Why was the Atari Jaguar such a failure?

I don't get it, I know it was the first 64-bit system, without any 64-bit games, but still, that shouldn't be a problem as long as the games were good. I mean hell, Tempest 2000 was fun as hell, and if I remember correctly, it was only released on the Jaguar. So if it had good stand-alone titles, why did it fail so horribly?

There is a question about the gaming audience, back in the 16 bit era people were starting to grow into new genres (3d platformers, jrpgs, fps, party games) and when the next gen consoles appeared, the big successes in those platforms were revolutionary in how they applied their game design and expanded very well upon those primitive 16 bit genres. The Atari Jaguar didn't really have that offer, that momentum build upon the expectations of players discovering new gaming expériences. Also the games weren't as polished as the expériences previously available despite being backed by a more robust CPU.

Just watch the AVGN ep's to do with the Jaguar regarding the games, Pretty much sums things up.

It wasn't cheap, it was not very reliable, its technical claims be 64 bit were dubious (and in any case, it did not offer significantly higher performance), its controller was absurd and, more to the point, it didn't have many decent games (Tempest 2000 was good, and it also had the original Aliens vs Predator game which was quite well received- but that's honestly all I can remember in the way of good Jaguar games)

Even so, it didn't fall over right out the gate. It was doing mediocre in the hopes of picking up later. It was the release of the Playstation that killed it. There was honestly no point in the Jaguar after that; the PS was about the same price but better in every other measurable way.

There's a famous gaming mis-step about the head of Atari attempting to block PS sales in the US on the idea that they had to be dumping stock to sell them that cheaply.

It also had that CD add-on for it which transformed it into a toilet.

Who cares what it looked like, you had the full package with that shit. Sega CD and SEGA 32x gave you the full Genesis experience as well.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
Who cares what it looked like, you had the full package with that shit. Sega CD and SEGA 32x gave you the full Genesis experience as well.

If it looks like shit... then it is shit.

It didn't. You needed dedicated game for Sega CD and 32x to warrent the purchase. And there was no games for them.

As well, the 32x came from Sega of Japan even though Sega of America didn't want it in the country (because it was shit) and they released it so fast that developers didn't get a chance to look at it before release. So no games.

You should really read Console Wars.