By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sony - What made PS1 so special?

disolitude said:
evolution_1ne said:
disolitude said:

PS1 was a 3rd party publisher console.

N64 did not have CD's and Sega didn't have any marketshare (outside japan) so 3rd parties flocked to PS1 and delivered most of the best games exclusively to sony's machine.

It was the easiest to program for, most affordable, and sony made a lot of right decisions with it. Basically everything they did wrong with the PS3, they did right with PS1.

So what made PS1 special? I believe the right answer is...Games! Exclusives! Mature market! Hype! CD medium done right! 3D!

In that order.

becauseyou couldn't just state the merits of the ps1 without trashing Sony in some way, be the same person calling out all the hate against 360 lol.


CAn't help it when its true...low price, easy to program for, attracting 3rd parties...everything sony did with PS1 and not PS3.

but none of those things made the ps1 special, becasue a conosle is nothing without the games, and the ps3 is short of games....oh wait!



Around the Network
evolution_1ne said:

but none of those things made the ps1 special, becasue a conosle is nothing without the games, and the ps3 is short of games....oh wait!

You're completely blind as to how these "games" get on a console. None of the classic games would have made it on to PS1 if it wasn't as easy to program for and priced as aggressively. Only once Sony got a significant lead over Saturn and N64 did these games start coming over to PS1.

PS1 got most of 3rd party games because it sold the best, it was easiest to program for and sony didn't have any 1st part for the most part so they courted 3rd party devs and got them over to PS1.



Well, I can see a bunch of factors that played into Sony's success with the PS1. The biggest one I think, though, was launching at the right time. 3rd party companies were, well... not happy... with the iron fist that Nintendo kept over them- from being the only provider to cartridges, to having to compete with Nintendo's games (which were also cheaper at retail), to the cost of reprints, to the sticking with the cartridge. Sega had eroded consumer confidence outside of Japan, with the okay Sega CD, to the laughable 32X, and the travesty of those few games needing both, only to see the Saturn released 6 MONTHS early with no notice to anyone, including 3rd parties. So what was seen was few games for the CD, fewer for the 32X, and almost none for the Saturn. Why buy a Saturn; no games are coming out for it! Coupled with other facts mentioned (high price {$400 US}, hard to program for, etc), and it wasn't looking good. For some reason, this early launch also angered a few 3rd party companies, who cancelled their projects.

Enter Sony. They were able to discard the bad of each side, and take what was left together. While the N64 was $200 versus $300 on the PS1, games being $40 vs $60-70 meant that you broke even at 5 games (or less). (IIRC, the PS1 was also the only home console to have new games routinely cost sub-$50.) With the cheaper price, the consumer also saw bigger games. Within a year, FF7 moved from the N64 to the PS1, sewing up Japan, and thus, Japanese support from other companies, in a time when Japanese support mattered more to a system's success. The consumer saw the games flow, all for less than either other system on the market.

And the 3rd party companies loved it. It was the easiest system to program for, and the easiest to do reprints for. No more were they bound to Nintendo's sole-providership, or Sega's high licensing fees. Sony's promotion of the 3rd party games also helped in easing their own advertising costs. Why could Sony advertise them? Sony's main developer, Sony Imagesoft, wasn't a huge company, and other 3rd parties didn't see them as much of a threat in relation to Nintendo or Sega. Thus, their games could flourish, and as the system took off in the consumer's eyes, so did the sales of 3rd party games.

This isn't to say that Sony didn't take lumps. The PS1 was the first hardware to be sold at a loss initially. Some early PS1s had issues of scratching disks, making them unplayable. But Sony also did some shrewd things to help sew up their victory. They were known to cut licensing discounts for exclusivity. And they pushed that FMVs could be well integrated into a game, something that the Sega CD did not do. Ultimately, they came at the right time after observing the market as a 3rd party company, and used the Sony name to get their foot in the door. The rest, as they say, is history.



-dunno001

-On a quest for the truly perfect game; I don't think it exists...

disolitude said:
evolution_1ne said:
 

but none of those things made the ps1 special, becasue a conosle is nothing without the games, and the ps3 is short of games....oh wait!

You're completely blind as to how these "games" get on a console. None of the classic games would have made it on to PS1 if it wasn't as easy to program for and priced as aggressively. Only once Sony got a significant lead over Saturn and N64 did these games start coming over to PS1.

PS1 got most of 3rd party games because it sold the best, it was easiest to program for and sony didn't have any 1st part for the most part so they courted 3rd party devs and got them over to PS1.

dude your comment said "everything they did wrong with the ps3" as if ps3 games quality have suffered since then.......which it didn't, so what WORNG are you talking about, maybe DIFFERENT was the word you were looking for, but different wouldn't have been a negitive thing to say now would it.  hence my first comment.



crash and tekken



    R.I.P Mr Iwata :'(

Around the Network

The library was huge and had a lot of quality games.



evolution_1ne said:
disolitude said:
evolution_1ne said:
 

but none of those things made the ps1 special, becasue a conosle is nothing without the games, and the ps3 is short of games....oh wait!

You're completely blind as to how these "games" get on a console. None of the classic games would have made it on to PS1 if it wasn't as easy to program for and priced as aggressively. Only once Sony got a significant lead over Saturn and N64 did these games start coming over to PS1.

PS1 got most of 3rd party games because it sold the best, it was easiest to program for and sony didn't have any 1st part for the most part so they courted 3rd party devs and got them over to PS1.

dude your comment said "everything they did wrong with the ps3" as if ps3 games quality have suffered since then.......which it didn't, so what WORNG are you talking about, maybe DIFFERENT was the word you were looking for, but different wouldn't have been a negitive thing to say now would it.  hence my first comment.

stop being so sensitive. lol



oldschoolfool said:
evolution_1ne said:
disolitude said:
evolution_1ne said:
 

but none of those things made the ps1 special, becasue a conosle is nothing without the games, and the ps3 is short of games....oh wait!

You're completely blind as to how these "games" get on a console. None of the classic games would have made it on to PS1 if it wasn't as easy to program for and priced as aggressively. Only once Sony got a significant lead over Saturn and N64 did these games start coming over to PS1.

PS1 got most of 3rd party games because it sold the best, it was easiest to program for and sony didn't have any 1st part for the most part so they courted 3rd party devs and got them over to PS1.

dude your comment said "everything they did wrong with the ps3" as if ps3 games quality have suffered since then.......which it didn't, so what WORNG are you talking about, maybe DIFFERENT was the word you were looking for, but different wouldn't have been a negitive thing to say now would it.  hence my first comment.

stop being so sensitive. lol

you first :P



evolution_1ne said:

dude your comment said "everything they did wrong with the ps3" as if ps3 games quality have suffered since then.......which it didn't, so what WORNG are you talking about, maybe DIFFERENT was the word you were looking for, but different wouldn't have been a negitive thing to say now would it.  hence my first comment.


Anyone that doesn't think that PS3 was a disaster console launch fr sony is fooling themselves. Yes, sony quickly fixed or tried to fix the issues with the PS3 and today PS3 is a wonderful console, but they lost a lot of ground due to high price, lack of worthwhile games (at launch and for a year or two after) and difficulty to program for the console.

In 5 years when people post a thread on this forum asking "How come PS3 wasn't as successful as PS1 and PS2 sales wise?"...the answer will be...cause of high launch price, difficulty to program for, and lack of must play games for a couple of years. The same reasons why pS1 was so wonderful...



CGI-Quality said:

Why is it about the PS3 now though?

exactly