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If PlayStation1 Never Happened....

Lothars

Member
Gaming would be in a total different place than it is now with pc running the show more than consoles. I think Sega would have ended up differently but by now they would have been out of the hardware game.

I don't have much faith in nintendo regarding what they would do but I think they would still be backwards in alot of ways and wouldn't of had the success of the wii.

Console gaming would also be worse off without Sony.
 
Do you know what PC gaming was like in 1994?

System Shock and Descent came out that year; pretty much the two most revolutionary FPSers of that decade, came out in 1994.

Just sayin'....

Huh? Wii came and went and has had no long term effect on the industry. Motion controls are effectively abandoned on all 3 platforms at this point. It's as if it never existed.
This is interesting in a way; reading that long "making-of GC" article someone posted a long time back, apparently Nintendo was experimenting with bringing motion controls to the Gamecube. It's highly possible that if an alternative reality played out where Sega made more headway against Nintendo (or maybe not, who's to say), they would've pushed motion controls much harder on Gamecube.

The evidence is there; they wanted to bring that into the industry sooner or later, and without the Virtual Boy fiasco, they probably would've been more to-the-point there and maybe motion controls would've been received a lot better (assuming the GC software stayed about the same, just w/ motion controls added in there).

I mean there's so many unique ways to explore this: Sega wouldn't of released 32X, Nintendo may've not made the Satelliview, maybe the 64DD would've been the N64 in itself (that would've been really awesome)...so many possibilities.

I didn't even think about how the Saturn was changed to combat the PSX, it would have been a significantly cheaper product. I could see that pushing things in favor of the Saturn, but I'm not comfortable guessing if it would have beaten the N64. Having two years with zero competition and having cheaper games would have been really hard to overcome if the N64 was pretty much unchanged. Sega's financials would have been significantly healthier at the end of that generation.
I'm thinking the market would've eventually had a 2D backlash a little while after N64 came out, which would've benefited Nintendo a lot, and maybe Sega would've worked together to bring the Dreamcast out a little while later (about when it normally came out), but more united on the corporate level.

The thing with Sega that kind of irks me is how much money they kept dumping into arcades (as much as I love them). They should've seen where the markets where going. A super-old Gamespy article talked about the R&D on their arcade division on games like F355 Challenge; I really hope when someone does the complete history of Sega, they go as in-depth on the arcade side as they do the console side, there's a lot to their story still missing b/c people don't talk about the arcade side of things very much if at all.

There's also the fact that Sega was already starting to experiment in this sector as well with stuff like the Dreamcast Fishing Rod and Samba Maracas.
Oh yeah, forgot about that! There's even stuff of people playing Soul Calibur w/ that thing and everything lol.

From some of those schematics in that article, it looks like it would've indeed been a peripheral. Nintendo had some really awesome peripherals that gen tho, especially the Wavebird (if that counts). 2nd favorite wireless controller of that gen for me (my favorite was a Logitech controller for PS2).
 

Synth

Member
This is interesting in a way; reading that long "making-of GC" article someone posted a long time back, apparently Nintendo was experimenting with bringing motion controls to the Gamecube. It's highly possible that if an alternative reality played out where Sega made more headway against Nintendo (or maybe not, who's to say), they would've pushed motion controls much harder on Gamecube.

The evidence is there; they wanted to bring that into the industry sooner or later, and without the Virtual Boy fiasco, they probably would've been more to-the-point there and maybe motion controls would've been received a lot better (assuming the GC software stayed about the same, just w/ motion controls added in there).

There's also the fact that Sega was already starting to experiment in this sector as well with stuff like the Dreamcast Fishing Rod and Samba Maracas.

I think Nintendo would have tried motion gaming regardless (and if not Sega would have done something stupid with it). The main difference would probably have been that it may not have been the primary control method for the console, and instead been optional like the Move controllers (or the Wii Fit Board) were.
 

ascii42

Member
Initially a good chunk of third party games were shared between Saturn and PS1.
That didn't help Sega.
And in this scenario they would have been exclusives.
Think about it.
In reality Squaresoft never considered the Saturn for FFVII.
Everything from SNES, N64 and PSX but not Sega.

You don't think they would have if there wasn't a PlayStation? Unless they decided against FMV and had seriously cut down the quality of prerendered backgrounds they would have basically had no other choice. Without PlayStation, the Saturn would have been the best choice (only choice, really) for any developer who wanted to release a CD game.
 
I shudder to think what the industry would be like without Sony making their entry. I quit gaming after the N64. It took my buddy forcing me to play PSX games years after the PS2 hit the market just to get me back in!
 

