Sega has said that cost increases due to the COVID-19 pandemic have stopped the company from developing a Sega Saturn or Dreamcast mini console.Ā
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This comes from Segaās classic hardware producer Yosuke Okunari, who spoke to Famitsu (translation via VGC) following the announcement of the Sega Mega Drive Mini 2.
When speaking about the Mega Drive Mini 2, Okunari said: āSome of you may say āthis isnāt a Sega Saturn Miniā or āI wanted a Dreamcast Miniā, itās not that we didnāt think about that direction.ā
āThe development of new boards has been stagnant due to the Coronavirus and, of course, it would be a fairly expensive product in terms of cost,ā Okunari added.
These comments donāt entirely rule out more mini consoles from Sega, but Okunariās words seem to indicate that they currently arenāt in active development.
The recently announced Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 will have 50 games on it from both the Mega Drive and Mega CD. Games like Sonic CD and the never before released on the console Fantasy Zone will be included when it launches in Japan this October. Thereās currently no worldwide release date for the mini console.
Sonic CDĀ will be a part ofĀ Sonic Origins, a retro collection ofĀ SonicĀ games set to release later this month.
Segaās Dreamcast console was the companyās last foray into the home console market when it launched in 1998. It was discontinued worldwide in March of 2001 with Sega pivoting to third-party game development. Issues like competition and poor profits caused the console to be discontinued so quickly after its release.
In other news, a new multiplayer Crash Bandicoot game may appear at the Xbox and Bethesda games showcase, according to journalist Jez Cordon. āItās like a four player brawler almost, but Crash oriented,ā said Cordon.
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