WH Smith ditches Sega consoles

WH Smith has delisted the Sega Saturn console and will now sell only the Sony PlayStation and software for personal computers, the fastest growing section of the market, in its multimedia departments.

The Sega brand, sold in WH Smith since Christmas, is second in the market to Sony PlayStation. The retailer has also delisted other computer consoles.

A spokeswoman for WH Smith says: “It was simply that the Sony machine was outselling the Sega machine by some distance. Customers were not asking for it.”

WH Smith has also dropped the older generation of 16-bit machines from its shelves. This includes the Sega Mega Drive and The Nintendo SNES.

The Sony PlayStation has sold 500,000 units since its UK launch in 1995, while the Sega Saturn has sold 200,000 units.

Nintendo, the former market leader, will launch its long-awaited advanced machine Nintendo 64 on March 1.

According to industry analyst ChartTrack, 25 per cent of all computer games sales occur in December.