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jarrod on 13 February 2011
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dunuck said:

See what I'm getting at? while i agree 100% Media choice, more precisely CD was a big factor, but there were a number of other factors that ultimately lead to PS1 success

Also your point "I was saying a CD-ROM based N64 would've precluded PS2 happening because such a system would've held on to Nintendo's overwhelming developer support and likely crushed PS1" Is rendered useless or null by the fact that:  By the time of its release, Sony had already established their dominance and the Saturn was struggling to keep momentum. Which translates into Dev support rite? or am i mistaken?

I'm not saying there weren't other factors at play.  I'm saying those factors weren't significant enough that had Nintendo gone with a competitive media format, developers would've still jumped ship.  And without developers already jumping ship and being open to shifting over, PlayStation would've never taken off.

Also, you're partly mistaken.  Sony was trailing Saturn in Japan initially (Virtua Fighter being a bit of a killer app), and then just keeping pace for most of 1995.  Things didn't change until the FFVIIannouncement at the start of 96, at which point PS1 took off and never looked back in Japan.  The rise of the platform can be linked almost directly to FFVII's announcement, it was a real watershed, both for consumers and developers who basically decided it was the real successor to the SFC at that point.   Without FFVII, PlayStation would've ended up more like PC Engine did.

Sony did a little better than Sega upfront in America and Europe for sure (largely due to Sega's own huge mistakes, which you detailed earlier), but they really weren't in a position of dominance until 97/98, when it became clear that they were going to have the most games and at a cheaper price than N64 stuff.  In both cases, I think a CD-ROM based N64 would've led to far less inherent upfront support of PS1 (especially from Japan, which at that point was easily where the most significant 3rd party games came from), and it likely would've had a closer run with Saturn in those early days.