Console Race to Remain a Threesome

Global market research firm Dataquest reported Thursday to Reuters on the state of new technology, including video games. According to Dataquest, there is no room for more competitors in the video game hardware market, and Sega Enterprises is likely to remain a distant third with the Saturn.

While that is hardly surprising, the firm went on to state that the market for gaming software is expected to grow in 1997, but will slow down in 1998 or 1999.

This is on track with the boom-bust cycle that the industry has experienced since the days of 8-bit systems.

The company said that at the end of May, Sony Computer Entertainment had the lead with a total of 16 million PlayStation units shipped worldwide. Sony projects the sale of 18 million units in the current business year.

Nintendo's rival machine by comparison has sold 2.04 million units in Japan and 4.08 million in overseas markets, with an expected 12 million units shipping in fiscal year ending March 1998.

Sega, on the other hand, plans to sell 1.9 million Saturns worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 1998. The company said that thus far, it has sold 7.56 million Saturn systems worldwide.