Why Sega Master System Got COMPLETELY DESTROYED !

during the era of the Master System the gaming landscape in the United States and was largely dominated by the Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo had successfully revitalized the North American gaming industry after the video game crash in 1983 and had a strangle hold on the market with its iconic console the NES became a cultural Phenomenon with its recognizable gray box and Game cartridges it's captured the imagination of players with titles like Super Mario Brothers The Legend of Zelda and Metroid establishing Nintendo as the PowerHouse of the gaming industry the nes's extensive Library effective marketing and family friendly image solidified its popularity among casual and hardcore gamers in contrast the Sega face significance challenges in establishing a foothold in the American gaming Market while the Master System had succeeded greatly in Europe and Brazil his rival in the U.S presented a much tougher battle sega's reputation primarily laying the arcade industry and it faced an uphill struggle riding American consumers to embrace its Home console so with that said I am lady decade and this is how the Sega Master System failed in North America in the mid to 1980s after the Fallout of the North American Regional video game Crash the gaming industry would suddenly experience a surge in popularity after Nintendo seized the opportunity to slide in with their localized version of the Nintendo famicom before the Epic rivalry between the two giants Nintendo and Sega many others such as the pewter Jr Casio pv-1000 and gakkan compact TV boy was showing up but not even getting a look in these consoles went head-to-head with Nintendo during the 8-Bit era of gaming and were quickly obliterated and almost forgotten completely as a result the Nintendo Entertainment System was a unit for units the most popular gaming platform in the world despite this that did not mean the system did not have decent competition or adversaries that were put up a decent fight while the Nintendo Entertainment System dominated the American gaming Market with his iconic characters and indicative gameplay a challenger emerged from the Shadows determined to carve out its own place in the hearts of Gamers this Challenger was none other other than the Master System sega's answer to the NES but the path to success in the land of Nintendo would prove to be an arduous one the Master System faced formidable challenges from an established competitor with a loyal fan base to a gaming Market heavily influenced by Nintendo's dominance yet sega's determination and Innovation would set the stage for a fierce battle shaping the gaming landscape for years after all the Master System defeated Nintendo in Europe South America and Oceania simultaneously making three of the world's continents a Sega territory the Master System had a lot of upsides to it and in many ways was technically superior to the NES with its sleek black design and Promises of cutting-edge Technology the Master System arrived on American Shores armed with a library of games that's held the potential to rival even the most beloved titles on the NES the Master System was the most likely in the world during the 8-Bit era to have taken Nintendo's Throne Sega a company with a history in arcade gaming saw an opportunity to bring the arcade experience into American Homes captivating players with impressive graphics and immersive gameplay despite this the Master System would never become the most popular 8-bit platform in the world one major herd of Sega encountered was Nintendo's strong grip on third-party developers Nintendo had implemented strict licensing and quality control policies that restricted the availability of games and competing platforms many developers opted to create games exclusively for the NES leaving the Master System with a limited library and fewer high-profile titles additionally Nintendo had already established a wide network of retailers and Distributors making securing shelf space and Retail Partnerships are challenging for Sega Nintendo's dominance markets presence made it difficult for the Master System to gain visibility and attract consumers from the NES moreover Sega faced the perception that the Master System was an inferior console due to its earlier release in Japan and its lower popularity in the US this perception hindered its ability to compete against the NES and win over skeptical Gamers despite these challenges that Sega persisted and made concerted efforts to Market to the Master System as a technologically Superior alternative to the NES they highlighted his Advanced Graphics backwards compatibility with sega's arcades titles and enhanced sound capabilities however overcoming Nintendo's markets dominance proved grueling for Sega and the Master System struggled to gain significant Traction in the American gaming Market before sinking our teeth into what went wrong with the Master System in North America further we should first look at why the system came to exist in the first place there is a key difference between the Master System and many other 8-bit platforms that went up against the famicom platforms like the Atari 2800 and pv-1000 were not equipped Hardware wise to compete with Nintendo and saw release in Japan in the same year the famicom lawn Sega had already been competing with Nintendo for the previous two years with the release of their first 8-bit console the Sega sg-1000 the sg-1000 was released on the same day as the famicom in a knee-jerk reaction from Sega created from the fear that once Nintendo conquered the console Market they may try and eat further into sega's established arcades market share the sg-1000 was weak and ill-equipped to compete with the famicom