sonic and all the other great games that SEGA releases.
And this is coming from someone who currently only plays games on Xbox 360.
Well thank GOD that did not happen! We all remember what happened to Rareware don’t we?
I am so thankful that Sega didn’t fall victims to Microsoft and suffer the same fate as the once great Rareware.
Hmmm…well at least Sonic is not advertising “Monopoly” underneath a company that speaks volumes of Monopoly and practices it quite well too. Congrats Sonic…live long and prosper…NOTE TO M$… don’t mess with teh chilleh dawg king!
@QuietGuy: What, you mean you didn’t enjoy such quality gaming such as Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts?
*Insert Generic “Microsoft Ruined Rare” Comment Here*
I actually think being X-Box exclusive would have shot Sonic in the foot. Microsoft’s darker and edgier, FPS shilling style is not very friendly to cartoony, anthro characters or their series. Remember Blinx The Time Sweeper? I thought as much.
Based on the flow of comments, pretty much all chances of having an intelligent conversation have gone out the window.
I agree with Setnaro X, Sega being bought out by Microsoft probably wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen to the company, in a parallel world it could mean franchises like Jet Set Radio, Shenmue and Sega GT could’ve lived long and prosper.
We have no way of really knowing what the outcome would of been, but I doubt they would of given Sega the same mistreatment they’ve given rare, considering the company’s history and rich line of IP’s.
The main reason Microsoft bought Rare from Nintendo in the first place (if they were owned by Nintendo) was so they could compete with them and make Xbox exclusives that could rival Mario, Zelda and the likes, but seeing as how Microsoft managed to stay successful with the rise in popularity of first person shooters there was little need to stress over it so rare was shafted into the basement to work on Avatars and kinect sports games.
It really sucks, dont get me wrong but tbh, I don’t think franchises like Conker would of had much better a chance with Wii or PS3 that generation either. The market focus really wasn’t on platforming.
Its a damn shame though because I really think rare’s IP’s would of bloomed with the Wii-U and games like Banjo 3, Perfect Dark and Starfox Adventures 2 (I’ve never played it so I dont know if people love the game or not) probably would of made the best use of the touch pad and the systems hardware, making critics and reviewers fall back in love with Nintendo again, but this topic’s meant to be about Sega so I’ll drop that ball and shut up now.
(In my personal opinion I feel Sega might of had a better chance with Microsoft than it would have with Sony, Steam or Nintendo if it was bought out by one of the companies during that era but again, who can really say. Fingers crossed this generation can slowly move away from military FPS and street racing sequels and we can finally start getting some innovative new IP’s again. Mirror’s Edge, Binary Domain, Vanquish, Alice Madness Returns, Tokyo Jungle, The Unfinished Swan, The market’s still out there.)
MetaRyan. A mixture of sour grapes,Nintendo fanboyism, Mircosoft bashing and clueless as hell users who are completely obvlious to SEGA and how they operate or the fact that they are in black financially currently.
No intelligent conversation about SEGA to be had here. Which is pathetic.
Ninetails2000. Sonic Adventure DX would have FARED better on the Xbox and shouldn’t have been exclusive to Gamecube. The piss poor online connectivity of Gamecube really ruined the DLC experience with the Chao and VMU.
PERHAPS VALVE HAVE A BETTER SHOT OR ELSE SONY WOULD BUY THEM OFF FIRST…..
BUT ITS SEEMS THAT VALVE STEAM OWNS MOSTLY SEGA GAMES FOR PC…..BUT THEIR IS EVIDENCE THAT SEGA IS EXCLUSIVE TO STEAM BOX…….HAVING SONIC GAMES EXCLUSIVE ONLY STEAMBOX AND STEAM SOUNDS VERY REASONABLE….
@SegaZone: Still acting like a pretentious know-it-all, huh? Way to be, guy.
@First Comment
Fuckin’ seriously? If Microsoft had actually purchased Sega i can assure you that it would’ve shut sonic’s coffin so hard and all what we would be getting if we were even lucky is Sonic Free Riders 6: Buy kinect quest.
Remember what happened to rareware? Microsoft were also a big reason in the rush of Sonic ’06.
So no thanks. I would rather have Sega slowly die rather than begin random sports game making slaves for kinect n’ stuff. Just sayin’.
@Segazone
I fail to see how the Gamecube ruined the chao or the VMU in fact I found the GBA Gamecube connectivity to be very cool (and the Xbox did not offer that at the time). I think that Sonic Adventure DX should have been on Xbox and PS2 as well, but I do not see why having the Gamecube version was such a bad thing.
