Sony Knew PlayStation 1 Would Flop Without Exclusives, Former SIE Boss Declares

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PS1 Succeeded Because of Its Fun Exclusives!

Story Highlight
  • In an interview, Shuhei Yoshida, the former SIE boss, said that PlayStation 1 was successful because of exclusives. 
  • Shuhei elaborates that Sony knew they needed exclusive games for the original PS to catch everyone’s attention.
  • Sony intended to grow the first-party development, so it acquired multiple US and European studios.

The PlayStation brand has come a long way in the last 30 years, with several popular IPs now under its belt. The ex-SIE Worldwide Studios boss, Shuhei Yoshida, now explains that PlayStation 1 might have flopped if Sony had not focused on exclusives from the start. 

In a new interview, Yoshida explains that Sony understood that the original PlayStation needed a variety of creative and fun exclusives to complement its robust hardware.

Why it matters: Shuhei Yoshida’s remarks confirm that Sony understood that good hardware alone would not have made PlayStation 1 successful, so it also focused on exclusives.

While speaking to YouTuber Kyle Bosman, Yoshida points out that Sony recognized the importance of exclusive games when PlayStation 1 was in development. So, the idea of developing a unique portfolio of exclusives came from the Sony management group. 

They clearly knew, you know the exclusive games are crucial to make the video game platform successful.

-Shuhei Yoshida, Former SIE Worldwide Studios President.

Therefore, the company had already started to secure first-party development studios across the US and Europe to develop games, such as Psygnosis to develop the Wipeout franchise and 989 Studios to focus on sports games.

they [Were] very intent to grow fast party development and in the US and Europe you know they acquired Studios.

Bobby Kotick PS1
The ex-Activision boss also said before that PlayStation transformed gaming the most.

If Sony had not focused on exclusives for the original PlayStation, the brand might have struggled to continue with future consoles. So, this decision to diversify its portfolio and take advantage of PlayStation 1’s hardware paid off for the company. 

Do you think the PlayStation brand would have struggled to attain success without its compelling exclusives, or did hardware play a bigger role? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.

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