Interview with former Sony executives: Why the Nintendo PlayStation never happened.

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BY2K

Membero Americo
From a NintendoEverything translation from a denfaminicogamer interview, summary by GoNintendo.

http://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/interview/ps_history/2
http://nintendoeverything.com/forme...ation-cd-rom-including-its-last-minute-death/
http://gonintendo.com/stories/26844...-discusses-the-demise-of-the-snes-playstation

- Ken Kutaragi was originally in charge of the sound chip on the SNES
- Kutaragi pushed to install/attach a CD-ROM drive to the top of the SNES
- the idea didn't catch on at first and Nintendo wanted to stick to Mask ROMs for games
- Nintendo eventually decided to go ahead with the idea
- Kutaragi was told he couldn't do anything related to Mask ROMs, but could work on whatever he wanted, including CDs
- the president of NoA at the time, Mr. Arakawa, warned that letting Kutaragi do whatever he wants could cause problems
- Kutaragi said his plans would focus on everything but video games
- there was an idea for a karaoke platform
- right before the announcement, Nintendo put a lid on it
- no one seems to know why Sony didn't sue Nintendo after cancelling the project when Sony had a contract
- Maruyama told everyone it was Nintendo's fault completely, which he knew not to be the case
- Kutaragi was also stirring up trouble and talking to Sony about how Nintendo ruined their honor
- Kutaragi made the whole thing out to bigger than it really was, trying to use the situation to further his own ambitions
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- the president of NoA at the time, Mr. Arakawa, warned that letting Kutaragi do whatever he wants could cause problems
- Kutaragi said his plans would focus on everything but video games
- there was an idea for a karaoke platform
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how long was kutagari trying to make the ps3 for lmfao
 
Kutaragi pushed to install/attach a CD-ROM drive to the top of the SNES
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Legit question because I can't recall the exact details - at this point in history, did they not see the fundamental problems Sega were having with the Mega CD in terms of audience fragmentation and not see that alone as a reason to say fuck it?
 
Nintendo also, famously, switched sides (no pun intended) in going with CD-ROM tech for SNES. Without letting Sony know, Nintendo announced a partnership with Sony's rival, Philips, at the 1991 Summer CES in Chicago. This was later also scrapped, in favor of a joint Nintendo-Philips-Sony CD-ROM add-on, with a 32-bit processor, called Nintendo Disc.
 
- no one seems to know why Sony didn't sue Nintendo after cancelling the project when Sony had a contract
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Well, seems pretty obvious to me.

Nintendo's ninjas are ruthless.
 
The summary isn't totally consistent with the article. For example, it implies Kutaragi or his team wanted a karaoke system as part of the SNES CD project, but it's the ex-Sony interviewee who wanted it.

Also some facts are wrong about this. They keep saying the CD drive sat atop the SNES but really it sat on the bottom with a cart in the top slot, and it doesn't even mention the PlayStation-branded hybrid system project that was recently unearthed that was an extension of the SNES-CD project. I get the impression these guys weren't as involved with these affairs as we might be led to believe.
 
Maruyama: Well duh, it hadn’t happened yet (laughs). So the president of NoA at the time, Mr. Arakawa, who was in Seattle, probably saw it as a big problem. He supposedly warned the Japanese HQ over and over that if they let Kutaragi do whatever he wants, he might take over the whole company.
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So in the alternate timeline Sony becomes Nintendo. I think I prefer ours!

Kawakami: That sounds like a lot of nonsense (laughs). Kutaragi made the whole thing out to bigger than it really was, trying to use the situation to further his own ambitions.

Maruyama: That’s how it looks to me. He was really a crazy guy (laughs). Still, I don’t really know what went on with Nintendo.

Kawakami: But Kutaragi knows what really happened.

Maruyama: Right. I’m pretty sure Kutaragi knows the truth.
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I really hope some day Kutaragi spills the beans on what happened, just for history's sake.
 
no one seems to know why Sony didn't sue Nintendo after cancelling the project when Sony had a contract
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No chance this could be due to Sony taking the learnings / tech progress through the R&D phase of the project and channelling them directly into the PS1 project?

'We won't sue but screw you, we are taking the behind the scenes stuff and making our own machine' kinda deal maybe?
 
