When we last left off the tides of change were approaching.
Sony had established itself in the industry, Nintendo was battling with quality
over quantity, and Sega was lost. Heading into the 6th generation
things were not getting easier, as Microsoft revealed its entrant into the
console wars with the Xbox, a brand new machine that looked to take another
piece out of the competition. Likely due to the Sony success, Microsoft
believed that its own computing advantages would lead to further success for
itself in a new product line. Sega, reeling after the Sega Saturn disaster,
needed to make a statement, and the Sega Dreamcast aimed to do just that. The
question would be whether it would be enough to salvage its hardware line (Sad
spoiler alert: it wasn’t). Let’s take a look at how the software itself panned
out, and what differences it made for the future of building a franchise. Also,
if you are looking to see the data parameters I used, check back on my first
post here.
Overall Metrics:
78 games were released (12 for Nintendo, 19 for
Sega, 20 for Microsoft, and 27 for Sony)
50 out of 78 games received sequels (64%)
25 out of 50 (50%) of games from the generation
started a franchise and received a sequel
18 out of 25 (72%) received multiple sequels
Interestingly enough, the Sega Dreamcast started
the largest amount of franchises (6), followed by Microsoft (5), Sony (4), and
Nintendo (3).
Average review was listed at 75
Average sales figure was just under 820,000
(when available)
(Fresh franchises were all over
this generation. Credit: Mobygames)
Insight 1 – Welcome
to the Premier Generation for Starting a Franchise
If you couldn’t tell from the overall metrics this
generation was absolutely outstanding for franchise development. Pending a game
made it to the one sequel stage (a relatively light 50% of all new franchises),
there was a 72% chance that franchise would continue to develop more games,
becoming a true established franchise. What we see above are two excellent
examples – Halo: Combat Evolved, the killer
app Microsoft needed to make a statement in the industry and Timesplitters, a time travel based first
person shooter that was met with critical success and decent sales. The Halo
franchise remains one of Microsoft’s premier franchises and essentially brought
Developer Bungie to prominence. The Timesplitters’ series did not fare as well,
but was one of the premier shooters of the generation, it just never seemed to
be the blockbuster it was capable of in the eyes of the publishers. Regardless,
this generation did extremely well with bringing forth new franchises for
gamers to get involved with, many of which continue to today.
Insight 2 – Sports
and Racing are the New Genre Winners
As you may recall, Platformers and Fighting games were huge
winners in the 5th generation. Unfortunately, the mid ‘90’s were the
height of their fandom, and have since been fighting their way back for nearly
20 years to optimal relevance. While there may be intense fighting game
tournaments like Evo, these genres simply do not command the dedication they
once did, likely because they were so innovative back then, and now more
commonplace in comparison. In fact, in this generation there were only 2 brand
new Fighting franchise and 2 new Platformer franchises, but on the bright side
all 4 received sequels. However, they clearly became an afterthought, as in
comparison, the Sports and Racing genres generated 43 titles, over half of the
entire library of games released at launch. Of the 48 games, 24 were brand new
properties, with 13 of 24 receiving a sequel, and 11 of 13 receiving multiple
sequels. The numbers alone show how powerful Sports and Racing were for the
generation. The question then becomes what changed from the 5th
generation, and it likely dates back to my argument then. With this generation,
developers had learned how to make successful Sports’ games in 3D, and could
now bet big on new franchises. Furthermore, the 6th generation was
the last generation in which a few couple of interesting cultural dynamics
occurred. First, this was the last true generation of the “Bit wars”, where
users would argue over graphic capabilities tying to the preference of a
console. While the 7th generation would have some argument, this was
the last one where the huge difference played a huge factor, as changes have
been relatively incremental[1].
Second, this was the last generation where certain sporting
licenses were available. I wrote
about how the NFL 2K and NFL Blitz series made noise against the Madden
franchise, but this all changed as in 2005 when EA got exclusive rights to the
NFL license. This essentially eliminated competition, but back from 1999-2001
it was all wide open, giving the other franchises opportunities to take a shot.
