What if video game streaming is available in the 90s? Well, that’s not a hypothetical – that’s actually. In 1994, Sega released what was known as the Sega channel for their Mega Drive/Genesis console. This service is not like anything that has been released before, closer to what is offered today. The sega channel allows those who pay subscription to stream games above the unlimited number of cables (through Sega Retro). The available games are different depending on what the cable provider will offer. There are also exclusive games for Sega Channel.
This service was released and available at first in many countries, but from time to time swaying support due to lack of interest. In the U.S., the sega channel lasts for years. That is an innovative idea that precedes people like streaming games today such as PS NOW or Stadia.
How did the Sega Channel work?
The owner of the incident can choose to subscribe to the Sega channel if available in their country. To do this, they must buy a sega channel adapter and buy a subscription to a cable provider that offers sega channels in their package. In the U.S., the price is around $ 12.95 per month at a cost of $ 25 to activate the service, according to Sega Retro. From there, users can choose from a large number of games to play which are flowed through cable television. The game library is changed every month, and the newly released game for the system is not available in the Sega Channel up to 90 days after the release. Users can, however, pay an additional $ 2.95 per month to get access to new games for 48 hours. This is known as “express game.” There is also a game demo version available known as the “Drive Test.”
Because of the nature of the Sega channel, none of them are available on the way of documentation. Because it is broadcast via cable television, it is difficult to completely record channels altogether. However, we can see today how revolutionary the idea was for the moment, given the rise of gaming clouds, an idea that was very similar to the Sega channel.