Few things capture the imagination of 90s gamers more than the whispers of SEGA getting back into the hardware business. Since the death of the Dreamcast and the shift towards third party development back in 2001 however, that’s all it has ever been, whispers. While some faithful have held out hope that SEGA’s setback was only temporary, nearly 15 years later, many have finally moved on. Most fans have accepted that SEGA will never make another home console.
There exists a group of mega fans though that, despite the overwhelming odds against them, are dead set on convincing SEGA to return to the console battlefield. The most determined of these fans make up the core of Project Dream, a group dedicated to helping SEGA get back into the home console hardware business, seemingly by doing some of the work for them.
Project Dream team members Bertie Wiseman and Joanne Freeman recently met with Twinfinite, and made their end-game quite clear.
“Project Dream is about getting SEGA back into hardware and reviving the Dreamcast,” Wiseman said. “It’s also about bringing SEGA back to what it was in the 90s. Bringing it back to the Golden Age, that’s what it’s really about. They haven’t been the same company since 2002. They have left so many games untapped and there’s a hunger for something new.”
How are they going to make that happen? Project Dream has a multi-faceted approach which includes proving support via petition signatures, creating visual mockups for the console, researching production methods, and developing a marketing strategy. All of these elements make up a proposal that, in a perfect world for Project Dream, will convince SEGA to reenter the hardware business via another home console, the hypothetical Dreamcast 2.
Let’s back up, though. The cynical (read: realistic) reader might be wondering how a fourth home console could survive in a market that can barely support three? The Wii U isn’t exactly thriving and is already planning a successor only a couple of short years after its release, and the Xbox One is a distant second to a strong-selling PlayStation 4. Where would SEGA even hope to fit in?
Even putting that aside, how could SEGA even manage such a feat? The company dropped out of the home console race to avoid total financial ruin, and even still, hasn’t been in great shape anyway. SEGA continues to frequently post losses, especially in their video games division. SEGA Holdings, the parent company of SEGA, owes a lot to their pachinko machines (popular in Japan) for keeping the company afloat in these rough years.
Freeman believes that even with SEGA’s potential competition, a Dreamcast 2 could capitalize on a retro revival and carve out a market niche:
“Of course people haven’t given up on playing PlayStation and Xbox, but things like Steam Machines and retro gaming or playing with an emulator is [sic] all cool now,” said Freeman. Even more, she believes a new SEGA console can benefit from modern console features.
“On PlayStation, I’m amazed that I can broadcast on Twitch on it, I can watch Amazon videos on it, and go on YouTube,” Freeman continued. “When we were talking about consoles ideas, I thought ‘it’s so nice nowadays that all I can play all generational games and do so much more on my console than just put a disc in’.”
“The whole team really wanted to create something that really is an everything you want it to be box. So can you play your old SEGA games, and you’d be able to watch Amazon Video, YouTube, Netflix, and possibly broadcasting. It would be a fun thing to have all those SEGA games on one console and give people access to more games that people wouldn’t usually play.”
Though the team envisions a strong mixing of retro favorites and current-gen technology, it could be difficult for a (now) niche company in Japan to acquire a seat in the current home console ecosystem, an ecosystem that has in a lot of ways has shifted away from the Japanese-centered structure of the 90s, to revolving around the western audience. Project Dream, however, thinks SEGA had too big of a cultural impact to go down quietly.
SEGA has always had a certain aura or mystique about it that has held the fascination and admiration of many. It probably has something to do with how easy it is to root for an underdog, and for the most part, SEGA has always been that scrappy company that hung around with giants such as Nintendo and eventually Sony. Unafraid to take anyone on, SEGA had the perfect mascot in Sonic the Hedgehog that exemplified that can-do attitude and hipness that captivated so many in the 90s.
