A closer look
Sega fundamentally changed the gaming landscape with the Dreamcast in 1999 by being the very first console manufacturer to include a built-in modular modem for out-of-the-box online multiplayer connectivity! While this was a brilliantly forward-thinking technological marvel, it was entirely useless to the vast majority of consumers who still relied on dial-up internet and didn't want to block their family's singular landline phone just to play Phantasy Star Online! Sega literally predicted the entire future of the gaming industry with startling accuracy, executed the hardware flawlessly, and then immediately went bankrupt because they were about five years too early for broadband infrastructure to actually catch up! The Dreamcast remains the ultimate tragic martyr of the video game world, proving that being a misunderstood visionary is usually a direct one-way ticket to catastrophic financial ruin and a permanent exit from the hardware business!
