This month saw the tenth anniversary of the Japanese PlayStation launch, and with Sony's latest blockbusting project already flying off of Akihabara shelves, it seemed like a good time to glance back at the birth of the machine that started it all. These days we take it for granted that Sony Computer Entertainment is the biggest player in the business - it's easy to forget that, a decade ago, the company had little or no presence in the industry. So how exactly did the consumer technology giant build its videogame empire? I talked to SCEE's Executive Vice President of Development Phil Harrison about those incredible early years...
The old story is that the PlayStation evolved from a CD drive that Sony developed for the Nintendo SNES console. Is this completely accurate? Sony has an even longer history in the game business going back to the mid- 1980s with the MSX platform and then later with designing and supplying the sound chip for the SNES. It's true that Sony created a CD game system based on the SNES technology, but due to commercial difficulties with Nintendo, that product never made it to the market. Sony then decided to enter the games business properly with our own technology and business model in 1992.
It seems to me that Sony prepared really well for the launch of PlayStation by spending a lot of time going around the world and talking to developers about what they wanted from a CD-based console. Yes, we spent a lot of time listening to the developers and publishers about what they wanted - not really from a technical point of view but about the business model and level of support that we could offer the industry. Those early discussions were invaluable in helping us shape our business model and approach to the market.
How much input did game developers have into the specs of the PlayStation and its APIs? Not a huge amount, to be honest. We held a number of "behind closed door" presentations and demos of the prototype development hardware - incidentally, it was about the size of a small photocopier - to the development community in late 1993 and early 1994. By then the hardware specification was fixed, although we did add some more memory to the system later.
How did Sony seek to garner opinion from the industry? We held lots of meetings, made literally hundreds of presentations and sought to gain as much support from the industry as possible. At the time, the market was dominated by two aggressive competitors: Sega and Nintendo. Although both companies had done a great job growing the market, it was still effectively a toy business and there were real commercial and technical issues with the cartridge-based business model that they had adopted. The industry was extremely supportive of our attempts to bring new thinking to the industry and to take it new directions.
What do you think were the key early factors in the success of the machine? We set out with two clear goals: to be the creative choice of the game developers by offering the best technology with the best development tools, and to be the commercial choice of the publishers by offering the best business model and opportunity for profit. Getting those right was key to our success.
So, right from the beginning, Sony was marketing the machine as a lifestyle accessory rather than a toy. Where did this idea come from? The idea really came from the power of the technology - the sophisticated 3D graphics, high performance processor and digital sound were only available in high-end workstations costing, back then, over £10,000. By delivering this power in a home system for £299 we were able to attract a new audience of consumers who had previously not been into games.
PlayStation games looked, sounded and played better - and really delivered an "arcade quality" experience on the TV in the living room. Although by today's standards the graphics were relatively simple, you have to remember back then it was a revelation. By making games more realistic, more consumers found them interesting and were attracted to play games perhaps for the first time in their lives.
If the graphics were themselves a major selling point, why was the whole lifestyle angle so important? If we were successful in positioning PlayStation as an aspirational product we would differentiate ourselves from the old "toy" image of the Sega and Nintendo market. We were not simply selling a game system, we were promoting an entertainment lifestyle. PlayStation was the first game system to make it "cool" to play games and you had to join in, or be left out. We pioneered many marketing techniques that are now commonplace in our industry - things like PlayStation chill-out rooms in top nighclubs, celebrity product placement, guerrilla branding at music festivals, and the PlayStation skate-park in west London. All of these were totally innovative concepts for launching a game system in 1995, although the echoes of these campaigns still resonate today. The advertising was innovative, talked-about, edgy and unlike anything that had been used in the category before. I think that we made some of the best ads, in any industry, for PlayStation.
At what point did you realise that PlayStation was a major phenomenon? What were the key moments for you? There were plenty - I think the first time was on the UK launch day on the 29th September 1995, going into HMV on Oxford Street and seeing people actually buy the machine that had been the focus of our lives for nearly three years. After that, it was the little things: somebody would mention PlayStation on TV or in a magazine and you could see that it was invading popular culture.
Style magazines started to feature PlayStation games regularly, and then The Face put Lara Croft on the front cover. Style commentators would use the expression "PlayStation Generation" and we'd all know what they meant. I'd been making games for 10 years before PlayStation and I would always feel somewhat self-conscious admitting what I did for a living in certain circles. After we launched, telling someone you worked for PlayStation would get an instantly positive reaction. It's clear that for many people, PlayStation was more than games, it was like a new culture - whether you played or not, you couldn't ignore it. It's as important as music or film to millions of people, more so for many.
What have been your personal highpoints over PlayStation's opening decade? Although there have been many highpoints since, I won't forget 1995 and 1996 in the UK - it was the summer of Britpop, and Oasis at Knebworth had PlayStation in their VIP area, for example. Sounds normal - almost corny - now, but it was very cool then I can assure you! We had no idea how big it would eventually become, but being involved in the launch of PlayStation was an amazing time of real innovation for our industry; creatively, technically and in the new cultural language we helped create. Whether you love games or not, there aren't many products that have made such a huge cultural impact. You can't take that away from PlayStation - or from the people around the world who helped, in whatever way, to make it happen.
