According to a leaked document from Sega of America in 1996, it was believed that the Sega Saturn, released in 1995, was dominating the console wars against Sony's original PlayStation. However, both the Saturn and its successor, the Dreamcast, failed in the market, leading Sega to end production of consoles. Since 2001, Sega has focused solely on software development, following several unsuccessful hardware ventures including the Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Gear, and Nomad. It is surprising to discover that Sega initially had a significant amount of confidence in the Saturn's ability to compete against Sony's immensely popular PlayStation.
A recently leaked 272-page PDF document circulating on the internet provides extensive information about Sega and the Saturn at the time. The document includes sales data, email correspondence, and highlights the challenges faced by retailers due to poor profit margins. Interestingly, the leaked information also reveals discussions about the success of the Sega Saturn compared to the PlayStation. One email from Tom Kalinske, former CEO of Sega of America, to other senior Sega executives, states, "We are outperforming Sony. Saturn hardware is consistently sold out in every store, while PlayStation units are sitting unsold." Kalinske seeks suggestions from the email group on how to showcase this success at E3 and instill confidence in the Saturn's future success in the US.
Unfortunately, the anticipated success in the US never materialized. The Saturn's sales figures are estimated to be around 17 million units sold, while the PlayStation 1 sold more than 102 million units worldwide. Sony's console continued to be produced until 2006, five years after the Sega Dreamcast, the Saturn's successor, was discontinued. When looking at the retrospective sales numbers, it becomes evident that the competition between the Saturn and PlayStation was decisively settled.
Following the failure of the Saturn, Tom Kalinske resigned from Sega. During his tenure as CEO, the company emerged as a dominant force in the industry, providing fierce competition to Nintendo's SNES. The Saturn's failure marked the start of Sega's decline in the video game hardware market, and this recent leak of documents offers avid fans and historians a wealth of new details to analyze and contemplate.