Since the collapse of the Dreamcast, however, SEGA has played it very safe. Choosing to focus on its most profitable franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, and keeping many of the older IP that 90s gamers fell in love with, locked away. Freeman, like many other SEGA fans, remembers those glory days quite well, and believes that SEGA has what it takes to return to form:
“They have a lot to offer us still. I think it [Project Dream] is about reinventing SEGA. Bringing something back that everyone wants, especially today when it’s cool to be a retro gamer and people also want something new,” Freeman said.
“It’s not like SEGA is incapable of making new things. It’s just because of the past, how things preformed, the awful timing that they had, they felt it was better not to risk it. And then they carried on focusing more on what sells more of Japan.”
Despite SEGA’s conservative approach in recent years, the company’s grip on many 90s gamers still holds strong, and is probably why fans are whipped up into a frenzy of excitement every time there is a hint that SEGA could return to its golden age. Project Dream wants to take an active role in utilizing that excitement and loyalty to make a Dreamcast 2 a reality, even if it means not waiting around for the slim chance that SEGA makes a move on their own.
The group is dedicated to to doing the legwork themselves and not relying on SEGA or contributions from fans to push Project Dream forward. Following a change.org petition which gained some popularity late in 2015, the Project Dream team followed up by launching a website where fans were able to see mockups designed by Project Dream team members. Also, in the meantime, Wiseman and Freeman have reached out to friends and business contacts around the world to get an idea of what it would take to actually produce some kind of hardware.
“We have a really good hardware guy that likes to remain anonymous,” said Freeman. “He has a few existing businesses and we have a lot of samples of things if it were to go into production – what it would be like, what the price range would be for the materials that we want to use, and of course whether we want to use the images that are on the site or have a look at newer designs. Or some of the things that fans have submitted to us by mail and say, ‘hey that looks really cool!'”
When asked for specifics on potential hardware, Freeman said they were not allowed to say much, but did note they “have talked about 3D printing.”
All of that said, the group is still only in the research phase of their plan for a Dreamcast 2. First on the task list is to find a way to market themselves successfully to SEGA. A lot of that pitch seems to be centered around doing as much of the research as they can themselves for SEGA.
Wisemen went on to explain the proposal’s current goal: “We have had some side chats with marketing on how to get this done, so at the moment it’s kind of ongoing. I have [a business contact] in Brazil who wants to help out with commercial stuff. So I’m in talks with him at the moment about how to market us to SEGA. This is all kind of new to us.”
It’s important to remember this is all new to the Project Dream team. Even under the most optimistic of scenarios for Project Dream, this is a process that is likely going to take some time. Still, in a lot of ways, Project Dream has gotten further than many might expect. Namely, actually getting SEGA to acknowledge their efforts.
Freeman described to Twinfinite in detail her story of getting in touch with a high ranking member of SEGA Sammy Holdings.
“It went from me ringing up to pester them for not replying to our mail and the receptionist asking for a full lowdown on what we wanted to talk to people about,” said Freeman. After multiple pitches, contacts and phone calls, the team says they have made contact with multiple SEGA names, including a senior member of SEGA Sammy, who Project Dreamcast requested remain anonymous.
“It all kind of happened quite quickly,” Freeman shared, “and by the end of it, he finished chatting with me on the phone and sent one of our team members a message to say ‘send what you got through when you’re ready, and I’ll make sure it gets to the right people.’”
By no means did SEGA confirm an interest in creating a Dreamcast 2. Let’s make sure that is crystal clear.
Instead, it’s more likely that SEGA doesn’t mind the extra attention, and hasn’t taken any issues with anything Project Dream has done thus far. SEGA really has nothing to lose by letting Project Dream do their own thing provided they don’t step on any legal toes. From that perspective, it’s easy to see why that individual from SEGA Sammy would have no problem taking a look at what Project Dream comes up with eventually.
SEGA’s willingness to listen, and the avoidance of a flat out cease and desist, has given Project Dream and fans of a new SEGA console hope, regardless of how likely a Dreamcast 2 may be.
