1994: The Sony PlayStation Comes to Play

Perhaps Ken Kutaragi’s greatest business achievement was the creation of Sony’s PlayStation, but for a device that has brought so much joy to so many, it has a somewhat dark history. In 1988, the game console was a joint project between Nintendo and Sony with Sony creating a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom, the original version of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System which was released in Japan and Europe in 1990. The new game system was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, but the after the announcement, Nintendo decided to drop Sony and go with Philips instead. The story goes that Sony wanted to keep the money from CD license and then decide what royalties should be sent to Nintendo, so Nintendo broke up with Sony rather publicly. Upset with this decision, Sony appointed Kutaragi to come up with a new device to rival Nintendo. While only about 200 prototypes of the “Nintendo PlayStation” were created, the product never materialized. Meanwhile in June 1992, the “father of PlayStation” showed off his new Sony PlayStation game system that used 3D graphics. The original PlayStation first became available for sale in Japan on this day in 1994. (Image: Wikimedia)