which could store upwards of 600 megabytes. This made it possible to include movie-style cut scenes and to
flesh out the cinematic aspect of the gaming experience.
Nintendo was wary because CD-Roms could lag, for as long as 15 seconds, when loading data. This, it was
felt, would detract from the slick experience that was part of the Nintendo brand.
Ken Kutaragi, the president of Sony Computer
Entertainment, aka Crazy Ken (AFP/Getty)Kutaragi’s suggestion was that Nintendo outsource the problem. Sony would produce a SNES-compatible
CD-Rom device. But Sony drove a tough bargain. It wanted a share of the profits from software sold for the
device, excluding Nintendo from any cut (it got 30 per cent of all cartridge sales for the SNES).
Nintendo initially assented. But then, to Sony’s shock, it backed out at the final moment and instead
announced an alliance with Philips at a 1991 press conference. Sony “had learned about the pending press
conference 48 hours earlier, and were... stunned”, wrote David Sheff in his 1993 book Game Over.
Kutaragi was devastated. He was also convinced he had seen the future – a future in which Sony got into
gaming independently of Nintendo. Sony had actually made a prototype device to show to Nintendo. It
even had a name: the Nintendo PlayStation. What if Sony ditched the Nintendo angle and proceeded with
the rest of the plan? What if it did PlayStation on its own?
Against considerable internal opposition, Kutaragi made his dream a reality. He even overcame the doubts
of Sony founder Akio Morita, who saw the merit in video games but hated the name PlayStation. Fate
intervened in the cruellest fashion when Morita suffered a stroke. By the time he recovered, it was too late.
“PlayStation” had been copyrighted by Sony, and the project was too advanced to call a halt.
“We had to win the battle against Nintendo; we had to win over the internal opposition within Sony; we
had to get this entire endeavour off the ground. I was swept away with this feeling and committed myself to
succeeding,” recalled Shigeo Maruyama, former chair of Sony Computer Entertainment.
“Kutaragi was the main reason why. He’s an extremely charismatic individual ... and he forced his staff to
comply with what he wanted, like a madman. I don’t think there was anything that the staff pushed back on
and told him couldn’t be done.”