What the first PlayStation meant for the world of consoles and who was Ken Kutaragi, the engineer and executive who promoted Sony’s entry into video games – PlayStation

If there is a name to which the brand can be attributed PlayStationthat is Ken Kutaragi. This engineer and executive was the main promoter of sony will enter the video game market; Firstly, through the famous collaboration with Nintendo for SuperDisk and later as the mind behind the PlayStation project. This would be the name with which the Japanese company’s platform is called; one that is in its fifth generation and that has been home to some of the most beloved sagas in the sector. Just as we have done recently with the Microsoft console; Today we want to dedicate a space to the original PlayStation, talking about its hardware and how it influenced the modern video game.

An origin marked by disagreement

For the Sony of the 1980s, video games were not a priority; The company’s executives saw what is now one of the most buoyant digital entertainment markets in the world as a fashion product of its time. They had no intention of entering that volatile market and competing against Japanese brands that were already established.

It would be the intervention of Kutaragi himself, who already had the sympathy of a large part of the company, that would lead Sony to enter this market through an agreement with Nintendo. This agreement stated that Sony would be in charge of developing devices to use for Nintendo’s SNES, the main project being that the console would enjoy compatibility with the format. CD ROM. In exchange, Sony continued developing internal components for the SNES – like the audio chip that the console used – and some rights were transferred to it. The culmination of the agreement for those in Tokyo would be to market the “Nintendo Play Station” and thus enter the video game sector.

As we all know, the agreement did not end up seeing its fruits flourish. Those from Kyoto considered that the clauses favored Sony too much and decided to disassociate themselves completely from the project. Nintendo ended up closing an agreement with Phillips and the prototype of the original PlayStation was orphaned, only 200 units were produced. However, among some members of the company the seed of the video games had already dispersed and Kutaragi would once again find support from Sony to continue the project.

Created to face polygons

According to some of the members involved in the development of the console, after the launch of the project there were still many doubts about how it was going to be. PlayStation. Without the basis that Nintendo was going to provide with SNES for the original console, Sony Computer Entertainment had absolute freedom of approach, but also a lot of uncertainty. It was Sega’s arcade titles and their impressive technical display of the primitive 3D of the time that pushed Sony to go for three dimensions.

This decision would end up becoming a success. Sony had no experience in video game development; but it did have the name and the resources necessary to launch the project. Japan, on the other hand, had some of the most cutting-edge studios for the development of three-dimensional titles – in the country, arcades were still a huge draw – and contacted these studios to ensure that they would begin developing for the system. Namco, Konami, or Capcom They were just some of them.

PlayStation specifications

The result was a console that was easy to program and had enough raw power to handle the polygons that populate three-dimensional titles. The main responsible for this was the R300 processor. A 32-bit 33.8 MHz RISC chip, a processor capable of move more than 300,000 polygons triangular shading per second; while for 2D graphics processing it had an independent unit. This gave Sony’s console a lot of advantage over notable releases of the time in the same area; like those that occurred in sega saturn where it was more difficult to program and its 3D capabilities were lower – about 250,000 polygons.

The result was a console that was easy to program and had enough raw power to handle the polygons that populate three-dimensional titles. The main responsible for this was the R300 processor. A 32-bit 33.8 MHz RISC chip, a processor capable of move more than 300,000 polygons triangular shading per second; while for 2D graphics processing it had an independent unit. This gave Sony’s console a lot of advantage over notable releases of the time in the same area; like those that occurred in sega saturn where it was more difficult to program and its 3D capabilities were lower – about 250,000 polygons

“Live in your world. Play in ours”

The title of this section was the first big slogan of the PlayStation brand after its launch; one in which a newcomer had to face the Sega of the time, the company with the studios first-party most desired of the moment. This was one of the main reasons why Sony contacted the developers third-party most cutting-edge games from its native Japan shortly after the console’s development began: either it offered a catalog that could match its two main rivals, or PlayStation would not survive.

To ensure this survival, they took some additional measures by leveraging Sony’s resources. The PSX cost much less of its competitors at its launch – just over 340 euros in exchange – and the advertising around it was very aggressive; No matter the context, PSX had to appear. The result of these commercial movements was immediate. Its success during its launch in Japan, the reservations in the rest of the world’s markets and the declared support of some of the thirds At the moment they raised the expectation of more studies; They began to develop for the console and expanded their catalog, which began humbly; while the media presence helped increase the success of the device.

As a result of this event, the console was able to harvest a good number of exclusive titles in its first years of life; while the founding and acquisition of studies, such as with Sony Interactive Entertainment, helped lay the foundations for what today are the studios that make up the catalog of Sony consoles. PlayStation was able to quickly gain a foothold among the fifth generation of consoles.

Reviews, issues and piracy

Sony’s rapid introduction into the video game sector was satisfactory for the company, but it came with its own problems. The development of PlayStation was rapid and the company had to make several revisions of the console to solve problems manufacturing; Several revisions were released with modifications to the board, readers and even materials; But, where they had to make the most changes was in the console ports.

The bet on CD-ROMs it worked very well for PSX; They were cheaper to produce, they had more space than cartridges, and their fast reading was ideal for video games. Unfortunately, it was also very easy to make copies of these discs and the rush to launch PSX on the market made it a very vulnerable console to external modifications, some of them intended to play unlicensed copies of these video games.

Sony’s strategy in the market was to release a very affordable console and make money by selling software, but these practices hindered the console’s early years in Western markets. As a result, some features were removed of this console as revisions were launched, culminating in the so-called PSOne. Finally, without much success in his work; although they did solve the hardware problems that the first models presented.

Continuity and legacy

Sony marked a paradigm shift with PlayStation. The console was launched in Western markets in 1994 and marked not only the entry of a new competitor in the already busy fifth generation of consoles, but also the establishment of a format among home consoles. Along with Saturn, PlayStation established the disk as the format of the future next. With releases like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VIIeither Crash Bandicoot, knew how to establish its own sagas through studies outside the company; while, thanks to Kutaragi’s project, he began a different way of understanding consoles as a platform. Although this would happen with his successor and its focus on the multimedia component that we see so alive today on our consoles.

It is surprising to see how Sony has been relatively continuous with respect to what began with this console, and how that has allowed it to be the most dominant domestic platform of the generation; but we will always be left with the doubt of what would have happened to the world of video games if that deal between Nintendo and Sony – or the one that later was being considered with Sega – would have come out ahead. A true exercise of imagination.

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