How Microsoft and Sega teamed-up
Windows 10 making its way onto Xbox One is a move that's more than 16 years in the making. Let me back up and explain. Windows 10 has only been in development for the last handful of years, but Microsoft's history in cramming Windows into game consoles predates even the original Xbox, which launched in 2001. It all started with the Sega Dreamcast.
It didn't go so well.
In 1998, Microsoft and Sega existed at two opposite poles in the gaming world. The Windows operating system (OS) was the go-to platform for PC gamers and developers, while Sega was rapidly losing its share of the console market.
Today, it's tough to imagine these vastly different companies finding a good enough reason to partner up, but it made sense at the time. Each firm wanted what the other had. Microsoft wanted to begin planting its roots in the living room, and Sega needed killer apps that would attract gamers to its new console, if it was to survive.
Windows… on a console?
If either company in this unlikely duo were to achieve those goals, they first had to break down the divide that existed between PC and console game developers. Surely it wasn't no easy task, but Sega and Microsoft were determined to entice game makers to create on Dreamcast with the freedom of choice.
To make Dreamcast games, the duo made it so that developers could either use Sega's own proprietary programming interface or Microsoft's Windows CE OS. The latter offered a familiar development environment and tools, like DirectX, to seasoned PC game developers looking to get in on the game console scene.
Making Windows compatible with Sega's Dreamcast wasn't just an effort to make development on the new console easier. Microsoft hoped it would offset the risk of a flop entirely for developers, as the end-goal was to make Dreamcast games playable on all PCs running Windows.
Many developers loved the tools, or at least claimed to. A few high-profile game makers at Konami and now-defunct Acclaim raved about how easy it was to develop on Dreamcast using Windows CE. At this point, it seemed like things might work out in each company's favor.
9/9/99
Months later, when it came time to launch, CNET reported that not a single one of the Sega Dreamcast's launch titles were built using the Windows CE OS. Red Storm Entertainment, who was porting an already-developed Rainbow Six PC game to Windows CE, missed the launch due to complications during development.
Neal Robinson, Sega's VP of third-party development at the time stated that games available at launch were made by "developers who are used to developing software in a short span of time, and used to taking advantage of the newest hardware." In other words, Sega's proprietary interface seemed to be the preferred choice amongst developers out of the gate.
Despite its absence from the launch, Microsoft estimated that four Windows CE-based games would release by the end of the launch year. And Robinson went on to further cool concerns that the collaboration was a bust by stating that Sega hoped that an estimated 30% of its total game library would be built using Windows CE.
How the partnership paved the way for Xbox
If you build it, they will come … maybe
Throughout the console's depressingly brief two-year lifecycle, Microsoft and Sega's plan never reached the heights of its potential.
Exact figures of the amount of Windows CE-based Dreamcast games released aren't publicly available, but some estimations range from about 50 to 60. Whether this quantity measured up to the expectations of the two companies is irrelevant at this point.
Quality is the metric that matters most. And that was the biggest problem with most of the Dreamcast games built on Windows CE. They weren't very good.
There were a few gems to come out of the collaboration, like Hidden & Dangerous, Sega Rally 2 and Resident Evil 2. However, noticeably missing from the list are any of the games that helped put the Dreamcast on the map. Sonic Adventure, Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio and many more (Seaman, anyone?) were built using Sega's proprietary interface instead.
The aftermath
Microsoft put the tools in the hands of the developers, but it didn't pan out. Maybe offering two programming interfaces for developers to choose from was one too many. It's also possible that the cross-compatibility dream that Microsoft and Sega shared was too ahead of its time.
Regardless of the real reason for the failed partnership, it was a learning opportunity for Microsoft. The company might have only gained a little insight as to what worked and what didn't in the game console market, but it was enough to get started on its own box.
Unfortunately, that's where the hardware side of the story ends for Sega. The Dreamcast would be its last go. But Kotaku reported on one last attempt from Sega to keep the Dreamcast's saga alive.
Isao Okawa, who was Sega's chairman at the time, visited Bill Gates numerous times to negotiate the possibility of making Dreamcast games compatible on Microsoft's new Xbox console, which was in development at the time. Unfortunately, the talks fell through. Sega did, however, go on to bring several of its hit Dreamcast franchises, such as Shenmue, Crazy Taxi and Jet Grind Radio to the Xbox.
The future of Windows on Xbox
Since the release of the original Xbox, Microsoft has been rather quiet about the tools it provides to developers who want to make games. It's a stark contrast from how much it boasted about its Windows CE tools on the Sega Dreamcast.
However, if you fast-forward to current day, Microsoft announced – no, it practically shouted from the rooftops – that Windows 10 is coming to Xbox One this autumn. Thinking back on its experience with the Dreamcast, the familiar sense of enthusiasm coming from Microsoft is palpable.
The return of Windows on a home console at least owes its thanks to the Sega Dreamcast. How a similar plan will pan out on the Xbox One is anyone's guess at this point. But, the gaming world (perhaps Sega, too) will be watching very closely as it happens this November.
August 08, 2015 at 04:50AM
Cameron Faulkner
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