3. PS3 Launches for $599
$599. Three numbers that cursed Sony in the last generation of gaming, Three figures that haunted them for a number of years and allowed their competition to mercilessly take them to the cleaners. At E3 2006, Sony made the huge mistake of announcing that the premium PS3 model would cost $599, a whole $200 more than what Microsoft's Xbox 360 launched at, causing them to lag behind the 360 considerably for a number of years, and essentially making the PS3 something of a joke console for quite some time. Eventually the PS3 would rise like a phoenix and end up delivering the best library of any games console of the seventh generation, but the lesson here to all companies is not to succumb to hubris. Sony effortlessly won the previous two console wars, and expected their fans to just lap up whatever they offered, yet Microsoft took advantage and made the 360 the serious console to own for most of the seventh generation. Microsoft of course learned this lesson themselves with their disastrous Xbox One PR failures, but it's important that Sony don't get complacent once again as the PS4's life cycle evolves, despite the strong fanfare it has received so far.