The use of colors in the game is sensational. SEGA front in the West, and in America, the once mighty company’s market share Layoffs as the firm prepared for hibernation until the triumphant release ofĭreamcast, to come over a year later. Both theĮuropean and the American arms of the gaming giant then executed significant The Sequel to Myst, Atlantis: The Lost Tales, Silicon Dreams’ World League Soccer ’98, and Deep Fear to their great send-off. Same games as America saw, Europe added Riven: Europe fought the good fight a little bit longer. Heat, The House of the Dead, Burning Rangers, Panzer Dragoon Saga, and Shiningįorce III in that order – taking their curtain call by the midpoint of It wasįollowed by SEGA’s own final releases – Winter

Title and the last overall Electronic Arts game for any SEGA platform. In January, EA Sports’ NHL ’98, dropped, becoming both the last third-party Saturn Bleeding money, Stolar-led SEGA of America wasįirst to wind the Saturn down. Relegated by the N64, the Saturn’s market share sat at a mere 12% in NorthĪmerica, and was falling fast. Somebody, please buy this man a beer! Darkness Fallsīy contrast, in the West, the situation was utterly grim. A beacon of hope, of courage, and of all that is good and right in the SEGA Universe. Yes, it was a great time to be a SEGA fan, in the glory days of 1998. Further, between the three major systems, Saturn software had the best attach rate (more units of software sold in relation to units of hardware sold) which was a sign to publishers that Saturn owners were more likely to purchase software than PlayStation or Nintendo 64 owners. The Saturn was so strong in its’ native territory that rival Nintendo’s machine, the N64, was never able to catch the Saturn’s sales numbers. Even though sales of the PlayStation finally, decisively pulled ahead of the Saturn in the previous year, SEGA’s brilliant marketing campaign, featuring Hiroshi Fujioka as the indestructible Segata Sanshiro, helped ensure the Saturn held a comfortable 2 nd place in the land of the rising sun.

Many of these games ended up being the greatest and most notable titles of the Saturn’s entire life-cycle. In Japan, the machine was going strong with just over 200 titles released during the year, and that’s despite the November launch of Dreamcast in the territory. 1998 was simultaneously a grim and a glorious year for the Saturn’s fortunes.

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