CD SOFTWARE SALES REACH $249 MILLION IN FIRST QUARTER 1995

Sales Up 186% As Business products Accelerate

AUGUST 28, 1995 (Washington, DC) - The Software Publishers Association
(SPA) has released its first quarter 1995 (Q1 '95) figures from its CD
Software Sales Report.  For the quarter, total sales of reporting
companies were $249.6 million, a 186% increase over the $87.3 million
reported for Q1 '94.  Unit sales in the quarter were 6.86 million, a 125%
increase.  Windows sales dominated the CD landscape, taking a 69% share of
total sales.  OEM or "bundled" sales declined as a share of units
shipped--from 46% in Q1 '94 to 32% in Q1 '95--illustrating the increasing
strength of the retail channels in CD sales.

Information for the quarterly reports is based on the aggregated sales
information of the companies who participate in the SPA's CD Software
Sales Program. These firms report quarterly sales information to the
accounting firm, Ernst & Young, which prepares the report for the SPA.  We
have included an appendix listing the category definitions. Representative
companies participating in the first quarter report include Brderbund,
Microsoft, Knowledge Adventure, Maxis and Disney Interactive.

Home Entertainment Still the Largest Category

Content software--defined as databases, reference works, books and
periodicals--was the largest-selling category for the first seven quarters
the SPA tracked CD software sales.  In Q3 '94, the games and other home
creativity products category surpassed content, and has remained larger
ever since.  It is still growing at very  swift 140% rate in revenue and
117%  in unit sales.  Bundled units' share of total shipments has declined
significantly over the past year, from 35% of unit sales in Q1 '94 to 25%
in Q1 '95.  Interestingly, this change has not been due to a fall in
bundled sales, but to an increase in shipments through other channels--OEM
sales of games have risen by just over 50%, while units shipped through
other channels have risen more than 153%.

Business Products the Fastest Growing

While the consumer-oriented categories remain the largest in the Q1 report,
the categories with business-oriented products had by far the fastest
growth. Languages & tools product sales in Q1 '95 were $53.1 million, a
256% increase from Q1 '94.  However, the phenomenal growth in both the
business and personal & business productivity categories make that pale by
comparison. Business CD units rose by 754%, while revenues grew by 2,654%.
 In part, this represents the increasing dominance of business software
suite sales. It is much faster and more economical to load one CD than
perhaps 25 diskettes.

The business and personal productivity category includes products such as
personal finance, personal information managers (PIMs), calendars,
business plans, expense records, will makers, family tree makers and other
home or office organizers.  While still a relatively small category, it
has grown by 1,900% to 468,000 units .

"This quarter's growth is quite strong, especially coming off a record
fourth quarter in 1994," said Ken Wasch, SPA President. "The CD segment
remains a very dynamic part of the software industry. We can see that CD
software isn't just for kids anymore--it  includes business products like
software suites, databases, accounting packages and sophisticated graphics
programs.  As more businesses realize the productivity gains possible from
CD data access and storage, we expect to see this segment of market grow
even further."

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                TABLE 1:  CD Software UNIT Sales and Growth
---------------------------------------------------------------------

                  Q1 '95        Q1 '94        Growth Q1 '94
                  (000)         (000)          to Q1 '95

Games & Home        2,356         1,083              117%
Creativity
Home Education      1,935           819              136
Content             1,291           785               64
Business              243            28              754
All Other Products  1,032           330              127

Totals              6,857         3,045              125%


---------------------------------------------------------------------
                  TABLE 2:  CD Software REVENUES and Growth
---------------------------------------------------------------------

                  Q1 '95        Q1 '94        Growth Q1 '94
                  (000)         (000)          to Q1 '95

Games & Home       $55,943        $23,271            140%
Creativity
Business            48,181          1,749          2,654
Home Education      29,888         12,651            136
Content             26,036         28,578             -9
All Other Products  89,510         21,034            225

Totals            $249,558        $87,283            186%


The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the PC software industry. Its 1,100 members represent the leading
publishers in the business, consumer, and education markets. The SPA has
offices in Washington, DC, and Paris, France.  SPA press releases are
available on-line through CompuServe (GO:SPAFORUM), on the SPA Web page at
www.spa.org and from SPA's fax-back service at 800 637-6823.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756
---------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Appendix

Category Definitions Used in SPA CD-ROM Data Program

Please note that not all of the categories collected in the data program
are released publicly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Games and Other Home Creativity - All types of entertainment products, from
arcade to adventure games fall in this category.  All help, how-to, home
graphics, music lesson, and lifestyle software, such as diet and cookbooks
should be wrapped into this category. Creative software designed for
adult, family or general use.  Also includes CDs of an entertainment
value, specifically targeted for the home market, such as movies and
videos.

Home Education - This category includes all software products sold to the
home market that have a specific educational purpose.  Pre-school, study
aid, and creative software designed specifically for children should also
be included here.  Typical reference works used in the home or business,
such as stand-alone dictionaries, encyclopedias and atlases should NOT be
in this category.

Content - This category includes CD software that contains large amounts of
data. It also includes all reference works and guides designed to function
around a high-speed retrieval system, and all other books and periodicals
published on CD-ROM.

Business - This category includes all business software applications found
on CD-ROM.

Programming Languages and Tools - This category includes programming
languages such as Pascal, Basic, C as well as software designed to aid the
programmer in software development.  Specifically includes multimedia
languages and tools. Examples include: Borland C++ (Borland), Visual Basic
Pro (Microsoft).

Personal & Business Productivity - Includes productivity products used in a
business or the home, such as resume writers, personal information
managers (PIMs), calendars, business plans, expense records,  will makers,
family tree makers and other home or office organizers.  Also in this
category are all CD versions of personal finance and tax programs.

Other Categories - This category includes all other CD software not listed
above, including music, compilations disks--all CD-ROM software that have
multiple titles from 2 or more categories pressed onto a disc (e.g. games
and clip art ). The music category includes all titles with a popular
musical artist as a foundation for the disk.  Does NOT include audio music
CDs.
 
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