 In March 1995 , Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske announced that the Saturn would be released in the U.S. on " <unk> " ( Saturday ) September 2 , 1995 . However , Sega Enterprises mandated an early launch to give the Saturn an advantage over the PlayStation . Therefore , at the first Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) in Los Angeles on May 11 , 1995 , Kalinske gave a keynote presentation for the upcoming Saturn in which he revealed the release price at US $ 399 ( $ 449 including a bundled copy of Virtua Fighter ) , and described the features of the console . Kalinske also revealed that , due to " high consumer demand " , Sega had already shipped 30 @,@ 000 Saturns to Toys " R " Us , Babbage 's , Electronics Boutique , and Software Etc. for immediate release . This announcement upset retailers who were not informed of the surprise release , including Best Buy and Walmart ; KB Toys responded by dropping Sega from its lineup . Sony subsequently unveiled the retail price for the PlayStation : Sony Computer Entertainment America president Steve Race took the stage , said " $ 299 " , and then walked away to applause . The Saturn 's release in Europe also came before the previously announced North American date , on July 8 , 1995 , at a price of GB ₤ 399 @.@ 99 . European retailers and press did not have time to promote the system or its games , leading to poor sales . After its European launch on September 29 , by early November 1995 the PlayStation had already outsold the Saturn by a factor of three in the United Kingdom , where it was reported that Sony allocated ₤ 20 million to market the system during the holiday season compared to Sega 's ₤ 4 million . 
