Sega Makes Nearly $98M on 9/9/99

At TSSZ, I expected Sega to make at least $45 million on 9.9.99. The true number is more than double. Take a look from IGN Dreamcast:

Today Sega America proudly announced sales of $97,904,618.09 for its newly launched Dreamcast in the initial 24 hours. After literally flying off the shelves in over 15,000 retail stores across the country, Sega’s highest opening day revenue figure shattered the previous record held by Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, which achieved $28 million at its first day in cinemas last May.

More than 400 retailers opened their stores at 12.01 a.m. on Friday morning to a flood of enthusiastic Sega fans who had pre-ordered the machine prior to the eagerly awaited launch. “Original projections were to sell 1 million consoles by the end of the year and 1.5 million by March 31, 2000, however, in light of the past 24 hours we are now re-evaluating these forecasts,” said Chris Gilbert, senior vice president of sales, Sega of America.”

Gilbert continued on, saying “We had recently announced an industry record of 300,000 pre-sales for North America, tripling the previous record held by Sony for its North American PlayStation launch in 1995, but we didn’t know the launch would be this big. Our wildest expectations have been exceeded and we believe this is only the beginning of a phenomenally successful run for Sega Dreamcast.”

Quite frankly, we couldn’t have put it better ourselves. Well done Sega, you certainly deserve this. The battle may be won, but the real war has yet to begin.

In other console news, the PS2 is expected to be announced Monday, whether this will make an impact on the DC hype is anyone’s guess. But I believe it will make a tiny dent in this hype.