Sega Begins The Big Dreamcast Shutdown
- August 02, 2002 00:00 AM PST
The good news: SegaNet accounts are free until the end of 2002. The bad news: There probably won't be any Dreamcast online support after this year.
For those of you still enjoying Phantasy Star Online and such on the good old Dreamcast, Sega has some good news and bad news. According to an announcement posted on Sega.com's page, the company is closing their Dreamcast online subscription service�meaning you won't have to pay a monthly fee anymore to access Sega's online servers. If you've already paid subscription fees for this month and beyond, you're now officially eligible for a refund, so it's recommended that you hightail it over to Sega.com's page right now to get the details. (You still have to pay for "premium services" like PSO Version 2, though.)This flip side of all this is Sega.com isn't making any guarantees that you'll be able to play any Dreamcast online games after 2002. "Dreamcast users will be able to enjoy free unlimited head-to-head online gameplay on SegaNet through the end of 2002," wrote Sega in the announcement. "At that time, Sega will shift focus to supporting new online titles for other platforms, and servers for Sega-published Dreamcast games may close down." They've already closed down a few U.S. and Japanese PSO servers�if you've been meaning to get that one Mag you've had your eyes on for a while, you had best hurry up. Yes.
