PlayStation Creator Explains Why Sony Expected It To Be A Big Failure

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The PlayStation is celebrating its 30th anniversary. While the various game consoles have established themselves as sure bets in the video game market, the launch of the very first PS One was not without its challenges. Ken Kutaragi, its creator, now 74 years old, has already explained in the past how much trouble he had in convincing Sony executives of the future success of this device.

“A guaranteed failure”?

Quoted by AFP and relayed by Fortune, the latter thus confided: “Everyone told us we would fail. Most of Sony's executives were fiercely opposed”. They seemed to fear that this would tarnish the Japanese giant's reputation as a producer of high-end electronics.

It must be said that at the time, video games clearly did not have a good press and were regularly accused of dumbing down young people and making them violent. For their part, video game developers were also quite skeptical about the PlayStation project.

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Ken Kutaragi thus evokes a ” icy reaction “ during the first contacts. It seemed to them in fact ” unthinkable “ to produce 3D games while most of their rivals, notably Nintendo, preferred to stay in 2D.

Nintendo-Sony Clash

Thirty years ago, Sony and Nintendo collaborated to create a CD-ROM drive compatible with the Super Nintendo console. Sony continued to use the technology to launch its PlayStation.

Nintendo eventually backed down and teamed up with Philips. Sony took this very badly, as Ken Kutaragi explained: “The newspapers said it was bad for us. It was inevitable that we and Nintendo would go our separate ways, because we had completely different approaches.”.

He then continued to bet on his idea despite the skepticism surrounding him. Sony can also thank him. The term PlayStation is clearly established in the imagination to the point that it is synonymous with games console. As for the five versions of these devices, they have sold several hundred million copies.

What to remember:

• The PlayStation celebrates its 30th anniversary
• On this occasion, its creator, Ken Kutaragi, looked back on its development
• Most executives and developers believed it was a flop

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