Segazone, I do not understand your attitude at all, you come on these comments and call everyone who disagrees with you a blind Nintendo fanboy and yet you show a highly subjective and unreasonable hatred towards Nintendo and their products. Futhermore, you are entitled to you opinion and I respect that, but you should not bash the opinions of others. You called the comments made on this section pathetic and unintelligent. You also do not backup your opinions very well. For example, just saying that Sonic Adventure DX would have faired better on the Xbox does not make it so, show some statistics to prove your facts (maybe compare the sales data between other Sonic games on Xbox to Gamecube and PS2). If you do not believe that Microsoft mishandeled Rare then state why and provide proper facts, but do not sensely go and call people and their opinions (many of which are better backed up than yours) unintelligent because that does not add any credibility to your arguement.
If Microsoft had bought Sega, we would have gotten Shadow the Hedgehog a lot sooner, that’s for sure. Also, the old Xbox Duke controllers have always looked suspiciously “Dreamcast-y” to me.
@AshtonNextGen
Most people I’ve spoken to like it as a game, but hate it as a Starfox. They wish that Rare had gone ahead and made the game as it originally was going to be before they got cold feet and went to Nintendo for advice.
@AM
Bravo.
tbh I think it would of been a good deal had Microsoft bought SEGA, not only because Micro$oft is one of the biggest video game companies but it would actually mean SEGA and Sonic games would have been exclusive to one console again instead of being scattered all around and we (the fans) wouldn’t have had to buy several console just to keep up!
The world would stink had microsoft bought Sega. 1. Mario and Sonic would have never crossed over. 2. No Sonic in Smash Bros. 3. We wouldn’t have the great Sonic handheld games like the Sonic Advance series, Sonic Rush Series, Sonic Battle, Sonic Chronicles and so on.
Even though I’m contradicting my previous comment by saying this but tbh, thinking about it, Microsoft buying Sega probably would really have been the best thing for the company.
I mean really, think about it. This was Before the Xbox was in development, Microsoft wanted a way into the industry to compete with Sony and Nintendo, if they were to buy Sega what do you think they would make? DREAMCAST-FREAKING-TWO of course!!
Xbox didn’t exist at the time, so Microsoft would of been picking up from Sega’s legacy and pretty much throwing endless money at the company to develop more of the games we here all love! There’s really nothing at -ALL- to complain about when you think about it from that perspective. I mean on the major downside it probably would of meant games like Halo would of never existed (Because Microsoft would of had little reason to need new IP’s or little reason to hire Bungie Studios) which in turn would of meant that console FPS’s wouldn’t of taken off the way they did, which would mean there would be little to no hype over the call of duty or battlefield series, EA and Activision wouldn’t be making as much money as they currently are from the franchise, which means other franchises may not have gotten funding or financial support from them… …which meant EA wouldn’t of been so highly strung over secondhand game sales, DLC pre-orders and all of this corporate crap that’s bringing us gamers into an almost, communist Russia like reality…
Its kinda scary when you think about it, Microsoft buying Sega really would of made a serious impact on the entire gaming industry, if not just for the fact that Halo wouldn’t have a reason to exist…
@Skai Cyan
Ah I see, thanks for clearing that up for me.
@sonictoast
Damn, you make a good point actually. Its so easy to forget about the advance trilogy. I may of still happened in some form or another but it wouldn’t of been the same game.
Look at what they did to Rare it wouldve sucked if they bought Sega
@AshtonNextGen
I think you make a very good point. I think a lot of us are looking at Microsoft’s non-tried acquisition plan from a present perspective, which is why we bring up points about Rare (I guess Rare is irrelevant to this argument because when Microsoft acquired them they already had the Xbox’s core market and franchises established and they were not dependent on Rare’s IPs). However, hypothetically speaking, if Microsoft did buy Sega to enter the console market then I think they would have paid better attention to Sega’s IPs because those are the IPs that they would have most likely used to create a clout for themselves in the video game market. If that were the case then Microsoft’s core market would have been quite different then it is now (unless of course they also purchased Bungie then they would have had the best of both worlds).
@SegaZone
your mother is whore
@SegaZone
Whipping out the fanboyism card is akin to bringing up Hitler in an argument: It invalidates your argument automatically.
I don’t see how being on the X-Box would have helped SADX. Gamecube always got the highest quality Sonic products when they were mutli-platform, and I doubt X-Box would have put ANY effort into chao or DLC. Just because their online was better doesn’t mean they would want to put forth the effort. Just look at what happened when they actually GOT both Sonic Adventures. They made you pay EXTRA for features that the Gamecube ports just gave you naturally and that’s it. Hell, Sonic Adventure didn’t even get the GameGear games at the end of the day IIRC.
Ninetails2000. You’re aware I don’t own ANY current gen console. And that I DIDN’T get an Xbox until 2005 towards the end of its life. I stopped playing console games in 2006 and returned to retro gaming in 2009.
Sonic Adventure DX would have fared better as a Xbox port because the Xbox would have taken advantage of its DLC content as well as the fact that most Dreamcast owners were moving on to the Xbox. I’m not a Mircosoft fanboy, because I don’t own a 360. Your accusation is baseless and without merit. Gamecube had poor online features and everyone knows that.
