A move that got the company’s first console into the United States on the right foot
Sometimes we fill our mouths talking about how bad things are currently, how companies throw bile at each other, and how they are all carrying emblems of this industry. as he was E3. And well, there is some reason, but also little memory.
For example, one of the E3 craziest that can be remembered. A growing fair that, because its rules had not yet been established, delivered moments as mythical as the presentation of Sony which lasted two seconds.
The first E3 in history
We are in 1995. Michael Jordan returns to the NBA after crashing in baseball, toy story It becomes the first film made by computer, and the DVD format is born. A time of great technological advances where standing out at the CES, the quintessential electronics fair, has too many competitors to do so easily.
To prevent others from stealing the focus, companies like SEGA, Nintendo or Sony decide to move their big announcements to a new fair, the Electronic Entertainment Expo or, because of the three it is, E3. Luckily it didn’t end up being called “E cubed” as they initially intended.
Because it was halfway between the American east coast and Japan, they decided that Los Angeles would be the perfect place to hold the new fair, and the big companies went there with juicy new products under their arms.
Nintendo presented its Virtual Boy and dropped several hints of what would finally be Nintendo 64, Capcom made us known resident EvilEA had a shiny new FIFA, Rayman It surprised platform fans with the help of Atari… But if there was something to keep an eye on, it was SEGA and Sony. They were the two who had the most to win, or lose, at that fair.
A fight that was resolved in two seconds
Although SEGA Saturn had already been launched in Japan and some details simply remained to be polished for its arrival on American soil, among games like Panzer Dragon, Daytona USA either Virtua Fighter, the big news they had prepared for the public and press was the announcement of the price of the machine on the other side of the pond. Saturn would cost $399.
With the pressure on the shoulders of Sony, which arrived at that fair as an external entity and had yet to demonstrate what it would be capable of with PlayStation, the company’s presentation could not begin in the most soporific way.
First there was an extensive video about the history of the company in the world of electronics, and then a second part was added in the form of a talk about CD-ROM technology before giving way to Steve Race, president of Sony in America, that I should talk about the price of the machine.
Race went on stage, said “299,” and walked off to applause and cheers. Just a couple of seconds of presentation had been enough for PlayStation to take center stage at that first E3. A move that, halfway between trolling and masterful marketing, got the brand’s first console into the United States with the best possible foot.
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