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To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3132)	4/15/1999 11:05:00 PM
From: Alf	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6180

Sega To Launch Dreamcast With $100 Mln Marketing Blitz (Last updated 4:54 PM ET April 15) By Therese Poletti SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sega of America said it will launch its new video game system, the Sega Dreamcast, in the United States on September 9, priced at $199, with a $100 million marketing campaign, in a bid to regain market share. "By 9/9/99, you can expect to see the biggest launch in video game history," said Bernie Stolar, president of Sega America, in a conference call with reporters. "Consumers will not be able to go on with daily life without hearing about Dreamcast. Sega will be everywhere." The Sega Dreamcast, which has faster and more realistic graphics, will also be the first video game console system to include Internet access with a 56 kilobit-per-second modem, so that consumers can play games over the Internet, access e-mail, browse the Web and chat with others, Stolar said. Sega, which has fallen in recent years to the number three player in the video game console industry, hopes to regain some lost market share by appealing to average consumers with the low price of $199, instead of the hard-core gamers which make up its current customer base, analysts said. Sony Corp . dominates the video game console market with an estimated 60-62 percent of the market, while Nintendo is number two with about a 20-23 percent stake. The rest of the market is shared by Sega at number three, and a few others, said Walter Miao, an analyst with Excel Research in Caldwell, N.J. "Clearly, Sega is very, very serious about making Dreamcast their success path," Miao said. "They have pulled out all the stops, which includes a 56k modem for Internet access." Stolar told reporters that more details on Sega's Internet strategy will be forthcoming at E3, the video game industry's biggest trade show, next month in Los Angeles. Sega's parent company, Sega Enterprises Ltd. in Japan, launched the Dreamcast system in its home market last November, at a price point of about $220-$240. Sega of America officials told reporters on a conference call that the Dreamcast is expected shortly to reach sales of about one million units in Japan, on target with their projections at the time of the launch. Stolar said 10 to 12 video game titles would be available at launch and the total game library is expected to approach 30 titles by Christmas, and exceeding 100 next year. He also said that Sega has received 30,000 pre-orders from retailers. "By the launch, pre-orders will be about 200,000 units," Stolar said, after announcing the date and pricing to a retailer summit Sega was hosting in San Francisco. "This is certainly Sega's opportunity to go back to the consumer and build brand loyalty and pick up share that they lost," said Tony Gikas, a U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst. "(Sega) has not been part of this most recent product cycle...but that dynamic obviously changes next year." Sega had once led the video game industry in the 16-bit platform era with the Sega Genesis launched in the late 1980s. But eventually Sony made its foray into video games with the PlayStation, appealing to a much broader consumer base, thus expanding and eventually dominating the market. Sega's announcement, including its hefty marketing budget, does turn up the heat on Sony, which is expected to launch a souped-up version of the PlayStation in Japan late this year or early next year.