Sony wouldn't have "delivered the power" of the PS2 without "the specter of the Dreamcast," says former Sega and Microsoft exec: "Every incumbent needs a challenger to punch them in the face"

It's no secret that Sega's beloved Dreamcast console paved the way for some of the best retro games of all time, but that's not all it did – it also set the stage for console behemoths like the iconic PlayStation 2 from Sony.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Game Business, Peter Moore, former Sega president and Xbox executive at Microsoft, explains as much. First describing how "the Dreamcast passed the baton to the Xbox 360, which, with Microsoft's resources, was able to take the Sega Dreamcast and build upon it," Moore goes on to say that the 1998 console from Sega laid the groundwork for another system, too – the PlayStation 2.

When asked about the looming threat of the PlayStation 2 over the Dreamcast, a threat that other consoles like the original Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube would go on to face, Moore openly admits that it was "not going to be able to survive against the juggernaut that was the PlayStation 2" – but that doesn't mean it didn't help usher in the new device from Sony or an era of online gaming that hadn't yet been touched before the Dreamcast.

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"Every incumbent needs a challenger to punch them in the face, right? And you know, from the perspective of what Sega was, it was keeping PlayStation honest – they would not have delivered the power of the PlayStation 2 without the specter of the Dreamcast," details the former company lead. "They needed to step up their game."It seems Sega's console, while not as long-lived as the PlayStation 2, was the push Sony needed to succeed.

Online gaming has changed quite a bit since the late 90s and early 2000s, of course, but Sega and its influence on the industry remain timeless – as Moore puts it, the Dreamcast was a true "trailblazer" thanks to its capacity to support online play.

Are you a fan of the 1998 console yourself? Here are some of the best Sega Dreamcast games ever to explore.

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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