Dreamcast News Update 10/22/1999

Sega Ozisoft has delayed the release of the Dreamcast in Australia, from October 25th to November 30th. Ozisoft is claiming that the reason behind this is the demand for consoles in Europe and the USA.

The Dreamcast is doing very well in Europe; here are the facts and figures:

The latest news to come from Sega’s European offices is that they’ve now sold over 350,000 software titles, 295,000 peripherals and a staggering 86,000 copies of Sonic Adventure, making it unsurprisingly the most popular Dreamcast game. Selling more units than the UK’s current #1 music album from Shania Twain, the blue hedgehog is certainly going down a storm in Europe, having shot straight into the #1 spot in Chart-Track Weekly. Better yet, seven other games for Sega’s consoles entered the top 20 within two days of the machine’s launch!

Sega Rally 2 has now sold more than 74,000 copies, branding it the second most popular game. The Visual Memory Unit turned out to be the best selling peripheral, with more than 145,000 units already sold. In addition, approximately 90,000 controllers were purchased during the first week.

Thrilled at the continued success of the Dreamcast’s launch week, Jean-Francois Cecillon of Sega Europe commented, “Sonic clearly is the evergreen title leading the launch software line-up, which is the best the industry has ever seen, and we have even more special games coming out between now and Christmas. The peripherals which Sega have prespond to the market need – that sales for multi-player gaming have outsold others reflects the change in the gaming community.”

He continued, “Sales have beaten all expectations, confirming the belief that the consumer and games developing community have in Dreamcast. Dreamcast is an evolutionary console that adapts to the changing needs of the consumer. The public want to be a part of that evolutionary process.”

And finally, the Taiwanese earthquakes could be a major factor in Holiday productions of the Dreamcast. After the two quakes, production resumed to 1/4 of its normal rate. And now, Sega of America in particular is starting to worry. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this.