Hmm. Would Microsoft even had tried to break into the elusive console space, had Sony not shown that it was possible?

The reduced sales of Nintendo consoles point towards the competition taking gamers away from Nintendo, not Sony bringing in entirely new audiences. As zorg1000 has already pointed out, the leap in sales during the PS1 generation we saw came from developing markets. The growth in Japan and North America can be attributed, for one, to increased disposable income resulting in the rise of multiconsole-ownership, and two, population growth.

The growth in Europe came from the EU taking shape with a united market that was introduced in 1993, doing away with borders and tariffs, therefore making all sorts of electronics a lot less costly for European customers. A major change like that takes a few years to trickle down and this coincides with a strong increase of PS1 sales as well as Gameboy sales. The catch is that we never talk about GB sales, because if we would, the whole PS1 myth begins to crumble. Additionally, the EU kept adding countries at a faster pace than before from the mid-1990s onwards.

There was a lot of outrage from PS gamers that adults wanted to play the Wii. If you missed all that, you've lived under a rock.

How does being in the EU help with importing of goods manufactured in Asia? The benefits of the EU were in interacting with other EU countries primarily.

The Wii was also a super important part of the historical market growth, a system that introduced gaming to a way more casual audience that Sony had ever reached. Why is that even relevant though, it’s not like the 2 are mutually exclusive facts or something.

Also, we’re talking about a 130% growth rate, that’s not something that just happens naturally without some seismic shift.

The European single market is this seismic shift because all sorts of goods became cheaper, meaning that Europeans could afford more of everything.

Let's look at Gameboy sales: https://www.neogaf.com/threads/nintendo-historical-shipment-data-1983-present.701305/

Up to and including the fiscal year ending March 1995, shipments had reached 15.32m. The PS1 launched later in 1995 and the GB's remaining life until March 2003 aligns quite closely with the lifecycle of the PS1. During that timeframe the GB shipped an additional 27.29m which constitutes growth of ~80% despite the inclusion of a slow period that lasted from April 1995 until the launch of the GB Pocket revision in 1996.

The late 1990s changed video game consoles in Europe from a luxury to a commodity. But you wouldn't know, because you aren't old enough to have been there.

I guess I lived under a rock and I guess the outrage was done by the time I joined this site (2010)

See @SeaDaVie 's reply above, Sony did bring in new audiences.


Europe didn't experience the video game crash like the US, NES didn't make as much of an impact and gaming would have kept growing more towards PC if Sony had not made console gaming 'cool'. I do remember game consoles being exclusively sold in toy stores before the PS1 and the first time I saw a PS1 was in a department store running Wipeout. Then consoles ended up in record/movie stores.

Sure there were other factors as well and yes the market expanded in Europe, yet the PS1 convinced me and many others to give consoles a try while coming from PC and Amiga. MS also played a role in that as Windows 95 was horrendous for gaming at the time.

However the big shift was consoles not just being sold in toy stores anymore and being marketed to older kids. At least that was my experience in The Netherlands at the time. And marketing to a wider demographic definitely helped jump start console sales faster in those new markets.

Looking at those gameboy sales, does seem the Playstation marketing gave it a boost

Japan looking at shipment change%

1989  released
1990  183%
1991  230%
1992  72%
1993  84%
1994  58%
1995  108%  
1996  88%
1997  286%
1998  148% 
1999  112%
2000  88%
And further decline

GameBoy had 2 peaks, the regular life cycle and then a big boost as gaming expands and becomes more accepted for older kids.
The same pattern is in the USA, 1996-1997 the slowest year, then quickly picking up while PS1 gains popularity.

Japan bottomed out 1995-1996 March, PS1 released December 1994
USA bottomed out 1996-1997 March, PS1 released September 1995


Of course Pokemon also came out around that time (1996) with the pocket revision, so that also majorly boosted sales. But it sure helped that carrying a Gameboy around in High school was no longer just for nerds.


It all worked together, rising tides lift all ships kinda thing. PS1 marketing was definitely part of the rising tide.

PS1 helped Gameboy sell better in the late 90s…….thats a new one.

According to all available data, including GDP figures, price indexes and standard of living, life in the 90’s Europe did not change significantly from the period before nor did conditions improve at a faster rate compared to the periods after. You wouldn’t know any of that though, because you were too busy looking at gameboy sales data to defend your made up theories that you’re trying to pretend resulted in a growth rate of 130%, like that’s some sort of normal event. You’re being ridiculous and not arguing in good faith. It’s clear you’re biased and not capable of a reasonable and balanced analysis of the facts. 

I’m actually 41(not 31, my account age was a typo) and live in Europe, so I do in fact remember. I was 12 when the PlayStation released, in first year of high school, and witnessed first hand the seismic shift in attitudes. The release of the PlayStation in Europe was the single most important event in the history of the video game market here, and will never be surpassed. Or, you know, being in the EU meant the price of cheese fell by 3 pence so 30 million people, who’d never previously owned a console, went out and bought a £299 PlayStation. It’s probably a 50/50.

Also, the fact that the Gameboy’s sales pick up at the exact moment the PS releases, rather than 2 years earlier when the seismic event of the single market formed is kind of weird, no? Maybe it just took people 2 years to realise cheese now cost 3p less.

Rising tides lift all ships.

Gameboy and SNES also helped PS1 sell.

Video games were still a new market breaking through to more and more markets and more demographics.

I'm simply saying PS1 helped/accelerated making video games more mainstream.

Exposure, word of mouth, marketing from different sides all added together to increase video game popularity.

Yeah, claiming that the social aspect of gaming didn't change much with the PS1, and specifically FF7, seems like revisionist history.  I have a hard time believing people are being honest when they dispute how uncool gaming was during that period.  Once you reached a certain age, you didn't admit to liking video games or people were going to make fun of you, even if they played video games, too.  It was like saying that you still liked playing with your action figures.  In the court of public opinion, video games were purely for children.

I think this is confirmed by the fact that Nintendo still had the "for kids" tag years after the PS1 released and did not immediately benefit from the change in perception.  Would that way of thinking have changed over time regardless?  Yeah, but the sharp jump would not have been there.

I remember people gathering around mainstream magazines to look at the FF7 center spread ads.  

It was a literal game-changer.  They were specifically trying to appeal to teenagers and it worked.