20 year Anniversary - Sony PlayStation 1

So 20 years on and it's the anniversary of the PlayStation 1.

20 years ago Nintendo commented in the press that "We do recognise Sony as a major player, it's just we are confident that we know video games better than anyone, and we feel supremely confident that at every technical turn the Ultra 64 is a superior machine to the PlayStation".

The key difference between the PlayStation and the Ultra was that the PlayStation utilised the CD ROM and the Ultra was cartridge based.

I was not aware until I started to research the launch of the PlayStation, the original launch that is. June 1991 in Las Vegas, that the PlayStation was a originally meant to be a joint venture between Sony & Nintendo, a partnership that would project both organisations into the new world of multimedia entertainment. The marriage quickly fell apart with Nintendo partnering with Philips.

Sony HQ in Japan was hurt and started the process of designing their own video games console, Revenge against the separation and the development of the PlayStation 1 went onto sell 102 million units............and delivered 90% of Sony profits for a number of years!

The decision to incorporate a CD was a major triumph, allowing soundtracks, pre-rendered movies etc. And would prove invaluable with the shift from 2D to 3D. I also didn't realise that the PlayStation design team, planted themselves under the Sony music arm, so as to gain respect, understanding that Sony music would be far more aligned to 'nurturing creative talent'.

Even though the PlayStaion was seen as an early success, the 80's video game crash was still fresh in people's minds. Added to that most of the media were still heavily focused on the heavyweight providers of Nintendo and Saga, Sony though were serious about this marketplace and believed that the PlayStation had something new to offer.

Looking back its easy to see why PlayStation was such a success - the CD ROM, the fact that they started by attracting major publishers before having an in-house development team, so producing a real gaming platform. Working with Sony music led to diversity and generous royalty payments, which all point towards success.

Here we are now 20 years later and PlayStaion 4 exists, my kids have an Xbox! I still struggle to understand what makes a purchaser decide which platform to follow. The one that still makes me smile, when I asked a number of my friends why they have a PlayStation and not Xbox - they comment, "my whole life is surrounded by Microsoft and Apple, I want something different", how on earth does any marketing executive manage human behaviour!

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