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19 Feb 1999
Sega has revealed further details of the long-awaited launch of its games console, Dreamcast, as the Japanese giant makes its final move to crack the market.
The Dreamcast launch will be supported by a $100 million marketing campaign.
Mark Maslovicz, third-party licensing and acquisitions manager at Sega Europe, also confirmed the European launch would be in September.
Although he refused to be drawn on the final pricing, he stated it would be competitive. 'We will move into Europe with the right console at the right price. In Japan more than 700,000 units have been sold and Sega now has more than 200,000 subscribers online, making it the largest ISP in Japan.'
Jean Francois Cecillon, chief executive of Sega Europe, stated: 'We are completely restructuring our distribution channels to make them more aggressive in terms of marketing and more competitive in terms of performance.'
Maslovicz added that there will be 30 Dreamcast titles by Christmas 1999, followed by between five and 10 Sega-funded launches a year. In addition, the company would continue to either partner or acquire developers.
Following its defeat in the console war with Nintendo and Sony with its Saturn console, Sega is relying on Dreamcast to revitalise its flagging reputation in the games console market.
Brian Woodhouse, producer at Bizarre Creations - a UK developer for Dreamcast - commented: 'Sega came to us even before the machine was out and asked us what we'd like to see in a next-generation console. Technically speaking, Dreamcast is a fantastic machine. It's easy to set up and begin to program, which means you can get started really quickly - something that the Saturn wasn't all that good at.'
The hype in the US has snowballed, with retailer Electronics Boutique stores already taking pre-orders for the console.
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