Sega VR

Overview

The success of the Genesis prompted Sega to invest heavily in the creation of new accessories for the hardware in an effort to boost sales even further. One of the many R&D projects announced by Sega was Sega VR, a virtual reality headset. The display provided internal LCD screens, stereo headphones, and sensors capable of detecting inertia, which allowed the device to track head movements.

Unfortunately, the headset never passed the prototype stage. Initially planned for release in 1994 with several games developed specifically for the system, the Sega VR vanished after being shown at consumer electronics shows in 1993. Sega claimed it halted development on the device because the experience was so real most users would actually end up hurting themselves, but it's more likely that the technology inflicted problems common to head-mounted virtual reality displays, including neck pain, nausea, disorientation, or headaches.

Due to the interest in virtual reality technology at the time, Sega's development of the headset sparked a flurry of activity along the same lines among the company's competitors, but no other completed device was ever sold.

Sega themselves later went on to develop other similar VR projects for use in arcades and a similar add-on was reported but never seen for the Sega Saturn. In 1996, soon after opening the Sega World arcade at the London Trocadero, Sega demonstrated a very similar VR device that could accurately track head movement, supported 3D graphics, and fixed some of the issues the Sega VR had. However, after being demonstrated in 1996, this new head-tracking VR device was not heard from again.