Sega declined to give the number of people employed at the subsidiary in charge of developing and selling the video-game console, but Jiji news agency reported the subsidiary had eliminated about 100 workers.

The job cuts were carried out as a part of business restructuring at the subsidiary, a Sega spokeswoman said.

Accumulated sales of the Sega Saturn game machine in the United States totalled 1.7 million units as of the end of March 1997, and the company saw the number growing only slightly to 1.8 million units by the end of March this year.

This was in contrast to bullish sales of Sony Corp's <6758.T> PlayStation video-game player, 6.4 million units of which was shipped to North America by August 1997.

Sega of America said in a statement that it was developing a new video game console to be released in North America in 1999. It said that it had already begun briefing software developers on the new platform and was working with retailers to ensure a smooth transition to the next console.

It gave no further details about its next platform.