Surprise struck when Sony announced to be in full development of a gameconsole of their own. Their console, the Playstation came out at 1995. Sony's console sold awesomely, the first weekend after launch they had sold more than 100.000 copies of their system. Especially the launch of games like Twisted Metal and Ridge Racer were of an unexpected succes.
The Playstation which got a pricetag of $299.99 had to face the competition Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. The latter used the same technology, namely the CD-ROM. Sega had made quite a name for itself with the Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive, but got beaten down with it's last console, the Sega Saturn. Especially the high price of $500.00 and the lack of good games caused it's downfall. But Sega wouldn't give and 2 years after it's launch of the Saturn it started to focus on a new console, the Dreamcast. Because they were focussing on that console that much lots of Saturn titles were evidently cancelled.
another tough opponent of Sony was Nintendo. Dispite the fact both companies used to succesfully work together in the past, a certain tension was noticeable. The Japanese developer came out with a new console at 1996, the Nintendo 64. The biggest difference it had with Sony's Playstation was they still used cartridges. Nintendo decided to stick with that because of protection from piracy. On the other hand the cartridges caused a higher price and limited capacity. As a result more developers' preference went to the Playstation, by which Sony gained the upperhand in the gamingindustry.
the game continues and according to the figures Sony came out as the victor. The game console going on for 6 months had already sold 1.000.000 copies already. Six years after the launch of the Playstion Sony came up with a new version, named the PS One, which could do just as much as the Playstation but had a more polished and finished look.
at 18 may 2004, 10 years after Sony's debut in the gamingindustry, the company announced they had sold more than 100 million units worldwide. which was an absolute record. But all good things come to an end, 23 march of last year Sony announced the definite end of production of Playstations, the console that lasted for 11 years.