Father Of PlayStation Recalls How Everyone At Sony Thought It Would Fail

As a seasoned gamer with a nostalgic heart, I can’t help but admire the audacity and resilience of Ken Kutaragi during the early ’90s. The story of PlayStation‘s inception is a testament to the power of unwavering belief and determination against all odds.


In the early ’90s, Ken Kutaragi and Sony initially aimed to work together with Nintendo on an early prototype of PlayStation, designed as a CD drive for the SNES. However, when this collaboration fell through, Kutaragi and Sony proceeded independently with the first PlayStation in 1994. Despite the fact that this system revolutionized the entire video game industry, Kutaragi looks back 25 years later and remembers those who doubted its success, both within and outside of Sony.

At the Tokyo Games Show, via VGC, Kuturagi expressed, “We wished to spread our enthusiasm.” He sought to understand their aspirations and surprising viewpoints, which is why he reached out to numerous companies, perhaps even hundreds. It was a remarkable experience. However, they showed little interest. All they said was, “Don’t pursue this. No one has succeeded before you. You will fail,” was the common response.

It’s understandable why not everyone shared Kuturagi’s passion for the project. When PlayStation entered the market, Nintendo and Sega were the only two dominant console-makers. Sony may have had more powerful hardware than the Genesis, the SNES, or the 32X peripheral, but Sega’s Saturn was launching at right around the same time. And if that system had caught on like Sony’s PS, then the console wars may have turned out very differently.

In 2001, much like the current scenario, Microsoft found itself entering the market after Sega’s Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, Sega didn’t last long in the console industry, leaving Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft as the key players. Over four console generations, Sony has consistently been one of the most powerful forces in video games. All this began when Kutaragi and his team had a forward-looking vision for gaming.

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2024-09-30 16:08