Sega Rules Out Saturn or Dreamcast Mini Console

Sega has ruled out making any more Mini consoles, dashing hopes for a Saturn or Dreamcast revival.

The company behind Sonic the Hedgehog has released a number of nostalgia-fuelled Mini consoles based on the Sega Genesis, but has so far stopped short of continuing the trend with Mini versions of 1994’s Saturn or 1998’s Dreamcast, the latter of which was Sega’s final console.

Sega fans have over the last few years hoped that the company would continue its Mini range, but in an interview with The Guardian, Sega’s America and Europe CEO Shuji Utsumi said it was looking to the future rather than the past for new products.

“I’m not going for the Mini direction,” he said. “It’s not me. I want to embrace modern gamers.”

Then: “We are not a retro company. We really appreciate our legacy, we value it, but at the same time, we want to deliver something new — otherwise we’ll become history. That’s not what we’re aiming for.”

While Sega has said no to Mini consoles, it has big plans to revive its older intellectual property with modern takes. For example, big new games in the Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and Virtua fighter franchises are all in the works.

These games are being developed as Sega continues with the hugely successful Sonic, Persona, and Yakuza series, with Creative Assembly working on new Total War games and Alien Isolation 2, and Sports Interactive continuing with the eternally popular Football Manager.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Utsumi suggested Sega is considering launching its own subscription service for video games, competing with the likes of EA Play, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation Plus, to name but a few.

“We’re thinking something — and discussing something — we cannot disclose right now,” he said.

Photo By BRUCE BISPING/Star Tribune via Getty Images.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].