I have played some NFL 2K recently as
well and have to say, it’s quite a bummer EA pulled that move. While a
brilliant strategic move, I prefer having options. Even when EA later got the
rights to the Blitz franchise, they really took the fun out of it, and made it
much more of a simulation and less of arcade action. Oh well, still need to
give them credit where credit’s due.
(A Nintendo slam dunk. Credit: Wikipedia)
Insight 3 – Once
again, Well Reviewed Games Get Sequels
This is a pretty self-explanatory nugget. Basically, the top
15 reviewed properties all received sequels, with scores topping out at 97 at 1
and 77 at 15. Afterwards things were more mixed, including games 16 – 18 all
not receiving a direct follow up. Regardless, it just shows that this
generation still relied on reviews, even if sales weren’t there. For interest’s
sake, here is the breakdown of new properties for each platform by average
review score:
Nintendo – 78
Sega – 75
Xbox – 74
Sony – 70
All pretty similar as you can see. Nintendo had the fewest
new titles at 5, but all of them received sequels, which while it may seem like
good news was not enough as quantity of games was far more important to this
generation than quality.
Insight 4 – Sales
Become the Key Driver for Sequels
Of top 26 best-selling games only 1 did not receive a sequel
(regardless of new or existing IP). Sales topped out at 5,000,000 units at
number 1 and 730,000 units at number 26. The one IP that did not receive a
sequel was a spinoff to an existing franchise as well, so clearly companies
focused on getting the nice return on investment to greenlight a sequel. What’s
more compelling is that of the 25 sequels, 19 received an additional sequel(s)
thereafter, 11 of which were brand new franchises. I find this insight to be
crucial as to me it proves that there is both a better opportunity to make large
sales for new franchises with the console launch and thus, to create a
longstanding franchise. Genres were largely varied as well, and reviews came in
at 68 or above, showing that a franchise can be born out of a console launch;
moreover, being a new franchise during a console launch may also lead to
additional sales, largely due to the lack of availability as well.
Insight 5 – First
Person Shooters Appear and Begin to Make a Claim
As you may have noticed in the last iteration, First Person
Shooters were unusually absent. The truth is that much like in the Sports
genre, the FPS needed time to get an understanding of how they would work on
consoles compared to PC counterparts. There were some excellent FPS games in
the fifth generation (Goldeneye is a
classic and Perfect Dark was an
exciting new IP at the time of release) but once again, this specific genre
would have been a risky bet at launch, mainly because analog control had not
been fully understood. The 6th generation was a totally different
story, and thus we saw games like Timesplitters
right from the start. Microsoft and Bungie, knowing the PC genre better, was
able to capitalize on the new trend with Halo,
which really paved the way for the genre to become the monolith it is today.
This trend has naturally continued over time, as we’ll once again see in the
next chapter of this study.
(Unfortunately,
he just wasn’t enough this time…Credit: Sonic Wikia)
Insight 6 – Sega’s
Power Move Not Enough. Microsoft Stakes a Claim and Endures
As mentioned in the overall metrics, Sega launched the
highest number of new franchises (6 out of 19, just under 33%). If this was
evident earlier I’ll repeat it: Sega was on the ropes after the Saturn, and
needed to shake things up. With the Dreamcast it brought forth 128 bit graphics
while Sony was dabbling in 32 bits and Nintendo was stuck in cartridge based 64
bits[2].
Sega also provided the opportunity to connect via the internet, and had fun additions
like mini games on the visual Memory Unit (VMU, the memory cart) along with
others[3].
