By Artemicion 2012-02-04 19:39:50
Indeed, Sega was a console provider that had their own set of devotees based on available franchises similar to what Nintendo is today. Sadly that demograph for the time was far more limited than what the industry has led to now. With sony's playstation on the horizon, along with it's capacity for future development, it's no wonder publishers and the devs under their wing were lining up and frothing at the mouth for being licenced. And with the advent (see what I did there?) of FF7, it only solidified the success for sony's console, which meant Sega had to step up their game in 1999 with the Dreamcast.
As much as it was a hardware battle, it was a battle to win over licences from big name publishers and developers alike.