10 Video Game Bombs That Made ONE Fatal Mistake
7. Not Releasing On PS2 & Xbox - Shenmue
There's no denying that the original Shenmue was a massive financial gamble, given that it was not only the most expensive game ever produced at the time - with an estimated budget of up to $70 million - but also released exclusively on Sega's Dreamcast.
Yet considering the Dreamcast's small install base, Shenmue would've needed to sell twice to every console owner in order to turn a profit, making it painfully clear that Sega should've also ported the game to the PS2 and Xbox in short order.
Their failure to do this had wider ramifications for the series, as though Shenmue II was released on the Xbox, players' inability to easily play the first game beforehand set it up to flop, which it did.
Things could've been so different for the franchise if Sega adopted a multi-platform strategy earlier on.
Ultimately it would be almost 20 years before the original game was finally released on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, by which point the ship had long since sailed and sunk.