E3 1996 Voting

[COKTOE]

Bandorr said:
https://www.ign.com/wikis/e3/E3_1996

"Humiliated by Sony's cataclysmic announcement of the year before, the hardware manufacturers had supposedly all agreed not to make similar announcements in 1996."
Which is the PS1 coming out and destroying the Sega Saturn and the Nintendo Virtual Boy. The PS1 was announced for $300, a $100 less than the Sega Saturn.

"Despite the big announcement from Sony, SEGA and Nintendo tried to stay the course with their pricing. It didn't work. By the end of day one, Nintendo announced plans to match price with Nintendo 64. By day 2, SEGA did the same.

And apparently that all came round the same rumors of Microsoft doing price cuts.

The Sega Saturn launched at $400 in 1995. Dropped to $200 in 1996. That is a beating.

Dulfite said:

COKTOE said:

This one is a bit tougher. I have to try to find more info on the PS show before I vote.

Also, what the hell does this mean? "Major price drop of Playstation from $299 to $199 after agreeing with SEGA and Nintendo not to drop prices on hardware this year."

It seems that you're saying the 3 companies entered into some kind of unofficial pinky-swear pact to keep their hardware the same price?

Bandorr linked the source of that below!

Well, true or not, and it looks as if it's not verifiable ( the article says "supposedly", and Jim Whims, the man running SCEA at the time said he never agreed to it ), the concept of such an agreement is ludicrous. Business competitors, agreeing to....not compete? Oh, and PLEASE, not at out industry's trade show. LOL! To what end? To stop mean old Sony from "humiliating" Sega and Nintendo again by offering a top shelf product at a great price?

I have my doubts as to veracity of this scenario unfolding as the article purports it may have. An interesting historical footnote nonetheless. :)

- I have to drop this bit from the article as well:

"On day 2, SEGA PR representative Angela Edwards was outside the convention center with a stack of "Now $199" signs when some Sony people happened by. One of them walked up to her and sneered, "You're pathetic."

Haa. Ok that's mean. I'm surprised it didn't mention that the Sony guys pulled up in a convertible, wearing leather jackets, and sporting ducktail haircuts. 

Last edited by COKTOE - on 27 June 2019