and featured a similar spec to the coleco vision this product that was rushed to the market failed to compete with the more polished Nintendo platform the Sega Master System on the other hand was released two years after the famicom so Sega had time to work on a device so that was technically superior to the Nintendo Hardware before the launch of the Master System Sega would try its hand in 1984 with the release of the Sega sg-1000 Mark II which was a mostly just a simple casing redesign rather than a major Hardware revision the sg-1000 Mark III though would change ever everything this system would be more powerful than not only the sg-1000 but the famicom as well and even come equipped with a Sega card slot allowing consumers to play games using sacred Card software the advantage of these cards was that they were much cheaper to producer than cartridges offering consumers a more affordable way to play games it would not be long before the system would be remodeled for the North American markets much like the reworking of the famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System the Mark III would be rebranded to the Sega Master System and restarts into its iconic sexy sleek black casing the Master System would see a launch in North America in September 1986. this is 11 months after the release of the Nintendo entertainment system in the region however despite this a Sega faced a considerable disadvantage in marketing and promoting the master system in the United States Nintendo had already established a strong brand presence and had successfully positioned the NES as the premiere gaming console Sega employed various marketing strategies to position the Master System as a worthy alternative to the NES for its time the NES was the most popular game console on the North American continent of all time and is credited for rejuvenating the market after the failings of Atari back in 1983. some of Nintendo's success is thought to be getting their products on shelves as toys as we know this was done by pairing the device with a light gun and Rob the robot and reshaping the device to look closer to a VCR rather than a traditional game console pairs of the killer app are Super Mario Brothers Nintendo's plan went down accordingly and now Sega wanted to cash in on console's Resurgence in the region over in Japan the sg-1000 Mark III slash Master System had already been around for a full year and was not doing well in the country rather than this being put down to issues with the hardware itself a sega's lack of success was partially down to Nintendo's Shady licensing practices that would prevent third party developers from creating games for the Sega Hardware if they were publishing games already on the famicom to combat this issue Sega would have to develop its own games heavily and obtain the right support games from non-nintendo Hardware another aspect of sega's marketing strategy was its focus on showcasing the technological superiority of the Master System they emphasized the console's advanced graphics and sound capabilities compared to the NES Sega touted at the system's ability to provide an arcade-like experience at home capitalizing on his reputation as a leading arcade game manufacturer by highlighting these features a Sega aimed to attract Gamers who sought a more immersive and Visually impressive gaming experience however the biggest problem with sega's marketing seemed to be its low budget Sega retro citing the ultimate history of video games book would explain that Sega of America's marketing arm was peanuts compared to Nintendo's his consumer products division and had only opened in April 1986 and consisted of two men Bruce Lowry and Bob Harris and a couple of Administrators are working out of a small office next to sega's local coin op division J Walter Thompson was hired to manage a sega's 9 million USD marketing budget reducing the packaging for the console and its initial array of games and within two months the team at Sega had created a 1800 square foot booth for summer Consumer Electronics Show a 1986 prior to Summer CES 1986 a Sega hunts are sold a home of video games in the US through third-party Publishers and Distributors but the brand was not instantly recognizable some as the event even mistook the company at the event for Saga Foods bemused that a food distributor would enter the video game business Sega retro explained that after several months of poor sales Hayao Nakayama the then CEO of Sega would step in and sell a two-year distribution deal to Tonka of all companies I imagine that this is because they were a notable toy company which was a way to imitate how Nintendo had successfully placed themselves in the market however Tonka had zero experience of Distributing Electronics so the Master System was completely new territory for the company like Sega Tonka would do a poor job of Distributing the Master System across the US the company would make bizarre decisions including blocking the localization of several popular games at the end of the day though Tonka would face a many of the same challenges as Sega when marketing the system as Nintendo had everything locked down to compete with Nintendo's strong first party titles Sega secured licensing deals with third-party developers to bolstered their game Library they worked with renowned developers such as Activision and Electronic Arts to release popular titles for the Master System this approach aimed to provide a diverse range of games to attract Gamers seeking a broad towards the selection beyond what the NES offered however despite a sega's marketing efforts they face significant challenges and disadvantages compared to two Nintendo Nintendo had already secured a firm grip on the market which made it difficult for Sega to