“It is exciting,” Freeman shared. “It’s a first step. He could have turned around and gone, ‘well… no. You’re just a bunch of fans, why do I even need to take this call.'”
It’s very easy to dismiss online petitions and fan-driven movements such as Project Dream as unrealistic and pie in the sky. However, you don’t need to go that far back to find successful fan movements in video games that seemed just as unlikely.
Operation Rainfall launched back in 2011 and within a few years, played a part in motivating the powers that be at Nintendo of America and Xseed to localize popular Japanese RPGs The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Pandora’s Tower.
Even more unbelievable was the case of Shenmue III, that until it was announced before our very eyes at E3 2015, seemed just as realistic as a new SEGA console. It’s very likely that had fans not continued to voice their desire for a Shenmue III over the years, it would have been nearly impossible for creator Yu Suzuki to convince anyone to resurrect that franchise.
The power of social media will be crucial in trying to get some kind of similar momentum behind a Dreamcast 2 or a new SEGA console.
“We can be so much more optimistic these days because of how social networking allows us to reach people and band together to support games that we love,” said Freeman
Although the percentage is still low, there’s as a good a chance as any now, in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and more, to get Project Dream off the ground. And while many quietly associated with Project Dream toil away on a pitch, Freeman and Wiseman work to use social networking to grow interest.
“We like to get fans thinking so we routinely put up polls or questions to gain an insight into what they want, I [Freeman] like to engage in a bit of productive spamming over on 2chan and other Japanese sites.”
Although the goal is SEGA buying into the idea to reenter the console business, Project Dream isn’t putting all of their eggs into the Dreamcast 2 basket. If SEGA is still showing some interest, they’re willing to hold out, but if they get a hard no, Project Dream will still work to deliver something that will appease longtime fans of SEGA hardware.
“If SEGA says no, then Ben [Lawson of Project Dream] would like to carry on with a spiritual successor to the console. If we then manage to get licenses in hand, then games could be made available even in that scenario.” said Wiseman
At this point, some people might be wondering what the point of all this is. Why do we even need new SEGA hardware when people can still play SEGA games on the consoles that already exist? Freeman and other hardcore SEGA fans will tell you that it’s just not the same. There’s a certain charm that’s missing by playing it on something other than a SEGA console.
“There are so many unique series and titles, people who loved the high quality releases on the Dreamcast may enjoy [SEGA] Saturn games, people that quit gaming after Megadrive may rekindle a love of games through playing Saturn titles, and being able to play them on a SEGA console, it feels so right, compared to playing a ported version on a Wii,” said Freeman.
She continued: “Even today’s youth, they have so much passion and love for games, old and new. What could be a better way to encourage those sequels that never happened to the games people loved most?”
As superficial as that may sound to some, there might be something to it. How strange would it be to play Super Mario Bros. on a Xbox if Nintendo were ever to go the SEGA route? For SEGA fans, who are just as into the classic SEGA IP as Nintendo fans are of theirs, this has been the reality for quite some time now.
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Even if SEGA doesn’t sign on to fulfill Project Dream’s wildest dreams, that doesn’t mean that their efforts couldn’t inspire SEGA to meet somewhere in the middle and do something to please the SEGA faithful that have yet to lose the magic of the 90s.
Perhaps it will be just a commitment to delivering better home console games than they have been doing over the last few years, or importing more of their Japanese games such as the Yakuza franchise. Even more optimistically, maybe fans can consider Project Dream a success if they can at least get enough attention to convince SEGA to revisit some of their classic franchises that have remained dormant since the 90s and early 2000s.
Still, until SEGA shutters its doors for good, there will always been a population of fans that are ready and waiting for SEGA’s big comeback. Swooping down from the skies to go toe to toe with the likes of Nintendo, Sony and Xbox. Until that actually happens though, it’s probably best to keep dreaming.
Published: Feb 8, 2016 06:27 pm