PlayStation at 20: How Sony nearly killed its console

LONDON — It would go on to sell more than 100 million units, but the original PlayStation was often dismissed as a toy and ridiculed by the majority of the corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment’s chief executive officer has revealed.

Speaking at the Develop video games conference in the United Kingdom this week to celebrate 20 years of the PlayStation, Mr Andrew House recalled the initial struggle to get the console recognised as a viable product.

While working for Sony in Tokyo in the early 1990s, Mr House volunteered to be part of the secret project in charge of developing the original PlayStation, known as PSX.

“It was viewed extremely negatively by a large part of the corporation,” he said. “My then boss said I was an idiot, as it was a toy. The other great quote was that ‘this will never be a serious part of Sony’s business’. I guess there was a bit of a revenge mission.”

The PlayStation was launched in 1994, selling more than 100 million units worldwide and kick-starting the wildly successful modern console range, now dominated by Sony and its rival Microsoft.

“They saw it as an extension of the toy market, as something for children that was just not what should be in Sony’s DNA,” Mr House added. “Fortunately a small, very passionate group of us fundamentally disagreed with that and thought there was great potential to start with games and move into an area with more entertainment.”

The early ’90s gaming industry was, Mr House recalled, completely dominated by SEGA and Nintendo, casting PlayStation as a challenger to the established order.

Building on its success, Sony began planning the PlayStation 2, which went on to become the best-selling console in history with sales of more than 155 million units.

“We were really trying to, through PlayStation 2, legitimise gaming as an entertainment medium,” Mr House said. “We were trying to get people away from thinking about games as just for children or just a child’s toy.”

Many of the philosophies that underpinned the development of the current PlayStation 4 came from the sometimes “bitter and painful” experiences of PlayStation 3, he added.

The console’s third incarnation was criticised for its high price, while developers said they experienced difficulty trying to create programs for the machine. Despite initial misgivings, the PS3 still sold more than 80 million units.

PlayStation today markets itself as the gamers’ console of choice, as opposed to a more general entertainment system. “We were fairly clear and consistent that we were for gamers, that we wanted to inspire the most loyal and core game audience for the platform first and foremost,” Mr House added. “(But) I want to be clear that’s not exclusionary in any way — that doesn’t say there aren’t opportunities to build the platform into a broader entertainment device.”

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH