Three Decades of PlayStation: A Journey Through Gaming History

At a certain point during EGX in London, PlayStation veterans Chris Deering, David Wilson, Geoff Glendenning, David Ranyard, and Masami Kochi took the stage to share stories from the history of PlayStation.

I moderated the special session, which offered some intriguing insights into the development of PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation brand, here are some standout anecdotes from that very session.

Sony Europe’s aim was to sell just 3 million PS1s in three years

“I had been in the industry long before PlayStation at Atari in the mid-80s,” began Chris Deering, who led PlayStation’s European operations until the launch of PS3.

“By that time, Nintendo and Sega were the leading players in the console market. I was excited to be part of Sony’s entry because I believed it would legitimize console gaming in some regions where it was viewed as cheap, or even unsavory, much like the arcades near train stations.

“I knew that the Sony name would validate that idea. Yet, what excited me the most was the disc format, which would allow us to get games into retail much faster than the eight weeks it took to ship new disks from Japan.

“So I was hopeful, but not overly so to ignore the challenges ahead. Our target for the first three years of the European division was three million units and 14 million games. It ultimately reached ten million units and 40 million games. We set cautious targets, but had the capacity to increase them. We had a great time with marketing, as developers introduced new games and enhanced versions of existing titles, all contributing to the phenomenon that has persisted to this day.”

“I was hopeful about PS2, but not too hopeful to believe it would be a walk in the park.”Chris Deering

PlayStation UK distributed numerous PS1s to ‘hip’ individuals

The UK PlayStation team was determined to present this new console as a sophisticated, trendy product for adults. To achieve this, they tapped into the club and rave scenes of the mid-90s.

“There was a cultural revolution among the youth at the time,” recalled former UK marketing chief Geoff Glendenning. “We targeted the 18 to 30-year-old market in the UK with PlayStation. We made the brand edgy and cool. We avoided paid endorsements and instead gave away hundreds of PlayStations to influential people. I didn’t insist they promote it. There was no social media then; it relied on word of mouth. That grassroots promotion sparked enthusiasm among youth groups and social circles. It was very underground.

“I knew that giving a PlayStation to a renowned DJ would create interest. Being cool among their friends, they would invite them over to play, effectively becoming ambassadors for the brand. We cultivated a legion of advocates. It wasn’t a cool brand because of its marketing; it was cool because key figures in youth culture were out there proclaiming that Sony really understood what they were doing. I hired culturally connected individuals from music and fashion and taught them marketing. You can’t market youth culture with corporate jargon.

“It wasn’t limited to club culture; it also included snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, graffiti, hip hop, and breakdancing… we immersed ourselves in supporting underground culture. I wasn’t focused on football or Formula 1.”

The Crash Bandicoot marketing campaign resulted in an assault

PlayStation’s somewhat unconventional approach to marketing included the launch campaign for Crash Bandicoot, which involved creating fake Bandicoot road signs and lost pet posters. However, one particularly daring idea nearly resulted in a real-life altercation.

“We had some controversial postcards that went into phone booths in Soho,” Glendenning recalled. “It was the kind of place where you’d find many postcards featuring… well, women looking for companionship. The person putting up these [Bandicoot postcards] discovered that the pimps owned those phone booths. We only realized this after the person putting them up got assaulted. It was unfortunate. Lesson learned.”

Account of whether the incident truly occurred or was merely a close call varied among the panelists. In either case, they opted not to pursue that tactic again.

Chris Deering defeated Richard Branson at Tekken

PlayStation areas featuring consoles connected to TVs appeared in various venues, including clubs and stores. It also played a role during the relaunch of Virgin Megastores in London.

“We created a room filled with PlayStations and TVs,” Glendenning recalled. “I approached [Virgin chief] Richard Branson and said, ‘Hey, would you like to play PlayStation?’ And that image is of [Richard and Chris Deering] playing Tekken against each other.”

Deering joked: “And I won, thankfully. It would have been embarrassing otherwise.”

Rayman was the best-selling game on PS1 in the UK

What was the top-selling game on PS1 in the UK? Perhaps Tomb Raider? Gran Turismo?

Nope. It was the original Rayman. The game climbed to the top spot due to a variety of bundles and pricing strategies. Here’s the complete Top Ten, courtesy of Nielsen.

UK Best-Selling PS1 Games (Nielsen)

The media was skeptical about PS2 before launch

PS2 would go on to become the most successful gaming console ever. However, the media at the time was quite doubtful about its prospects.

“The general consensus was that no platform holder had ever maintained dominance over two generations,” recalled former PlayStation UK and European PR head David Wilson. “There were many skeptics. I remember someone at Sega stating on the front page of a trade magazine, ‘We’ll crush them, they’re losing ground.’ So there was pessimism regarding it. But we felt confident about our product and our heritage. We didn’t launch with a strong lineup. However, the anticipation suggested we had something extraordinary.

Nonetheless, the supply shortages, which the panelists assured were not manufactured, posed significant challenges.

“It was difficult because there was a unique chip that was slow to produce. We faced supply chain issues. Demand was high, but there simply weren’t enough consoles,” Deering mentioned.

“It was also difficult financially because the publishers had all scheduled game launches for a specific time and couldn’t adapt. The sector tied to PlayStation took a big hit in 2001. But it all passed.”

PlayStation made significant financial investments in EyeToy and SingStar

Two of the most innovative and successful products on PS2 emerged from Sony’s London Studio: SingStar and EyeToy. Both projects saw PlayStation Europe take a significant gamble, funding them despite the fact that both involved expensive hardware production.

“The EyeToy team approached corporate headquarters,” said Dave Ranyard, who held several positions at London Studio, including studio director.

“The team asked, ‘How many cameras should we order, 30,000 or 50,000?’ and Chris [Deering] said: ‘Order 500,000’. It was a substantial risk, but it paid off.”

Deering added: “Well, we ended up selling six million units.”

“I had Russians engaging in adult activities on the PlayStation Network”David Wilson

This wasn’t the most controversial moment for Deering at the London studio…