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Imagine a '90s MTV for Games, anchored with a Sabotage by Beastie Boys game

Sega was surprisingly close to making Sega Channel into something much bigger than what it was.

Beastie Boys Sabatoge Screenshot — Image credit: Capitol

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Wed Dec 17 2025

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Sega was always aiming to be the more rock ' n ' roll, rebellious competitor to Nintendo’s more family-friendly image, but it turns out they almost went much harder into their brand than we ever thought. Back in the 90s, when Sega Channel was trying to find its footing, there were talks between the Beastie Boys and Sega to create not just a game based on the rap trio’s music videos but to make something akin to the “MTV of games."

This one may need a bit of a history lesson. Sega Channel was an early precursor to the cloud-based gaming that has become a major part of the gaming landscape. It allowed players to play Sega Genesis games, get cheat codes, and play game demos online for a monthly subscription fee, all through the magic of mid-90s internet.

The intention was to keep rolling out new content for Sega Channel, which, according to Christopher Berstresser, a former Sega Channel production manager, would have included streaming music videos to fans. Specifically, he has shared emails from the period with Mike D of the Beastie Boys to create a video game based on the group’s music videos, advertisements featuring the group, tour date and album announcements, and potential discounts for those who bought Beastie Boys albums.

“I had direct discussions with Mike D and his number two person for his record label Grand Royal to have them, or at least maybe some of the acts under the Grand Royal label, contributing music to Sega Channel,” Berstresser explained. “The aim was to make Sega Channel something a lot deeper, and a lot more interesting to a broader audience. Because, again, looking at the feedback that we got from some of the audience through the website, it was, ‘Hey, we want more.’ We also had a lot of people saying at the time, ‘This could be the MTV of games’, so we were trying to think dynamically on how we could make it more of a destination rather than just a landing place to download games.”

Sadly, the Sega Channel never got to realize its true destiny as the MTV of games, but it is wild to imagine that it nearly had a group like the Beastie Boys, who were massive at the time, providing music for the service.

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