Sega has officially announced that it is not planning to release any more mini consoles, marking a shift in their approach towards modern gaming instead of nostalgia-driven hardware. In an interview with The Guardian, CEO Shuji Utsumi clarified, ‘We are not a retro company. We appreciate our legacy… but want to deliver something new.’
Sega has previously released several successful mini consoles celebrating its iconic franchises such as the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, Astro City Mini, and Game Gear Micro series. However, no further mini consoles focusing on the Saturn or Dreamcast platforms are in development.
- Utsumi’s Statement: “I’m not going for the Mini direction. I want to embrace modern gamers.”
- Sega now concentrates on reviving classic IPs with a modern twist, such as new entries in Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Virtua Fighter series.
How do you feel about Sega’s decision?
I got an R36S, which is shaped more like a DMG GameBoy and has dual analog sticks. It can play Dreamcast, but only at native resolution and sometimes it needs to be tweaked further. Saturn is actually a tad slow, dipping into 40fps usually. It can also do some less intensive PSP games. For a $60 handheld, this is fine. But considering SEGA is SEGA, I suspect that they want a much bigger profit margin than whoever is selling the R36S is making. Which is why I mentioned the SoCs in my comment.