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The Fifth generation of video game hardware (1993-2005) expanded the home console market. With early CD technology, many companies made their own consoles such as Panasonic's 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in North America, Commodore's Amiga CD32 in Europe and NEC's PC-FX. Unfortunately these consoles failed due the lack of third party developers. Learning from mistakes of previous games and using the technology they worked on from the canceled SNES CD add on, Sony released the PlayStation. SEGA's SEGA Saturn was planned to be released in late 1995, but SEGA moved the Saturn's release date to early 1995 to get it released before the PlayStation. Many developers were upset by SEGA's decision, since they didn't have the time to develop games. The SEGA Saturn had poor marketing in North America, but did well in Japan. One year later, Nintendo released their Nintendo 64, which used cartridges, even though CDs were available at the time. The PlayStation and Nintendo 64 were the main competition up to 2000. This time in video game history also introduced the "hardcore" audience into gaming. Many notable events happened in this Generation; Sony entered the console market and 3 dimensional games became a reality.

Sales[ | ]

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Worldwide[ | ]

Console Units sold
PlayStation 102.49 million shipped
(74.34 million PlayStation, 28.15 million PSone)
(as of March 31, 2005)[1]
Nintendo 64 32.93 million (as of March 31, 2005)[2]
SEGA Saturn 17 million (as of 1998)[3]
3DO 2 million (as of May 4, 2007)[4]
PC-FX 290,000 (as of 1997)[5]
Jaguar 250,000 (as of May 15, 2007)[6]
Amiga CD32 100,000
FM Towns Marty 45,000 (as of December 31, 1993)
Apple Bandai Pippin 42,000 (as of May 4, 2007)[7]

Japan[ | ]

Year Sales
FM Towns
Marty
3DO Jaguar SEGA
Saturn
PlayStation PC-FX Nintendo 64
1993 45,000
1994
[8]
365,800 2,000 840,000 [9] 300,000 [8] 70,000
1995 615,800
(+250,000)
[10]
2,500,000
(+1,660,000)
[9]
2,000,000
[1]
(+1,700,000)
1996
[11]
750,000
(+134,200)
4,810,000
(+2,310,000)
[9]
4,200,000
[12]
(+2,200,000)
270,000 2,030,000
[13]
1997
[5]
5,620,000
(+810,000)
[9]
8,600,000
[5]
(+4,400,000)
290,000
(+20,000)
3,140,000
(+1,110,000)
[13]
1998 5,770,000
(+150,000)
[9]
14,710,000
[12]
(+6,110,000)
4,350,000
(+1,210,000)
[13]
1999 5,290,000
(+940,000)[13]
2000 5,490,000
(+200,000)[13]
2001 15,255,000
[14]
5,540,000
(+50,000)[13]

References[ | ]

  1. 1.0 1.1 PlayStation Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24 Retrieved on 2008-03-22
  2. 05 Nintendo Annual Report - Nintendo Co., Ltd. (PDF). Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2005-05-26). Retrieved on 2007-11-25
  3. Evans, David S.; Hagiu, Andrei; Schmalensee, Richard (2006). Invisible engines: how software platforms drive innovation and transform industries ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press. p. 131. ISBN 0262050854. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5Wx6-uv-DSkC&pg=PA131. Retrieved 31 January 2012.  (with reference to Table 2: Worldwide Video Game Console Annual Shipment History - 1989-1998. Video Game Consoles: Sony, Nintendo and SEGA Brace for Microsoft Challenge. In-Stat (NPD Group) (December 2000). Archived from the original on 2001-05-01 Retrieved on 31 January 2012)
  4. Blake Snow (2007-05-04). The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. GamePro.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05 Retrieved on 2007-11-25
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=150080900&postcount=56
  6. Greg Orlando (2007-05-15). Console Portraits: A 40-Year Pictorial History of Gaming. Wired News. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved on 2008-03-23
  7. Blake Snow (2007-05-04). The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. GamePro.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-05 Retrieved on 2007-11-25
  8. 8.0 8.1 Edge, April 1995, page 10
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 SEGA Saturn sales in Japan:
  10. Annual (FY) Japanese Home Console Hardware Shipments, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei)
  11. Mega, issue 23, August 1994
  12. 12.0 12.1 PlayStation Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24 Retrieved on 2008-03-22. Note: These Japan sales figures include shipments to other Asian countries.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Consolidated Sales Transition by Region (PDF). Nintendo (2012-10-23). Archived from the original on 2012-11-12 Retrieved on 2012-10-24
  14. PlayStation sales in Asia by end of 2001: 19.07 million
    • Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore: 3.815 million
    • Japan: 15.255 million
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