The CaffCast is here with your Phantasy Star Online Dev Lore!br Subscribe for more Lore: See what's next on Maker.TV ► br Follow Lore on Twitter: br Written by Chadbr br Voiced by The CaffCast:br br Animated by Nevarky:br br Transcript:br br In 1998 Sega Chairman Isao Okawa realized that internet gaming would become more and more important and declared the year 2000 as the Year of the Network Game -- further cementing Sega's legacy of having revolutionary ideas way too early. Okawa approached Sonic Team's leader Yuji Naka who had just finished Sonic Adventure on creating a new title focused around network play.br br The team had already split into three groups: one working on pushing the graphical capabilities of the Dreamcast, one on potential online games, and another on what would become Chu Chu Rocket. As the team reassembled, Art Director Satoshi Sakai tried blending elements of fantasy, sci-fi and realism. An early concept art piece of a dragon reminded Naka of the old Sega franchise Phantasy Star, which started the connection to the franchise.br br Phantasy Star Online was released in Japan in 2000 and the US in 2001. In order to market it to Japanese audiences where internet services were charged by the minute, Okawa packaged the game with a year of free internet access and paid for it out of his own pocket. Phantasy Star Online enjoyed critical acclaim and was pegged as one of the most revolutionary games for taking both players and consoles online.