Moore Killed Dreamcast
The Dreamcast may have been one of the greatest consoles of all time (if not the greatest), but it was a commercial failure that caused Sega to back out of the hardware business and focus exclusively on software.
Before the launch of the console, Sega brought in now-EA Sports president Peter Moore as an executive to manage the launch. While it would be safe to assume that the Japanese bigwigs had made the decision to backtrack out of the console market, it turns out Peter Moore was the one to blame.
“On January 31, 2001, we said Sega is leaving hardware–somehow I got to make that call, not the Japanese. I had to fire a lot of people; it was not a pleasant day,” Moore recalled.
He commented that the alternative for Sega was to take one last gamble on a console and facing bankruptcy. It was obviously not a good option for the company, seeing as how Saturn and Dreamcast were both commercial failures.
“So we licked our wounds, ate some humble pie and went to Sony and Nintendo to ask for [development] kits,” he said.