 Sega released the Saturn in Japan on November 22 , 1994 , at a price of JP ¥ 44 @,@ 800 . Virtua Fighter , a nearly indistinguishable port of the popular arcade game , sold at a nearly one @-@ to @-@ one ratio with the Saturn hardware at launch and was crucial to the system 's early success in Japan . Along with Virtua Fighter , Sega had wanted the launch to include both Clockwork Knight and Panzer Dragoon , but the latter was not ready in time . Aside from Virtua Fighter , the only first @-@ party title available on launch day was Wan Chai Connection . Fueled by the popularity of Virtua Fighter , Sega 's initial shipment of 200 @,@ 000 Saturn units sold out on the first day . Sega waited until the December 3 launch of the PlayStation to ship more units ; when both were sold side @-@ by @-@ side , the Saturn proved to be the more popular system . Meanwhile , the 32X was released on November 21 , 1994 in North America , December 3 , 1994 in Japan , and January 1995 in PAL territories , and was sold at less than half of the Saturn 's launch price . After the holiday season , however , interest in the 32X rapidly declined . 500 @,@ 000 Saturn units were sold in Japan by the end of 1995 ( compared to 300 @,@ 000 PlayStation units ) , and sales exceeded 1 million within the following six months . There were conflicting reports that the PlayStation enjoyed a higher sell @-@ through rate , and the system gradually began to overtake the Saturn in sales during 1995 . Sony attracted many third @-@ party developers to the PlayStation with a liberal $ 10 licensing fee , excellent development tools , and the introduction of a revolutionary 7- to 10 @-@ day order system that allowed publishers to meet demand more efficiently than the 10- to 12 @-@ week lead times for cartridges that had previously been standard in the Japanese video game industry . 
