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 cheaper than those of the competition and the CD format, which is still not very widespread and with much higher storage capacities than a game cartridge. This rush towards 3D gave birth to classics like “Tomb Raider” (1996), “Resident Evil” (1996) and “Final Fantasy VII” (1997). With these games, “we discovered sensations, emotions that we had not experienced with previous consoles”, remembers Cyril 2.0, 46, who shows off the machine’s game 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 won for Sony: the manufacturer, which aimed at 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 which now inspire me,” says Bastien Giafferi, French developer behind “The Operator”, a success on the independent scene in 2024. This legacy 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 she launched in terms of video game culture… I think there will no longer be an equivalent,” regrets Philippe Dubois, however. , which predicts an imminent disappearance of consoles in favor of game streaming on the internet.
