Um... 'over-reliance on arcade conversions also put off those who had grown up with the deeper, more involving games of the PlayStation and N64 era. Poor support of online services was another black mark, as was the lack of a DVD drive'

The only one of those things that is actually accurate or even a thing is the DVD drive. And that was more of a Japanese and European thing. As for the arcade games, that was actually a huge selling point for the Dreamcast and the majority of the high profile SEGA arcade releases were filled with extra content for the home release and were well received both sales-wise and critically. Games like Virtua Tennis and Crazi Taxi 1&2 actually set the bar for home arcade releases. As to the comment on the about poor support for online services - there was no bellwether for online console gaming at the time. There was nothing to compare it to, and broadband wasn't really a thing at the time (even though SEGA had support for it), I played every online release in the US and never had issues. The only problem I ever had was rage quitters... especially playing NFL 2K. They'd complain, I'd show them the replay and they would quit. Or sometimes they would just quit. But no other system... not even the big lie that was the PS2... could offer that experience. None of my friends who didn't have a Dreamcast even understood what I was talking about until they'd come over to check out online gaming. I'd say about 75% of them bought a Dreamcast within a week of experiencing Dreamcast's online play. The Dreamcast had better online support than both the Gamecube and the Wii, and has never been a part of the story of Dreamcast's demise. That was mismanagement, micromanagement, corporate in-fighting, cultural clashes, unreasonable financial demands and quotas, pirating of software, deceptive and extensive marketing by SONY for the incredibly over-hyped (that's a nice way of saying they basically lied) PS2, 9/11 and the fallout (including the global financial impact, delayed shipments, delayed and cancelled games... one of which would have really highlighted SEGA's online gaming).

To kind of drive home the point that the Dreamcast in it's short 18 months actually had good support given it was the pioneer and the first to do online out of the box:

Alien Front Online

Ooga Booga

Propeller Arena (planned, but not official - still supported online for a while)

Starlancer

Worms World Party

Outtrigger

Unreal Tournament

Daytona USA

F355 Challenge

POD Speed Zone

Speed Devils Online

Phantasy Star Online ver1

Phantasy Star Online ver2

Bomberman Online

Chu Chu Rocket

Maximum Pool

Next Tetris: Online Edition

NBA 2K1

NBA 2K2

NCAA College Football 2K2

NFL 2K1

NFL 2K2

PBA Bowling 2001 (not official, still supported online for a while)

World Series Baseball 2K2

SEGA Swirl

That is a list of online games in North America/USA. In basically 18 months. All of them playable, nearly all of them really good to great games.

Japanese online:

Capcom vs SNK Millenium Fight 2000

Capcom vs SNK Millenium Fight Pro L

Capcom vs. SNK 2: Millionaire Fighting

Choukousenki Kikaioh for Matching Service

JoJo no Kimyouna Bouken for Matching Service

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes

Moero! Justice Gakuen (Project Justice)

Power Stone 2 04/27/2000 09/01/2001

Super Street Fighter IIX for Matching Service

Street Fighter Zero 3 for Matching Service

Street Fighter III 3rd STRIKE Fight for the Future

Vampire Chronicle for Matching Service

Aero Dancing FSD - Tsubasa's Virgin Flight

Aero Dancing FSD - Tsubasa's Virgin Flight Aero Dancing I 02/15/2001

Aero Dancing ISD - Jikai Sakuma de Machite Masen

Frame Gride

Gundam Battle Online

Heavy Metal Geometrix

Kidou Senshi Gundam: Renpou vs. Zeon DX

Spawn in the Demons Hand

Virtual On Oratorio Tangram

Chu Chu Rocket

Chu Chu Rocket Culdecept II

Hanagumi Taisen Columns

Net de Para L

Sega Tetris Online

Super Puzzle Fighter IIX For Matching Service

Treasure Strike

Guruguru Onsen

Guruguru Onsen Guruguru Onsen BB

Guruguru Onsen 2

Guruguru Onsen 3

Kitaihei Gold

Nippon Pro Mahjong Renmei Dankurai Nintei : Heisei Mahjong-Shou

Net Versus -Igo-

Net Versus -Renju Gomoku Namebe-

Net Versus -Shogi- 05/24/2001

Net Versus -Chess- 05/24/2001

Net Versus -Hanafuda-

Net Versus -Mahjong-

Net Versus -Reversi-

Sakura Taisen Online: Paris no Nagai Hibi

Sakura Taisen Online: Teito no Yuugana Hibi

Taisen Net Gimmick: Capcom & Psikyo All Stars

Golf Shiyouyo 2 : The New Challenge

Golf Shiyouyo 2 : The New Challenge NBA 2K1

Netto de Golf

Netto de Tennis

NFL 2K1

Power Smash - Sega Professional Tennis

Pro Yakyu Team De Asoubou NET!

I'm pretty sure I even missed a few on both lists

And as a nice kick in the teeth to other systems that boasted online gaming shortly after the Dreamcast, a lot of them were also cross-regional; you could play with others around the world. That was actually a huge part of SEGAs online culture. All of this while the company/corporate was melting down around them.

Now compare that to LIFETIME online support for REALLY GOOD TO EXCELLENT games on the Gamecube, Wii, PS2... hell even the Wii U, if you really think about it. It's been out 3 years. Compared to 18 months. The great games for online play are almost exclusively first-party titles... and there isn't exactly a flood of them.

So I don't really know where you're coming from or how you came to that conclusion, but if you want to point to DVD, certainly that was a factor; they might have (according to the things I heard/overheard at E3) could have boosted sales by about 15-20%... maybe 25% with a pack-in movie and game. According the number that SEGA of America were being told to hit in order to stay in business, it may have been just enough to keep the production lines running, but obviously that would have changed their margin on the system and the price itself, so who can really say.

This system has also been a standout because of it's unmatched launch lineup, in terms of quality especially.

As far as the arcade statement:

Here are the top selling games for the Dreamcast in America - These all sold over a MILLION copies in the Dreamcasts short life:

Sonic Adventure 2.5 million

Soulcalibur 1.3 million

Crazy Taxi 1.225 million approximately: 1.11 million in the US 115,039 in Japan

Shenmue 1.2 million

Resident Evil Code: Veronica 1.14 million

NFL 2K 1.13 million in the US

NFL 2K1

Seaman

Sega Rally Championship 2

Virtua Fighter 3tb

Four arcade games in the top 10, two selling over a million. I'd say SEGA knew what it was doing. And in terms of depth of play, Dreamcast had the most diverse and eclectic game library of any system at the time and included online RPGs, JRPGs action adventure, Shenmue, Resident Evil Code Veronica and many, many more rich gaming experiences. You are very much wrong outside of the DVD claim. It just irritates me that after all of this time, and knowing what really went down now (with behind the scenes details), I still see articles like this that get it wrong.

Deeper more involved game of the Playstation and N64? Really? For the lova crap... just wow. Just, no.

Edit: I also know people like to drag out the 3rd party support trope, but other than EA (and especially in light of the Saturn) 3rd party support was fairly massive, all things considered. Many developers represented across an impressive spectrum of genres.