Sega Saturn

The Sega Saturn was a video game console released by Sega in 1995 designed to compete with the Playstation. The console sold 9.5 million units worldwide, including 6 million in Japan. Eventually, it found itself competing with the Nintendo 64, and the console sold only 2 million units in North America. The console was discontinued in 1998.

One of the causes for the Saturn's failure to sell is its poor release timing. Originally, the console was to be released on Saturday, September 2, 1995 (Saturnday), just a week before the Playstation was to be released on September 9. However, on May 11, 1995, more than four months earlier at E3, Tom Kalinske, Sega's president, claimed they would release the Saturns immediately. This early date meant that only six games were ready for porting at the time, as other games were still fixed on the September 2 launch date. Many within the gaming industry viewed the early launch as a calculated move to give Sega larger sales of Saturn software at the expense of independent developers. By the time the Playstation was released on September 9, just about 80,000 Saturns had sold. The Playstation, on the other hand, in its first week, sold over 100,000 sets.