What if Sega never left the video game console market?

In 2001, Japanese video game publisher Sega announced that it would leave the video game console market by discontinuing the Dreamcast due to its low sales and heavy competition from Sony's PlayStation 2 that led to significant financial losses. But what if the company went for a different path and reviewed its role in the market? Here's a potential scenario.

List of changes

 * As a last attempt to boost its sales, Sega launched a revised version of the Dreamcast in 2002 that allowed enhanced graphics and internet connection adapted for broadband as well as an improved controller and extra storage, quickly becoming a hit within the gaming community.
 * As a result, the Dreamcast would have been more successful, prompting Sega to return the handheld market as well to create a competitor to Nintendo's Game Boy and Sony's PlayStation Portable.
 * During the merger with Sammy, Sega would have bought Arc System Works, gaining the rights to their franchises.
 * As a consequence, some third-party Arc System Works games wouldn't exist.
 * Due to Arc System having all the rights to Guilty Gear, there was no need to make a replacement franchise for it, causing BlazBlue to never exist.
 * In 2013, Sega acquires WayFoward.
 * Sega would still allow the release of its games to competing platforms, although key games will be exclusive to its consoles.
 * The company tries to balance out between its core franchises like Sonic and Puyo Puyo and newer ones like Like a Dragon and Super Monkey Ball, while also giving more focus to forgotten ones like Golden Axe.
 * In order to expand its game library and taking notes of Capcom's success with its crossover fighters, Sega signed a deal with Warner Bros. that allowed to create a crossover fighting game between DC and Sega.
 * In exchange, the deal also gave Warner Bros. the rights to produce any content based on Sega franchises for film and television, although its comics would still being published by Archie Comics and later by IDW Publishing.
 * The Sonic series would suffer a few changes, such as changes to the main games, spin-offs, tweaked shows and movies, etc.
 * In order to promote a coherent canon within all its media, the SatAM continuity in the Archie run ended in 2001 with a reboot being then launched in 2002 that closely followed the post-Adventure game continuity, although still taking some liberties and deviations.
 * The movies would be entirely CGI-animated and set exclusively in Mobius as they tell their own story.
 * Sonic Prime would be replaced by Sonic Champions, being traditional-animated and focusing on Sonic and his friends rather than building a multiverse story as it was perceived by Sega as "repetitive".
 * Another notable example is the Olympic Games tie-ins, as instead of being a crossover with Mario, is a cross-company crossover.
 * Currently, the video game console market is still led by Sony, followed by Sega, Microsoft and Nintendo.

Home

 * /Sega Dreamcast/ (1998-2006)
 * /Sega Nova/ (2006-2015)
 * /Nova Motion/ (2009-2015)
 * /Sega Neo/ (2014-present)
 * /Neo VR/ (2017-present)
 * /Sega Nebula/ (2020-present)
 * /Nebula VR/ (2022-present)

Handheld

 * /Sega Comet/ (2004-2013)
 * /Sega Meteor/ (2012-2018)
 * /Sega Cosmic/ (2018-present)

Franchises
Note: * = original idea.
 * /Alex Kidd/ (1986-1990, 2003-present)
 * /Shinobi/ (1987-1991, 2002-present)
 * /Phantasy Star/ (1987-present)
 * /Altered Beast/ (1988, 2005-present)
 * /Golden Axe/ (1989-1993, 2006-present)
 * /Sonic the Hedgehog/ (1991-present)
 * /Sonic Boom/ (2014-2018)
 * /Puyo Puyo/ (1991-present)
 * /Streets of Rage/ (1991-1994, 2004-present)
 * /Virtua Cop/ (1994-present)
 * /Fighting Vipers/ (1995-present)
 * /Virtua Fighter/ (1995-present)
 * /NiGHTS Into Dreams/ (1996-present)
 * /House of the Dead/ (1996-present)
 * /Burning Rangers/ (1998-present)
 * /Space Channel 5/ (1999-present)
 * /Shenmue/ (1999-present)
 * /Crazy Taxi/ (1999-present)
 * /Samba de Amigo/ (1999-present)
 * /Jet Set Radio/ (2000-present)
 * /Super Monkey Ball/ (2001-present)
 * /Element Drive/* (2004-present)
 * /Like a Dragon/ (2005-present)
 * /Mousepocalypse!/* (2006-present)
 * /Bayonetta/ (2009-present)
 * /Into the Crypt/* (2012-present)
 * /The Realm of Nightmares/* (2014-present)
 * /24-Hour Action Hero/* (2018-present)
 * /Savage World/* (2020-present)

WayForward

 * /Shantae/ (2002-present)
 * [turn that space shooter I showed you into a series, maybe?]
 * /Mighty Switch Force/ (2011-present)

Atlus

 * /Megami Tensei/ (1988-present)
 * /Persona/ (1996-present)
 * /Snowboard Kids/ (1999-present)
 * /Catherine/ (2011-present)

Arc System Works

 * /Kunio-Kun/ (1986-present)
 * /River City Girls/ (2019-present)
 * /Double Dragon/ (1987-1995, 2012-present)
 * /Guilty Gear/ (1998-present)
 * /The Last Witch Hunter/* (2012-present)

Third-party

 * Football Manager (2004-present)
 * /DC vs. Sega/* (2007-present)
 * The Olympic Games (2008-present)
 * Vocaloid (2009-present)

Crossover

 * Sega All-Stars
 * /Sega All-Stars Rumble/* (2003-present)
 * /Sega All-Stars Party Frenzy/* (2004-present)
 * Sega All-Stars at the Olympic Games (2008-present)
 * /Sega All-Stars Racing/ (2010-present)

Bandai Namco Entertainment

 * /Pac-Man/
 * /Pac-Man World/
 * /Klonoa/

Electronic Arts

 * /Dead Space/
 * /Command and Conquer/
 * /Mercenaries/

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

 * /Mortal Kombat/
 * /Primal Rage/
 * TBD

Disney Interactive Studios

 * /Turok/
 * TBD

Comic books

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics/IDW Publishing, 1992-present)

Animated

 * Sonic the Hedgehog (Warner Bros. Pictures/Warner Animation Group, 2019)
 * Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Warner Bros. Pictures/Warner Animation Group, 2022)

Animated

 * Sonic X (TV Tokyo/FoxBox, 2003-2005)
 * Sonic Boom (Canal J/Gulli/Cartoon Network, 2014-2018)
 * Shenmue: The Animation (Tokyo MX/Crunchyroll/Adult Swim, 2022-present)
 * Sonic Champions (HBO Max/Cartoon Network, 2022-present)