Since its inception, the PlayStation has rocked the gaming universe and overwhelmed competitors. Whereas in its early days, Sony had to fight against the console giants, namely Nintendo and Sega, and even seemed to be underestimated by them.
PlayStation is the idea of Ken Kutaragi, Sony executive who leads the hardware division. He would later be known as the father of the PlayStation. How was the birth of the PlayStation?
In 1988, Sony and Nintendo, then the king of game consoles, teamed up. Kutaragi managed to convince Nintendo to use the Sony SPC-700 sound processor in the SNES console. Later, Nintendo turned to Sony to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES, referred to initially as the SNES-CD or Play Station.
But Sony also wants to make its own console compatible with the SNES which will be called the PlayStation. In addition to playing games, you can also play music according to Sony's expertise. But Nintendo's president at that time, Hiroshi Yamauhci, was not happy because he considered Sony too demanding so that their partnership stalled.
Despite breaking up with Nintendo, Sony decided to go ahead and make its own first game console. They did approach Sega for cooperation, but were rejected. "It was a stupid idea, Sony didn't know how to make hardware, nor software," said Sega CEO Tim Kalinske at the time.
Kutaragi and his team finally unveiled a PlayStation prototype that was based on a CD-ROM, with stunning game graphics at the time. Sony's president, Norio Ohga, did fully entrust the project to Kutaragi. PlayStation also became a way of revenge on Nintendo or Sega who underestimated Sony.
In 1994, Sony had announced to the public that they would enter the gaming industry with their own console. Because they have no experience making games, Sony is actively trying to get support from game developers. Konami, Namco to Williams Entertainment became one of the early supporters of PlayStation.
On December 3, 1994, the first generation PlayStation launched, a week after the release of its competitor console, the Sega Saturn. The response turned out to be very lively, where many gamers stood in long lines. In Japan on the first day of sales, 100 thousand PlayStation units were sold out.
When it was distributed to other countries, PlayStation was also a big success because apart from the good product, the promotion was insane. Total sales of the first generation PlayStation finally broke over 100 million units, being the first console to achieve this. The PS2 is even more powerful, with 155 million units sold, making it the best-selling console of all time.
One of the important breakthroughs of PlayStaion indeed is that games can be played with CDs that can accommodate more data, no longer cartridges. The tradition was continued by the PS2 which played DVD and the PlayStation 3 with Blu Ray.
In addition, Sony's strategy in the gaming sector is also accurate. Unlike Nintendo, which focuses on making its own games, Sony relies a lot on outside game developers, which in turn makes interesting games and attracts a lot of interest. The Metal Gear and Grand Theft Auto series, for example, were so successful.
"Sony was able to get support from third parties who previously made PC games. It was a huge success," said Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Securities quoted by USA Today.
Studio Sony then also produced famous games, such as God of War, Gran Turismo and Uncharted. "That is a special advantage and is able to push Sony to lead sales of the Xbox is dominant," said the analyst.
The success of the PlayStation really changed the map of competition in the gaming world. Nintendo's dominance was disrupted, Sega was kicked out of the console business and Microsoft entered with the Xbox console, fearing that PlayStation would undermine the dominance of PC gaming.