In two weeks, sales of Sega’s new Dreamcast game console have surpassed the half million mark. A Sega press release (“Sega Dreamcast Tops Half Million Mark in Units Sold, Bests Records Set by Sony, Nintendo, Apple and DVD“) compares the Dreamcast launch with the iMac launch, which sold 278,000 units in six weeks, the PlayStation launch, which reached the half million mark after four months in 1995, and the Nintendo 64 launch, which reached the mark after two months in 1996.
It helps Sega that there hasn’t been a new gaming console launch in almost three years (that’s lots of saved up spending money!), but Nintendo and Sony will next year launch their own next-generation game consoles. Then we’ll see the real console wars.
