On December 3, 1994, the PlayStation was released in Japan, Sony’s first foray into video games. A global success, particularly among a more adult audience, which has propelled the Japanese manufacturer to the rank of major player in the sector.
This machine, launched by series that have become cult like Tekken, is the result of a falling out between the inventor of the Walkman and the market leader in the early 1990s, Nintendo.
The partnership established by the two companies, aimed at releasing a CD player compatible with the Super Nintendo console, fell through when the creator of Mario turned around to ally with Philips.
“Sony found itself in a humiliating position and decided to launch the “Play Station” (the name of the prototype developed for Nintendo, Editor’s note) as an independent console,” says Hiroyuki Maeda, Japanese specialist in the history of video games .
Aware of its position as a novice, the electronic equipment manufacturer then targets young adults, particularly via advertising campaigns with an offbeat tone.
“This is an audience that has better purchasing power than children, who were often the target of Nintendo consoles,” explains Philippe Dubois, president of the French association for the preservation of digital heritage M05.
Capable of reading audio CDs, the machine appeals beyond video games. A marketing element that will be taken up by the Playstation 2 and its DVD player (160 million copies sold worldwide, the biggest success of the PlayStation range), then the PS3 and its Blu-Ray player.
Rush to 3D
For Hiroyuki Maeda, “the PlayStation changed the history of video games. It truly transformed everything: hardware, software, distribution and marketing. »
Because this change of target is also accompanied by a technological revolution.
“For many players, it was a gateway to the major evolution of the mid-90s: the transition to 3D,” assures Philippe Dubois.
Sports games, fighting games, racing games… Many studios are turning to this console to experiment with this new technology, attracted by development kits less expensive than those of the competition and the CD format, still not very widespread and with much higher storage than a game cartridge.
This rush towards 3D gives birth to classics like Tomb Raider (1996), Resident Evil (1996) et Final Fantasy VII (1997).
With these games, “we discovered sensations, emotions that we had not experienced with previous consoles,” remembers Cyril 2.0, who shows off the machine’s games library on his YouTube channel.
This 46-year-old Frenchman owns nearly 1,400 titles from the first PlayStation.
“Games are the most important thing on a console,” he emphasizes, looking at his collection spread across several libraries. But he adds that unlike Nintendo, “we are more attached to the PlayStation brand than to particular characters”.
Legacy
The bet has largely been won for Sony: the manufacturer, which was aiming for at least one million sales to amortize the development cost, will sell more than 102 million.
His memory is still vivid in the minds of today’s creators.
“It’s the first console where I have memories of games that marked me and that now inspire me,” says Bastien Giafferi, French developer behind The Operatorsuccess of the independent scene in 2024.
This heritage is also reflected in the different generations of the console, which is in its fifth and has had portable versions with much less success.
At the beginning of November, Sony also launched a Pro version – more powerful – of its PlayStation 5, as well as a range of limited edition products using the gray color of the original console.
“The habits, the games, the brands, the icons, everything that it launched in terms of video game culture… I think that there will no longer be an equivalent,” regrets Philippe Dubois, who predicts an imminent disappearance of consoles in favor of game streaming on the Internet.
