PlayStation
PlayStation exists because of a failed partnership: Sony had been developing a CD add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom when Nintendo publicly abandoned the deal in 1991, and Sony took the work and built a competing console instead. The platform's cultural contribution was to age the medium upward, courting an audience in its late teens and twenties with darker, more cinematic titles at a point when games were still broadly treated as children's products.
About PlayStation
PlayStation exists because of a failed partnership: Sony had been developing a CD add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom when Nintendo publicly abandoned the deal in 1991, and Sony took the work and built a competing console instead. The platform's cultural contribution was to age the medium upward, courting an audience in its late teens and twenties with darker, more cinematic titles at a point when games were still broadly treated as children's products. Its first-party studios have since specialised in narrative-driven single-player games.
The console originated in a cancelled Sony–Nintendo collaboration that Nintendo abandoned publicly at a 1991 trade show.
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Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation | 1994–2000 | CD-ROM and 3D graphics move games toward an older audience. |
| PS2 era | 2000–2006 | The best-selling console ever made. |
| Prestige era | 2013– | First-party studios focus on cinematic single-player narrative. |