I'm finding hard to believe a Nintendo based website publishing a article painting Sony in a bad light while Nintendo takes no blame. I'm sure there is some truth and lies in this.
 
liquidtmd said:
Legit question because I can't recall the exact details - at this point in history, did they not see the fundamental problems Sega were having with the Mega CD in terms of audience fragmentation and not see that alone as a reason to say fuck it?
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Mega CD didn't really go anywhere but in Japan at least PCE CD-ROM2 was pretty successful and almost entirely supplanted the system's HuCard releases.

It's not like this would be Nintendo's first time with an add-on either, they did the FDS a half decade earlier.
 
Defuser said:
I'm finding hard to believe a Nintendo based website publishing a article painting Sony in a bad light while Nintendo takes no blame. I'm sure there is some truth and lies in this.
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Did you read the article or just the summary? They talk bout how it's probably both companies' fault to one degree or another.
 
Defuser said:
I'm finding hard to believe a Nintendo based website publishing a article painting Sony in a bad light while Nintendo takes no blame. I'm sure there is some truth and lies in this.
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The original interview wasn't on a Nintendo website.
 
Defuser said:
I'm finding hard to believe a Nintendo based website publishing a article painting Sony in a bad light while Nintendo takes no blame. I'm sure there is some truth and lies in this.
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This is some junior level trolling right here. Speiler Eins hangs his head in shame.
 
BY2K said:
So it wasn't Nintendo's fault at all. It was Sony's. Maruyama and Kutaragi in particular.
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The actual interview does not prove that. Summary is pushing an agenda. Below is the extend of Maruyama's account

Kawakami: So you’re saying we still don’t know exactly what happened, but we do know Kutaragi took advantage of the situation.

Maruyama: That’s right.
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MrCarter said:
This. It screams of bias and bitterness.
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You mean your post? Sure.
But the article is from as Non Nintendo website, Gonintendo only did an article on that other websites article, like they usually do, since they usually do very little own unique content.
 
Sesha said:
Yeah, Nintendo doesn't need help with that.
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bARng2J.gif


Have you seen the Wii U library? It's exclusives trounce the PS4 library.

Have you seen the Switch? The PS4 Pro is shaping up to be an overpriced disappointment meanwhile Nintendo is bringing that innovation back to this creatively bankrupt industry. Nintendo ain't playing around any longer.
 
Taker34 said:
- Kutaragi was also stirring up trouble and talking to Sony about how Nintendo ruined their honor

Ha, what?
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It all makes sense if you've seen G4's documentary. Kutaragi wanted to make a console of his own while top Sony execs were completely against it. But after that whole Sony/Nintendo partnership fell apart it gave Kutaragi and opening. He went and talked to the top Sony exec at the time (Norio Ohga) and basically told them that Nintendo stabbed them in the back. That didn't sit well with Ohga and so he finally greenlighted the Playstation.
 
dracula_x said:
.



^ this is quite different from what you said.
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Kawakami: I see. If you don’t mind, could you tell us a bit more about that? This was around the same time Nintendo was focusing on gaming as its main business, and there’s speculation that Sony was planning to monopolize the enormous non-gaming markets. In other words, Nintendo might have perceived Sony’s push for the CD-ROM format as an attempt to take over music and movie distribution/platforms. In actuality, that market ended up having more hidden potential than even the video game industry.

Maruyama: What are you talking about? There wasn’t any speculation at all, we explicitly told them we were going to focus on everything but video games, and they said “That’s fine”! (laughs)

Kawakami: Whaaaat!
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It was Sony's plan, at the very least.
 
enigmatic_alex44 said:
bARng2J.gif


Have you seen the Wii U library? It's exclusives trounce the PS4 library.

Have you seen the Switch? The PS4 Pro is shaping up to be an overpriced disappointment meanwhile Nintendo is bringing that innovation back to this creatively bankrupt industry. Nintendo ain't playing around any longer.
Click to expand...

I though it was Wii U :)
 
Calm Mind said:
Yes let's champion the company that brought about the death of the middle market. smh
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That's frankly crazy. PS1 was the system where every tom dick and harry started developing/publishing games because the costs were just right for the return.
 
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