Why was Sega of Japan such jerks?

The Game Room
1

While on vacation, I read the book “Console Wars”, which talked about how the president of Sega of America helped to dominate the 16-bit console market. In a lot of ways Sega was the underdog in the console war; they were less established in the console market, had less access to third-party developers, etc. The story of how the Genesis outsold the Super Nintendo is a great David and Goliath story of how clever marketing can prevail over a technologically superior product.

However, one thing that really stands out in the book is Sega of Japan’s efforts to sink the Genesis. Which is surprising. The Genesis was much more successful than the Megadrive was in Japan. Throughout president Tom Kalisnsky’s efforts, Sega of Japan seemed to always be holding him back. Was it jealousy? a lack of vision?

Sega succeeded with the Genesis for the following reasons:
-Genesis was released before Super Nintendo, and initiated price drops before them. So the Genesis was always ‘cheaper’ than the Super Nintendo.

-Sega sold an adapter that allowed users to play Sega Master System games. The fact that Super Nintendo was not backward compatible (which apparently would have increased its retail cost by $75) hurt sales, even though a surprisingly small number of adapter units were sold by Sega. Again, it wasn’t so much the ‘better’ product but the ‘better marketed’ product that prevailed.

-Sega were less anal retentive with 3rd party developers and offered better terms, which allowed them to get developers like Electronic Arts over to their side.

-Sega released the first CD-ROM system (Sega CD) before other developers. Once again, being first gave them a foot in the door.

-Sega were the first console company to have a global release, simultaneously releasing new systems and games in multiple countries across the globe, which allowed them to hype the rease of said games/systems.

-Nintendo took a number of missteps in the console war- their tight control over 3rd party developers bogged them down in lawsuits with companies like Tegen and Galoob. They also burned some bridges with Sony and Phillips (the Sony Playstation is ultimately the product of Nintendo screwing Sony over an agreement to create a CD ROM system for the Super Nintendo).

However in the end, having so many Consoles to manage (Game Gear, Genesis, 32X, Saturn, Sega CD) caused their titles to be spread over many systems. Sega was also less concerned with the overall quality of many of their titles and somewhat suffered the same fate Atari did 10 years earlier (bloat the market with crappy games). But all the while, Kalisnky was dedicated to making Sega successful. He wasn’t in favor of trying to release both the Sega 32X (a stopgap system that require a Genesis to work) and the Saturn (a CD ROM system inferior in both quality and price to the PlayStation). The book leads me to believe that Sega of Japan basically sabotaged his efforts. Is this true? Why were they such dicks? That the Genesis was wildly successful in the US should have been a great boon to Sega of Japan, but instead they seemed to sabotage the success.

2

The US market and the Japanese market are wildly different. I’m not sure any more involved explanation is necessary.

3

So why was Japan so dead set on bringing down the Genesis? Why were they so resistant to hiring programmers for their games that weren’t Japanese?

A member of Nintendo of America once sarcastically remarked “To be successful in Nintendo of America, your head must have been inside or outside a Japanese vagina at some point in time”

4

Although I do know some video game history I’m not that familiar with the Genesis era beyond the basics.
However, I know that in Japan, honor and shame are much more important than they are here in the US, to the point where they have a name for “commiting ritual suicide because you have shamed your company.”

I am guessing that Sega of Japan saw the rise of the Genesis and SoA as a failure on their part to match it. Sega of America was pretty much their own company rather than a different branch of SoJ, weren’t they? Their success was a boon for the company as a whole, but they achieved more than Sega of Japan had, and that was seen as a badge of shame. The foreigners being more successful than they were was intolerable, hence the “sabotage”.

5

I just finished Console Wars, and that was actually said by Steve Race, Sega of America’s former marketing guy, about Sega of Japan.

And I’m not sure we read the same book. Sega of Japan never attempts to sabotage Sega of America over the Genesis. In fact, I was astounded at all the leeway they were given. SoJ proceeded ahead with the Saturn against SoA’s wishes, but by then they had squandered any lead that Sonic had given them.

6

I know nothing of the story of Sega, but from experience with inlaws and extended family I can tell you that Japanese culture has very strict ideas about relationships and the pecking order therein.

It would not surprise me in the least to find that this carries over to business dealings and that notable success by the child company in America showing up the parent company in Japan is not something that would have been celebrated by those who felt overshadowed by their supposed subordinates.

Internal sabotage, both subtle and outright, could easily follow to secure the positions and reputations of those in Japan.

The shit I’ve seem my MIL and her sisters (my wife’s aunts) do in order to get the upper hand would make you watch The Usual Suspects and say “Eh, it could happen”

7

This is pretty much what I got from Console Wars as well. The Board of SOJ had issues with the way the SOA was intent on doing their own thing. SOJ was not particularly resentful of the success that Sega was experiencing in America but they did have an issue with the brash way that SOA approached the market. SOA did not like having to ask for permission and they both had problems communicating with each other on certain issues. Primarily, what would and would not work in America. SOJ resented the fact that SOA rejected and revised a lot of the work that came over from Japan.

