Dear Future Gamer

With regards to Grant Potter's Success For Sony letter (FG49), about how unsuccessful the Nintendo 64 has been, it seems he's overlooked how a console's sales gather momentum as it gets on in life. For instance, the PlayStation sold more units in 1998 than in either 1997 or 1996, and no doubt we'll find that 1999 was even more successful again. With this in mind, we may expect a total volume sale of PS to be around 9 million when PS2 comes out. By the same time, N64 sales should have reached about 4-5 million (i.e. 1.3 million by the end of 1998, 2.8 million by the end of 1999, plus further leaps during next year).

As for Nintendo, well, the GBC and Pokémon will give it a fighting chance, and the extra year of life the N64 has over PS may also bring its sales into line, but in 10 years I'll still be plugging the N64 in, in just the same way I still use my NES now - and who can say that about PlayStation?

Geoffrey Roberts

FG: Consoles tend to sell more as they grow older because they become a much better deal - there are more games for them, they're generally cheaper and people know they're buying into something that's established. I doubt very much I'd go near an N64 in 10 years' time. Only Amiga owners seem unable to move on with the times...