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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteKen Kutaragi says developers warned Sony that its proposed PlayStation would fail—and that skepticism existed inside Sony, too. His account, reported from the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, describes the resistance facing the project. Sony’s own corporate history confirms the larger context: the Nintendo collaboration had fallen apart, some Sony employees wanted the company out of games, and Kutaragi needed senior-level backing to pursue an independent console.
What Kutaragi says developers told him
At the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, Kutaragi recalled visiting “dozens of companies if not hundreds” to seek support for Sony’s console project. GameSpot reported him quoting developers as saying: “Don’t do it. There were multiple companies and none of them were successful. You are going to fail. That’s what they told us.” GameSpot reported the remarks on September 30, 2024. GamesRadar also reported Kutaragi’s recollection that “Even within Sony, nobody believed that we would be successful.” GamesRadar reported that line in September 2024.
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These are Kutaragi’s retrospective remarks as reported by the outlets, not evidence that every developer or Sony employee opposed the project. The reports provide the comments; Sony’s corporate history supplies a separate account of the decisions and obstacles around the console.
Why Sony’s independent console was in doubt
Sony and Nintendo finalized a contract in early 1990 for a CD-ROM console project tentatively named PlayStation. The collaboration did not come to fruition. Sony’s corporate history says Kutaragi argued that Sony should continue on its own with a CD-ROM console. The company had not yet established itself in video games, and some employees argued that it should withdraw from the business altogether. It also had no game catalog of its own, leaving the project dependent on outside developers.
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The split created both a strategic opening and a difficult starting point. An independent Sony could pursue its own console and format, but it would have to secure internal approval, build relationships with game makers, and attract software for a platform that did not yet exist.
How Kutaragi won approval to continue
Sony’s history describes a 1992 management meeting as a turning point. Kutaragi argued that Sony should make its own console and format, then demonstrated a secret 3D graphics system. Company president Norio Ohga challenged him to prove the idea and told him, “Do it!” Sony’s account presents Ohga’s backing as the authorization Kutaragi needed to move ahead with independent development.
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How Sony attracted developers
With no first-party game library, Sony needed outside studios to make the PlayStation viable. Sony’s history says Kutaragi and Sony Music executive Shigeo Maruyama traveled to meet developers, many of whom initially responded with disbelief. A technology demonstration in October 1993 changed the reception: after Sony showed its 3D system, the company says developer calls came the following day.
Sony Computer Entertainment was established in November 1993 as a joint venture between Sony and Sony Music. Its work included developing and selling consoles and software, as well as managing licensing with external developers. In Sony’s account, the demonstration and the new organization helped turn a hardware proposal into a platform that other companies could support.
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- Vertical Stand sold separately
What happened after the warnings
Sony’s corporate history says the original PlayStation went on sale in Japan on December 3, 1994, for 39,800 yen. The company reports that the first 100,000 units sold rapidly, sales reached one million within half a year, and cumulative sales hit ten million by the end of November 1996. These are figures from Sony’s retrospective account, not independently audited measurements established here.
Sony credits the PlayStation’s hardware and software catalog, along with CD-ROM’s production and distribution advantages, in its account of the console’s early success. The company says cartridge restocking could take several months, while CD-ROM orders could be fulfilled in up to six days. That is Sony’s historical comparison, not a current industry-wide delivery benchmark.
Sony Group’s corporate history of the PlayStation documents the Nintendo project, the internal debate, Ohga’s backing, developer outreach, launch, and the company’s reported sales milestones. Read alongside Kutaragi’s later comments, it shows that the warnings were part of a broader challenge: Sony had to prove the console internally and persuade an outside development community to build for it.
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