Mega CD/Sega CD system worldwide sales figures.

[Black_Tiger]

What made the UK and Europe take to the MD like they did? Consoles were always overshadowed by computers there. Were MD carts relatively cheaper than most? Was the price on par with ST and Amiga games? I usually hear it was the price of carts that held consoles back in Europe.

The Sega Master System's success set the stage. SMS games continued to be released until the arrival of the Saturn.

[bultje112]

Sales of all Sega products were excellent here in the UK, and England truly was a Sega stronghold which fills me with pride. The Mega CD did well here relatively speaking and was only held back by it's hefty price tag. In a poll conducted a couple of years back literally thousands of people up and down the UK, and all of a certain age, were asked which was their favourite games console of all time. The PS1, N64 and SNES all had to fight it out for second, third and fourth spot (can't remember the exact rankings) but taking top spot was the Sega Mega Drive. Oh yeah, us Brits have taste! Sorry, that was ever so slightly off topic lol!

more so than uk, sega was god-like in spain and portugal. I've been to uk as well including at the time of dreamcast in early 2001 and everywhere was dreamcast and arcades. loved it. but my god in spain and portugal, the saturn even outsold the playstation! I know a smaller market but when searching for games in Spain I could never find anything nintendo other than gameboy and even it's ebay is full of sega stuff including saturn.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

The Sega Master System's success set the stage. SMS games continued to be released until the arrival of the Saturn.

Pretty much this. Home computing was the most popular form of gaming here for many years and then when Sega released their Master System here it was in the right place at the right time. The system was marketed excellently and was fairly cheap. UK fans of the Master System then naturally upgraded to the Mega Drive when that was released here in 1990. Nintendo was not interested in the European market until it was too late and by that point Sega already had the market sewn up tight. The NES did next to nothing here in the UK however the SNES was popular, although not nearly as popular as the Mega Drive.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

What made the UK and Europe take to the MD like they did? Consoles were always overshadowed by computers there. Were MD carts relatively cheaper than most? Was the price on par with ST and Amiga games? I usually hear it was the price of carts that held consoles back in Europe.

Although Master System games were obviously cheaper here than their Mega Drive counterparts, we actually paid a lot more for our games compared to gamers in the U.S. and Japan. The Mega Drive's success on these shores wasn't down to the price of the system or the price of the carts, but rather down to a solid library of games, which provided something for everyone, and an absolutely excellent marketing campaign. A campaign that has actually never been surpassed by a games company since over here. Believe me, as a kid growing up here in the early 90's you wanted a Mega Drive and nothing else would do!

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

Another thing I want to add with regards Sega's popularity over here was the fact that Sega of Europe did look after their UK based fans and customers very well. They answered letters promptly and had an excellent help and tips line you could call. Also pretty much most games were released here and we enjoyed exclusive Master System and Mega Drive titles that were PAL only. Nintendo by comparison I think treated it's fan base here rather shitty. They knew they'd always be playing catch up with Sega here and therefore had almost zero interest in the UK/European market. SNES games were released ages after they'd been released in Japan and America, they were grossly overpriced when they were released and a lot of the best SNES games were never even released at all over here! They had success with games like Mario Kart, Starwing, Killer Instinct and Donkey Kong Country, don't get me wrong, but you could tell that they knew they'd lost the European battle and focused instead on America and Japan.

[bultje112]

nintendo didn't try in the uk, but they definitely did try on mainland europe. most notably france, germany and benelux. they only partly succeeded in germany and did succeed in france.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

nintendo didn't try in the uk, but they definitely did try on mainland europe. most notably france, germany and benelux. they only partly succeeded in germany and did succeed in france.

Ah really? Interesting. I understood that Sega were dominant in France too.

[bultje112]

Ah really? Interesting. I understood that Sega were dominant in France too.

not in france and belgium. nintendo had it's best and core distribution partners in french region and their main office in germany I think.

[Team Andromeda]

Ah really? Interesting. I understood that Sega were dominant in France too.

