 The Saturn 's U.S. launch was accompanied by a reported $ 50 million advertising campaign that included coverage in publications such as Wired and Playboy . Because of the early launch , the Saturn had only six games ( all published by Sega ) available to start as most third @-@ party games were slated to be released around the original launch date . Virtua Fighter 's relative lack of popularity in the West , combined with a release schedule of only two games between the surprise launch and September 1995 , prevented Sega from capitalizing on the Saturn 's early timing . Within two days of its September 9 , 1995 launch in North America , the PlayStation ( backed by a large marketing campaign ) sold more units than the Saturn had in the five months following its surprise launch , with almost all of the initial shipment of 100 @,@ 000 units being presold in advance , and the rest selling @-@ out across the U.S. 
