Ken Kutaragi, who is called the «father of PlayStation», shared his memories of how Sony was skeptical about the idea of creating a game console in the early 90s. He spoke about this during his speech at Tokyo Games Show.
According to Kutaragi, the PlayStation team faced significant resistance both within the company and from potential partners.
«We visited dozens, if not hundreds, of companies and met with many game developers. These were unforgettable moments. But they showed no interest. They just told us: “Don’t do it. No company has succeeded in this area. You will fail,'” Kutaragi recalls.
Skepticism about the PlayStation project was understandable. At the time, the game console market was controlled by Nintendo and Sega. Although the PlayStation had more powerful hardware than the Genesis, SNES, or 32X peripheral, Sega was preparing to release its new Saturn console almost simultaneously with the PlayStation.
The development of the PlayStation began in the wake of Sony’s failed attempt to collaborate with Nintendo on a CD drive for the SNES. After this partnership ended, Kutaragi and his team decided to develop their own gaming system.
Despite all the obstacles, the PlayStation was launched in 1994 and radically changed the gaming industry. Sony has managed to become one of the leading companies in the video game industry, maintaining this status for four generations of consoles.
Microsoft went through a similar situation in 2001 when it launched its first console, the Xbox. It was supposed to compete with the already well-known Sega Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Subsequently, Sega stopped producing consoles, leaving three major players on the market: Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft.
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