Since first arriving on the scene in 1995 with the release of the PlayStation in North America, Sony has been one of the most dominant and innovative forces in the gaming industry. After going head-to-head with the Nintendo 64 in the ’90s and emerging the clear victor, Sony would enjoy its greatest success with the PlayStation 2, which would end up becoming the best-selling video game console of all time. While the company would flounder a bit in the mid-2000s with the PlayStation 3 and its ridiculously high launch price, Sony would end up rebounding in a major way thanks in large part to the overall quality of its many first-party game releases, with titles like Uncharted and The Last of Us pushing the medium forward when it came to storytelling and visuals.
Then came the PlayStation 4, released in 2013 at a time when many were predicting the demise of the console industry. The console would end up vastly outperforming expectations and prove that the PlayStation brand remains strong more than two decades after its introduction. Of course, no company spends 20-plus years at or near the top without having some incredible stories to tell, so in celebration of everything PlayStation, here 20 things you may not have known about the brand that made Crash Bandicoot a household name.
22. Sony’s Music Division’s Involvement
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (now known as Sony Interactive Entertainment) was established in late 1993 to handle Sony’s foray into gaming with its PlayStation brand. What you may not have realized is that SCEI was a joint venture by Sony and its subsidiary Sony Music Entertainment Japan. While the employees from Sony focused on designing and developing the PlayStation hardware, the Sony Music half were responsible for handling relations with game developers. This ended up being an undervalued part of the PlayStation’s early success, as Sony Music treated developers like they were artists. This is still an integral part of PlayStation’s culture today.
This also might explain why the original PlayStation was such a good CD player too!
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