The Evolution Of PlayStation

10. The Birth Of PlayStation

Before PlayStation, it was Nintendo and Sega who dominated the gaming scene in the 1980s. The thought of competing with these industry titans seemed impossible, but then Sony arrived on the scene and changed everything.

The electronics giant was eager to the enter the entertainment industry with a particular interest in the video game scene. They had a deal with Nintendo to create a CD-ROM for the upcoming Super NES, however disaster struck for Sony when Nintendo abruptly ended the partnership by announcing they'd be teaming up with rivals Philips instead.

Despite this early blow, Sony were undeterred and forged on to create their own console instead.

Throughout the following years, the team at Sony, headed by Ken Kutaragi, worked to recruit various studios to develop third-party games for what would become the PlayStation. Huge name like Namco and Ubisoft would soon be onboard, with Sony later purchasing UK studio Psygnosis to become their first in-house team, going on to make iconic racing game, Wipeout.

Despite heavy competition from the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation performed remarkably well in Japan, selling 100,000 units on its first day alone.

Things were just getting started for Sony, with much bigger surprises still to come.