gain at widespread recognition and acceptance Nintendo's restrictive licensing policies made it harder for Sega to secure popular third-party titles limiting the availability of Highly sought after games of the Master System additionally Nintendo's established relationships with retailers and Distributors gave them a significant advantage in terms of shelf space and Market presence furthermore Sega had to combat the perception that the Master System was an inferior console due to its later entry into the U.S market and the dominance of the NES Nintendo's extensive library of iconic games and their family-friendly image had already won over the hearts of many gamers making it challenging for Sega to convince consumers to switch to their consoles the system was released in the United States for 200 hundreds of dollars the same is paying roughly 530 for a console today however this was a similar price point to that of Nintendo's product just one year earlier the system came packed with a multi-cart including both hang on and a safari hunt along with what they like to refer to as a two high-speed controllers the systems came packed with the Sega light phaser a light gun which was a sega's answer to the Nintendo zapper in the platform's launch year Sega hoped to sell 400 000 to 750 000 units in North America however sadly the Master System would only manage 125 000 units on the other hand Nintendo would shift a 1.1 million NES outselling the Sega platform by close to ten to one part of this was probably down to the agreements a Nintendo had in place which prevented Sega from being able to strike deals with many development houses Sega retro outlines the licensing agreements that Nintendo had with its third-party game developers may have had an impact as well the agreement stated in effect that developers would produce games for the NES only however Sega did have the advantage of being able to pluck titles from their ever-growing arcade game library at the time and so was able to build up a strong library of exclusive Master System titles Nintendo's licensing practices were hindering Sega to no end and only a handful of third-party Publishers including Activision Electronic Arts and the Parker Brothers had chosen to back the Master System so despite having a few iconic titles including Alex kid in Miracle World Fantasy Star and Wonder Boy 3. these just weren't enough to put a in Nintendo's armor so between locking third-party Publishers and retailers into exclusivity deals Nintendo had come extremely close to completely monopolizing gaming during the 80s in the US offering consumers fewer gaming choices than ever before in fact in the region the Master System would even be outsold by the bloody Atari 7800s the Atari 8-bit system released in 1986 looked to cash in on the console craze that Nintendo had resurrected unlike Sega at the time Atari had good brand recognition in the region and the 7800 was even backwards compatible with the 2600 meaning consumers could go back and play their already established library of games so the Master System was very much the third place 8-bit system without even mentioning the turbo Graphics that would arrive on the scene later while the Master System couldn't match the nes's popularity it was a stepping stone for sega's subsequent consoles Sega took the Lessons Learned From The Master System era and applied them to developing the Sega Genesis Mega Drive the Genesis became sega's most successful console in the US offering enhanced Graphics a strong game library and intense competition with Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System the lessons that Sega learned from the master systems Market struggles helped shape the company's approach to Hardware software and marketing establishing a foundation for his future successes most importantly as we know the system would eventually feature its own killer app in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog undeniably one of the most important of video game characters ever created this new success would finally significantly cut into Nintendo's marketing share even outselling them in the region for a time this would eventually lead to Sega going as far as buying back the rights to the distribution of the Master System which would in turn result in the release of the Master System Too a budget alternative to the Genesis so which would still allow users to experience a Sonic the Hedgehog game in fact Sonic the Hedgehog released for the Master System in 1991 would be the final release of a first Party Master System game seeing a release on us soil in other regions where the Master System prospers such as Europe South America and Oceania here we would see games for years we would see many at first party and third party releases including several Sonic titles Mortal Kombat and even Street Fighter Sega would eventually conquer the USA with their Sega Genesis however if it were not for the learning from the missteps the company had taken with the Master System in the region earlier then maybe taking the market in the area would never have happened if you enjoyed this and then subscribe ciao [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Lady Decade

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Keywords: Why Sega Master System Got COMPLETELY DESTROYED !, sega master system, sega master system history, sega master system fail, sega master system failed, console wars, nes, nes vs master system, nintendo vs sega, gaming history, console history, retro gaming, retro gaming history, sega megadrive, sega genesis, 8 bit gaming, 8 bit sega, nintendo entertainment system, famicom, north america, japan, europe

Id: _O4LVo_6pz4

Length: 16min 56sec (1016 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2023