according to "spyro"s developers, sales were initially slow at the game's launch but quickly began picking up following the holiday season. in the week of november 29, 1998, it was the 3rd best-selling game in the uk, behind "tomb raider" and "fifa 99". at the 1999 milia festival in cannes, it took home a "gold" prize for revenues above €20 million in the european union during the previous year. "spyro the dragon" received a "gold" award from the verband der unterhaltungssoftware deutschland (vud) by the end of august 1999, for sales of at least 100,000 units across germany, austria and switzerland. by december 1999, the game had sold a million copies in north america. as of 2007, the title had gone on to sell a total of nearly 5 million units.