No, France was always Nintendo. Have to say Sega Europe did a lot of good things back inthe day, Like I said they started to make consoles cool to own and made a Huge push to make SEGA appeal to the older gamer they also really started to get celebrities to be seen playing and also wearing SEGA gear and also run the cool Cyber Razor cut and they the SEGA Pirate TV ads and loads of cool Magazine ads playing on how Nintendo was consetaive and boring, while SEGA was cool and hip. Sega Europe was the underdog, but they played on that and used it to full effect. Sega Europe were also the 1st to do classic range of cut price games for the console, they were just so forward thinking.

Such a shame like SOA, they went all for the 32X and after that cock up, lots of good staff left and joined SONY instead

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

No, France was always Nintendo. Have to say Sega Europe did a lot of good things back inthe day, Like I said they started to make consoles cool to own and made a Huge push to make SEGA appeal to the older gamer they also really started to get celebrities to be seen playing and also wearing SEGA gear and also run the cool Cyber Razor cut and they the SEGA Pirate TV ads and loads of cool Magazine ads playing on how Nintendo was consetaive and boring, while SEGA was cool and hip. Sega Europe was the underdog, but they played on that and used it to full effect. Sega Europe were also the 1st to do classic range of cut price games for the console, they were just so forward thinking.

Such a shame like SOA, they went all for the 32X and after that cock up, lots of good staff left and joined SONY instead

Well I imagine that they were told to throw their weight behind the 32X by their superiors who, depending on the situation, apparently was either Hayao Nakayama of Sega of Japan or Tom Kalinske of Sega of America. I'm not sure how much autonomy Sega of Europe enjoyed but I could be completely wrong and they in fact made their own moves with no outside interference but I'm fairly certain that they would have been influenced and excited by the moves Kalinske was making in America.

[Team Andromeda]

Well I imagine that they were told to throw their weight behind the 32X by their superiors who, depending on the situation, apparently was either Hayao Nakayama of Sega of Japan or Tom Kalinske of Sega of America. I.

No sadly I saw enough interviews from SEGA Europe Barry Jefro ect, that showed they felt the 32X was a winner down to its price and because it used the Mega Drive , Sega Europe too didn't think they was a market for the Saturn or PS until 2 years into their life, because of their the high retail price and expected the 32X to dominate the sales charts until the Saturn came down in price

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

No sadly I saw enough interviews from SEGA Europe Barry Jefro ect, that showed they felt the 32X was a winner down to its price and because it used the Mega Drive , Sega Europe too didn't think they was a market for the Saturn or PS until 2 years into their life, because of their the high retail price and expected the 32X to dominate the sales charts until the Saturn came down in price

Well in an alternate universe, where the 32X actually had a decent line-up of games to go with it, that might well have been the case. Sadly it didn't and the rest is history. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I think executives at Sega, of all backgrounds and nationalities, just got carried away.

[Team Andromeda]

Well in an alternate universe, where the 32X actually had a decent line-up of games to go with it, that might well have been the case.

Not really, People we not going to be fooled by a pretty lame and cutback 32 Bit experience. Not only did they want a true next gen 32Bit experience, they were also ready to pay for it. That part was never factored into SEGA America or Europe plans.

[bultje112]

Not really, People we not going to be fooled by a pretty lame and cutback 32 Bit experience. Not only did they want a true next gen 32Bit experience, they were also ready to pay for it. That part was never factored into SEGA America or Europe plans.

the playstation sold only 1% of it's entire amount of systems in it's first year in 1995 around launch. so no people weren't willing to pay for it. it was very niche until a major price drop in 97.

[Team Andromeda]

the playstation sold only 1% of it's entire amount of systems in it's first year in 1995 around launch. so no people weren't willing to pay for it. it was very niche until a major price drop in 97.

Even in 1995 the PS software began to pile up in the software charts in the Europe and that's all retail and 3rd parties will look at and care about, That was the key. SEGA Europe and America though the below £200 price point would win it, outright for them (regardless of the software). They got it badly wrong on the price or in how people weren't mugs and could see the 32X wasn't going to offer the true 32 Bit experience and buy 1996 nobody was looking for a cheap underpowered add on for their next gen needs, never mind the Cart format was a huge step backwards too.