AM. I happen to LOVE my NES and play it like there’s no tomorrow. I also got the Super NES for Christmas brand new in Christmas 1991 and are very fond of the N64.
I just happen to dislike the Nintendo of today. They are hung up on gimmicks and weak hardware. Wii U sales are very lackluster and googling that will come up with the same result. And most 3rd party publishers are already abandoning it. Gamecube had poor online connectivity. Which by 2003 was just plain pathetic, only bias would defend this. But it made for a weak and worthless dumbed down port for DX. At the time, you were better of sticking with the original Dreamcast version. Which I and many people did.
I also am personally offended at people who keep saying “Nintendo should buy SEGA” because its completely and totally ridiculous. Absolutely incredulous some of the worse hyperpole I’ve heard in my life time. Nintendo is in ZERO shape to be buying a large multi-billion dollar Arcade brand like SEGA.Whom you all seem to think is just this small Japanese game publisher. Do anyone of you even know how this works and if Nintendo even has the spending money to do so? Nintendo has $10 billion dollars in cash and a net worth of $44 billion. SEGASammy is worth $20 billion dollars and has $3 billion in cash. Tell me how in the hell it would be possible? This little fanboy wet dream would completely bankrupt Nintendo.
Therefore its never going to happen. It’s offensive to say so when none of you have a single clue what the hell you are talking about. SEGA’s 3rd party future is PC and mobile gaming. They are gaining momentum in these markets and are leaving behind this “Nintendo loyalty” and multi-platform market.
I’m not a know it all. I’m someone who does research and doesn’t go around blindly saying ignorant things. If Tristan could just improve his preconceived notions about how SEGA operates as a company (so far recently he’s doing better) he’d find out the truth about where SEGA is headed. They are reaching for higher ground. Higher than anyone ever imagined.
Hey, it could been worse. They could been bought by EA. You know, the company that runs everything they touch into the ground without hesitation.
@Segazone
I agree that Sonic Adventure DX would have benefited from DLC if it were released on the Xbox. However, I believe that the Tiny Chao garden made possible by the GBA link was a cool trade off (for me at least). Moreover, I really do not think Sega would have released the DLC content anyways even if it was on the Xbox, because Sonic Adventure DX got a PC release which meant that DLC would have been possible but no DLC was released.
As with your comments on the Wii U’s sales. The Wii U sales are currently weak. However, the same drop-off in sales happened immediately after the release of Xbox 360 and PS3 (as I recall the PS3 experienced a far higher drop-off than Wii U). The PS3 launched on November 10 2006 and by the end of 2006 it sold ~686,000 units in the US (according to NPD), the Xbox 360 which launched on November 21 2005 sold ~618,000 in North America by the end of 2005 (Based on Microsoft’s investor relations data), the Wii U launched on November 18 2012 and it sold ~1.32 million units in the US by the end of 2012 (based on Nintendo investor relations data). During its first holiday season the Wii U sold more than its predecessor’s competitors, and it has experienced a lower post-launch drop off than the others (tough the Wii U’s post-launch sales are very close to that of the Xbox 360 so far). Now based on this historical data, I believe that it is way too early to call the Wii U a failure (if the Wii U is a failure then the Xbox 360 and PS3 should have bombed based on their initial sales, which of course was not the case as both those systems did very well). Like you said, the sales of the system post-launch are lacklustre, but that is to be expected based on historical figures. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 got an increase in sales during the second half of their release year because of price adjustments and more games, and I suspect the same will happen with the Wii U (I believe once the other next-gen systems are close to release, Nintendo will revise down the Wii U price and by that time have more software ready which will greatly help the system sales in the second half of 2013, and I make this prediction based on what Nintendo and other companies have done in this generation and in the preceding generation).
Now this article is about a failed potential buyout of Sega by Microsoft, but you brought up the subject of a Nintendo buyout. I agree that Nintendo is not in a position to purchase Sega Sammy (although if Sega does allow it [which I doubt] either Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, or another software publisher could buy the Sonic IP). I personally think that Sonic should stay multiplatform so that it reaches as many people as possible. I also do not agree with the point you make about mobile and PC only games being the future. While PC gaming has experienced significant growth, titles like ASRT and Sonic Generations continue to sell more copies on consoles than PCs. Mobile gaming on the other hand is a big risk, because of the prices on mobile app stores many companies cannot risk making large costly projects, they must create low-budget games which still run the risk of not selling well due to the low prices on the app store. I do not believe a large company like Sega should reduce themselves to making tiny projects for mobile platforms, that still may or may not succeed.
@AM *High five*
@SegaZone The Gamecube had online period?
And to think “V-pine” (you know who) used to whine about Disney supposedly buying Sega. Good thing the manbaby is already gone, or else he might post another huge rant of fail.
@AM
I applaud you and your excellent points sir/madame.