It’s incredible that Sega never utilized the one weapon that set the Saturn apart from it’s competitors. Netlink could have been the nuclear bomb of the gaming wars, instead Sega turned it into a peashooter.
XBAND had a thriving community of gamers who miss the thrills and convenience of that great gaming network. All Sega had to do is emulate what was so successful and they had a sure winner.
What they provided (eventually) on the net was good, but it won’t sell many Netlinks. Sega completely ignored what constituted 90% of the XBAND play, Madden (only the greatest selling series of all time) and the fighting games! If Sega Sega had only made a deal with EA and provided the great challenge system we loved on the XBAND they would have sold ton of Netlinks and Saturns and maybe even won the platform war. It’s sad to see such an obvious opportunity pass by.