Justin_Bailey also hit it on the head. There was no sabotage by SOJ but they did not like the way that SOA operated without seeking constant counsel and consent from Japan.

8

Apologies for misattributing the quote. However, it still seems like SOJ held SOA back. Kalisnky was the savior of SOA; in theory the Super Nintendo should have dominated the Genesis- they had more third-party support, they brought video games up from the ashes of the crash of '83, they had tighter control over their product, they enjoyed a massive market share of the console market in the 8 bit era, the Super Nintendo was technologically superior (Mode 7, and later the 3DFX chip that was used for games like Star Fox).

Why release both the 32X and the Saturn around the same time?

And also, why was the Motion Picture Association of America so hesitant to adopt ratings systems for video games? From watching the doctumentary, “This Film is Not Yet Rated” they were pretty conservative; I would think they would be all over rating the hell out of video games like stink on shit since violent video games characterized the hysteria of the 90’s. Good for Sega to try to get Nintendo and other companies together on a unified ratings system though :slight_smile:

9

Sonic was the savior of Sega. When you release one of the greatest games of all time (and its even better sequel), you sell a lot of consoles. You saw it time and again when the Wii went head-to-head with the PS3/Xbox 360. Nintendo sold a ton of consoles with an “inferior” system because of games like Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, etc, etc.

Sega also had an unedited edition of Mortal Kombat. The importance of this on the 16-bit console war can’t be overstated enough.

This has come up in a few video game history (why yes, I have read about a dozen of them) and the answer is always that the MPAA thought video games were stupid faddish toys and not worthy of their rating system. Since the ratings themselves are trademarked, I bet someone at the MPAA is still kicking themselves over the lost licensing money that would have consistently brought in.

10

Yes. Yes it can. In Japan, business can be very personal and they sometimes overdo the hierarchical aspects, even to the point of hurting themselves. I’d also argue that some of the hardware companies in japan were a more insular than the software developers.

Which is not to say that the Japanese are particularly bad in that area. I simply think that both Nintendo and Sega were not really top-quality companies then or so; both substantially lucked into being positioned correctly in a market that simply exploded, but neither has shown high-quality management over the long haul. Sega eventually went out of the hardware market altogether. Nintendo makes a solid point of never repeating their mistakes twice by the simple expedient of making everyone else’s mistakes instead.

11

Sega made some great hardware but way too much in too short a space. Get rid of everything between the Genesis and the Dreamcast and they may have done better. With Microsoft entering the market in the sixth generation there may not have been a space for four manufacturers and Sega may still have had to leave the hardware market, but then again I suppose with a Sega hardware presence Microsoft might have either not tried or been DOA.

I liked the Dreamcast and still play it from time to time. Heck, I’ve even purchased some of the games for my PS3 so I don’t have to figure out how I’m going to plug it in, as I’m out of inputs.

12

I really liked the Dreamcast too. And yeah, too many mediocre systems between it and Genesis. I watched Angry Video Game Nerd review the 32X, and it seemed lame, the games didn’t seem much better than stock Genesis games. Saturn did OK in Japan but in the US it s almost as forgettable as the 3DO or Phillips CDi. Only Sony managed to release a decent and reasonably priced system of that generation.

13

I remember when the Saturn came out. It was supposed to be released at the same time as the Playstation, but was surprise launched something like 6 months early. They got a lot of sales from the people who just couldn’t wait for the next new console, but when the PS1 came out people (and developers) realized that Sony had a much better system. I recall comparisons of screen shots of Tomb Raider for both systems and the PS version was much better.

The Saturn wasn’t a bad system, it was just a little behind the times. I had one and…uhm…there was a couple good games for it…I just can’t remember what they were…

14

Nights? Virtual Fighter? I know Sega genuinely tried to capture the same lightning in a bottle, but in the form of an androgynous mascot in Nights. And I can’t fault them for trying to get a 6 month lead on their competitors since that was what contributed to their success with the Genesis (getting the system out sooner also means you can stay ahead of the game in the price wars by instituting price drops).

But the PlayStation offered better quality for the same (or cheaper?) price, and its eventual success gave it a HUGE library of games. And unforutnately for Sega, many of their staff from SOA jumped ship (or were poached) by Sony and continued to parley their success there.

As a side note, I was surprised to learn in the book that the reason programmers were not credited in video games early on was the fear they would take their talents to a competitor. So they couldn’t even get credit for their work! And worst of all, up through the 16-bit era video game programmers were grossly underpaid! :frowning:

15

Saturn wasn’t a bad system, nor was it actually “inferior” to the PS1, but it wasn’t designed to be a 3D system and was sortof hastily retrofitted to compete with the Playstation. This is why Tomb Raider looks like crap on the Saturn, but 2D fighting games were sh*t on the PS1 but got some near-arcade-perfect ports to the Saturn.

I went with the Saturn and never regretted it, because, frankly, early 3D was the ugliest thing since those godawful FMV games.

Saturn did have terrible marketing in the US though.