The Birth Story of PlayStation
PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi has revealed that 30 years ago, he struggled to convince both game developers and his bosses at Sony that his revolutionary console would be a success. “Everyone said we would fail,” Kutaragi told AFP about the origin story of PlayStation.
PlayStation Origin Story: It’s a Giant Now
Launched on December 3, 1994, PlayStation attracted attention with its revolutionary 3D graphics and adult games such as “Tomb Raider” and “Metal Gear Solid.” At the time, consoles such as Nintendo’s NES were considered “children’s toys” and CGI was rarely used even in Hollywood.
Kutaragi stated, “Most Sony executives were strongly opposed to the project because they were afraid of tarnishing the company’s image as a high-end electronics manufacturer.” Japanese game developers also kept their distance from the project, saying that creating real-time 3D games seemed impossible. However, Kutaragi was determined: “We wanted to create a new form of entertainment using technological advancement.”
This determination paid off. PlayStation, now in its 5th generation, is now a giant in the console industry. PlayStation 2, with 160 million units, became the best-selling game console of all time.
Kutaragi also touched on the cooperation and competition between Sony and Nintendo. The story of the two parting ways over the CD-ROM reader project was seen as a betrayal and humiliation for Sony. However, Kutaragi emphasized that the separation was inevitable due to different approaches and that PlayStation would not have existed without this incident.
Kutaragi, who stated that the new distribution model developed by Sony using its experience in the music industry played a key role in PlayStation’s success, left the company after the launch of PlayStation 3 in 2007. The 74-year-old engineer, who currently manages a robotics and artificial intelligence initiative, believes that artificial intelligence will revolutionize many areas in the future and that space will eventually be computable beyond video games.
Read More: PlayStation 2 has Sold Over 160 Million Units Worldwide