Sega was very ahead of its time in 1999, but clearly had brought forth a system
that was unlike anything the company or consumers had seen before. With it came
6 brand new franchises at launch to help entice consumers. Unfortunately, it
did not work out. Maybe it’s because Sonic was no longer the killer app he once
was in 1991, maybe it’s because the franchises had too much of an arcade feel
in an era where arcades were dying, or maybe Sega had finally used up its
goodwill. Personally though, I have one overarching theory. Consoles are not
cheap, and consumers knew the PlayStation 2 was only a little over a year away.
While waiting a year for the PS2 seems fair, if not overwhelming argument, Sony
had one killer app Sega just couldn’t compete with: the DVD Player. In the late
‘90’s DVDs had begun to supplant the VHS systems of yesteryear. The only
problem though was that DVD players were pretty expensive. However, when Sony
announced the PlayStation 2 would also be a DVD player along with a gaming
console, it instantly became one of the cheapest DVD players on the market, and
a huge value in comparison to the competition. So instead of Sega recapturing
its former fans, Sony was able to entice them to wait as they looked to change
their movie collections. Finally, Sony was able to build up goodwill with its
original PlayStation, something Sega had lost. Sony had landed in the gaming
industry with a boom, and supported its console extensively to ensure it would
be around for the long haul, and clearly consumers took notice. Sega did
everything right, but unfortunately it appeared too little, too late.
Microsoft on the other hand, was a bit of a surprise to the
industry. Coming in at the end of the launches alongside Nintendo’s GameCube,
to see Microsoft might have appeared odd at first. The PC behemoth had never
seemed to want to be in the console wars. The PC gaming community was strong,
but crossing over seemed a bit unorthodox. However, given Microsoft had seen
games run well on its PCs likely gave it incentive to take a shot at the
console market. Much like Sega, Microsoft needed to make a splash in order to
get stay power for the long term. This came in the form of Halo: Combat Evolved, and while it’s not fair to say it was all due
to one game, Halo was able to be the highest selling launch game of the
generation. That includes both new and established franchises. Bungie and
Microsoft essentially produced the must have title not only for the Xbox, but
also for the entire generation. Furthermore, all properties launched without
previous iterations on the Xbox received a sequel (6 for 6), and of the
sequels, only 1 missed not getting an additional follow up. Combine this with
solid 3rd party support and the Xbox was put in the best position
possible. Simply put, Microsoft came to play, and it certainly paid off. Now if
Halo was not around things might’ve been different, but that’s a world we’ll
never know.
Conclusion:
After reviewing this generation in depth, I’d deem it the
“swing for the fences generation”. Sega put everything it could out there and
failed, Microsoft did the same and succeeded. Nintendo relied heavily on its
first parties to generate success but did not have the quantity its competitors
boasted, and Sony said it didn’t care about reviews as long as there were more
games for its console. What does that leave us with? An exit out of hardware
for Sega, a relegation to market niche for Nintendo, a firm entry as market challenger
for Microsoft, and pretty much complete domination from Sony. What I’ve
neglected to bring up this entire time since my goal is to focus on the games
is that Sony created the greatest selling console of all time, which in its
lifetime went on to sell over 155 million units. Compare that to 24 million
from Microsoft, roughly 22 from Nintendo, and a meager 9 million from Sega, and
you see who the real winner of the generation was. Naturally, that might skew
some of the Sony franchise numbers in its favor, but still, these franchises
weren’t created at the end of the lifecycle, it happened during the reign, and
so the insights still apply. Furthermore, this generation proved conventional
norms wrong, as what seemed like an entrenched and developed industry was up
ended by Microsoft, who not only finished off a longtime player in Sega, but
put Nintendo in the precarious position of 3rd place, something it
had never experienced. Not to spoil anything, but Microsoft and Sony would soon
learn that though Nintendo was down, it was certainly not out.
[1] I
say relatively because you could make an argument against the Wii’s poor
graphics, but that’s for another time
[2] I
mention cartridges because shifting to disc based games was a difficult process
for Nintendo, essentially shifting the company’s strategy
[3] I
could go on, but if you’re interested just Google the Dreamcast later
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