At E3 1995, Sony was on the verge of releasing their first video game console, PlayStation. While Sony was tight-lipped about most details, one detail that gamers were dying to know was the price. During Sega’s keynote earlier that week, the company announced that their new console, Saturn, had been released that same day and was priced at $399. During the Sony keynote President of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Olaf Olafsson, noticing that the crowd was growing bored with his speech, invited Head of Development Steve Race to the podium to deliver his keynote portion. Race then picked up his multi-page presentation, walked to the podium, and famously said “$299.” Steve then walked back to his seat to thunderous applause.
From then on, PlayStation was cemented as a force in the industry.
