Sony’s PlayStation is considered the best-selling fifth generation console, and the first console in history to ever sell more than 100 million units. It was not all roses though – at the time of its development, 3D graphics weren’t yet widespread, and many Japanese developers were skeptical about their potential in console games. However, according to Sony veteran Shuhei Yoshida, the release of Sega’s Virtua Fighter marked a massive turnaround for the industry, motivating developers to work on 3D games, which is what led to the PlayStation eventually becoming a top-selling console.
In an interview with 4Gamer, Shuhei Yoshida, who worked for Sony from 1993 to 2025, talks about his experience working on the PS1 and the ups and downs his team had to face before turning the PlayStation into a worldwide hit.
In 1993, Yoshida was assigned to the PS1 team as their first non-engineer member. At the time, he was in charge of pitching and marketing the PS1 prototype to third-party developers and publishers. However, as PS1 was imagined as a console specialized in 3D graphics, many developers and publishers were put off by the idea, fearing that the console just wouldn’t succeed in the market. Yoshida explains that most of them didn’t understand the potential of 3D graphics, calling them “impossible to use for video games.” He said that, on the other hand, young developers who were already using 3D graphics on PCs such as Sharp’s x68000 were excited for the prospect of the PS1. Namco in particular had a lot of assets in arcade games, so they were extremely enthusiastic about working with Ken Kutaragi on the PS1.
However, in August 1993, everything changed when Sega presented their new (and first ever) 3D fighting game – Virtua Fighter. The arcade game garnered huge popularity even before its release, and other developers were amazed by its use of 3D, many of them changing their opinions. Thanks to Sega’s Virtua fighter becoming such a huge hit, it was not long before Sony started getting callbacks from the developers who originally disregarded their proposals regarding the PS1. Yoshida adds that during the production of the PS1, Ken Kutaragi put a lot of emphasis on the development library, as to make it easier for third party developers to make their games.
In December 1994, PlayStation was finally released. At the time, production capacity was limited, but according to Yoshida, each batch they shipped sold really quickly. Among the first notable games for the PS1 was Namco’s Ridge Racer, which was released as a launch title, followed by Tekken in 1995. Other titles included the Parodius Deluxe Pack from Konami and FromSoftware’s King’s Field. There were still publishers who refused to work with Sony unless they sold at least a million units, in response to which the company even launched a marketing campaign with “Let’s get to 1 million” as their slogan. Only six months after its release, in May 1995, PlayStation would achieve a total of 1 million units sold in Japan.
