They launched much earlier than expected, before really any meaningful library of games were available. Third party developers were taken completely by surprise by the early launch.
It didn’t help that the Saturn didn’t ship with an SDK and was painful to develop 3D titles on due to being a sprite based machine (3D was effectively transforming sprites. Which caused bugs like breaking alpha blending).
The PlayStation wasn’t exactly easy by modern standards either but it was compared to that generation of consoles. For starters it had an SDK. Then there was the lack of storage constraints (unlike with the N64 cartridge). And while it didn’t have a Z index, at least it’s polygons weren’t just hack around 2D sprites.
That all said, I do still love my Saturn and N64 more than my PlayStation. This is Tony a rational preference but more just what I enjoy more as a retro gamer. In some ways their faults enhance the console.
I think I've seen videos saying they somehow overengineered the hardware too, and without libs (as you mention) people struggled to make use of the many processors and couldn't reach goals.
It wasn’t so much over engineered but more old before it’s time. Sega bet on 2D and then retrofitted their console to be 3D after rumours emerged that the PlayStation and N64 were 3D-focused systems.
It was a dead market. Everyone wanted 3D because that’s what they saw at the arcades so that’s where Sega’s developers were already skilled at. Plus that’s what was already appearing on PCs.
I'm curious if that was the whole story. Arcades were clearly a major factor in steering customer preferences, but nowhere near a complete lock on it.
Home consoles and computers had already established a huge range of gaming experiences that are not viable in the arcades. (RPGs, strategy games, more sophisticated sports games-- anything where the mean game time is more than a couple minutes)
I wonder if Sega could have leaned into the strengths of 2D hardware by capturing lucrative, well-known franchises rather than rushing to make something 3D. In retrospect, a lot of the early 3D games were sort of forgettable, and aged poorly?
If they could have said "we wooed Square, and the next two Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games exclusive", the Saturn would have sold several million units regardless of hardware.
The PlayStation wasn’t exactly easy by modern standards either but it was compared to that generation of consoles. For starters it had an SDK. Then there was the lack of storage constraints (unlike with the N64 cartridge). And while it didn’t have a Z index, at least it’s polygons weren’t just hack around 2D sprites.
That all said, I do still love my Saturn and N64 more than my PlayStation. This is Tony a rational preference but more just what I enjoy more as a retro gamer. In some ways their faults enhance the console.