Mxrz

Member
I probably wouldn't be playing many games outside the occasional pc thing. PSX hit at the perfect time for me, late teen. Games weren't all cute mascots. Jrpg revolution, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Twisted Medal, Gran Turismo, and so on. Great Era.

PC gaming would be interesting. I wonder if some of the more specialized developers would have manage to stay afloat if the PC market wasn't gobbled up by consoles during those years.
 

JordanN

Banned
We would never have seen HD graphics. Everything would still look like PS2/Gamecube games.

Unless you bought a PC.
 
Don't think you can say games that were on the Playstation that took advantage of the space would have instead been put on the Saturn when Sega's missteps prior to the Saturn and during its design/development would've still taken place. Third parties would probably still be wary of working with Sega after the Sega-CD and 32X messes, Sega Japan probably wouldn't have made that stupid decision of rushing the Saturn out unexpectedly during the first E3 so that might have helped.

Square would have stuck with Nintendo like a battered spouse who can't get up the courage to leave their abuser. Unless Nintendo actually altered their hardware design so it was CD based and had other changes to the platform though probably not since IIRC going with cartridges was in part Miyamoto's call and Nintendo's other reasons for sticking with carts probably wouldn't have changed. Or instead of CDs the 64DD might've been integrated into the console. Then again, probably not with Nintendo's stubbornness and being format controlling freaks. Maybe Sony would've approached Nintendo with a better deal that was much for favorable to Nintendo...

Or maybe Sega Japan's suits wouldn't have been complete idiots and actually worked with Sony when they had the chance and we would've had the Sega Playstation or the Saturn with the Playstation's internals and with Sony still behind it the third parties that jumped ship then went with Sega, then things would've really been different, especially for Sega. Well, maybe considering how incompetent the people in charge seemed to be, hell maybe Sony might've eventually bought out Sega.

Removing Sony just leaves so many thing wide open due to how much of an impact Sony had on the industry from 1994 onward. But either way the 3D0 still wouldn't have made it out of 1996 alive and what about the Jaguar? 64 BITS!
 

Shadoken

Member
Sega would basically be what PS is. They always supported 3rd parties more and would have eventually topped Nintendo.

Interesting to see how games like FF7 would have changed Sega's image in japan.

Dreamcast would have come out much later , alongside the gamecube.
 
Don't think you can say games that were on the Playstation that took advantage of the space would have instead been put on the Saturn when Sega's missteps prior to the Saturn and during its design/development would've still taken place.
No see, that's the thing. W/o PS1, Sega would've never been pressured to add all that extra crap to Saturn. They likely also would not of released the 32X, altho that's more arguable because w/o PS1 at least the 3DO would've probably done much better (Jaguar would've still been fucked). I actually think it had its price dropped to $300 in '95 right?

I can't remember the full circumstances of 32X being pushed out the door; part of it was due to DKC but Sega already had a cartridge chip of their own to deal with stuff like that. So without 32X and a Saturn w/o PlayStation, and a 2-year jump on N64, it would've been maybe like a smaller scale of what Sony experienced w/ the PS2 running off w/ the market.

Or instead of CDs the 64DD might've been integrated into the console
Yep, got a strong feeling the 64DD would've been the N64 altogether. Nintendo would've probably still found a way to retain disk control though; the disks for the 64DD were proprietary from what I remember reading.
 

spliced

Member
Less story and cutscene garbage which would be awesome. But we would have missed out on some good games.

Imagine never having to endure PSX's awful loading times, that is a nice thought.
 
All those CD games would have been put on here instead.

uvEkJsK.jpg

Actually the Saturn would be a much different machine without the PS1! Doesn't the story go that Sega go wind of how powerful the Playstation was going to be so they hastily slapped the final Saturn together?

..the world would be a better place.

Oh please tell us more!
 
Most of us wouldn't be gaming and adults gaming would be a rarity rather than the norm.

This is probably true.

There's no need for any drama here. Without question, the Sony ecosystem grew the market and helped make gaming what it is today.

...For better or worse. Nintendo wasn't doing itself any favors back in the day, but I'm not exactly in love with the industry now, either.
 

ksdixon

Member
Well, I think the Saturn would have used it's more arcade-friendly graphics chip instead of trying to compete with PSOne and essentially ductaping two of them together in a complicated fashion (probably not the graphics chip, but the point still stands). And it would likely have fared much better for it. I still think 3DO priced themselves out of most people's reach, and Nintendo would have wanted to stay on cartridges. So SEGA CD/Saturn would get more CD-based franchises which PSOne got. Sony would have likely returned to making Saturn games like Sony Imagesoft did for the SegaCD.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
It would have been a clear run at the top for Sega, however they'd still face the fact that Nintendo would have the edge over the Saturn as its more powerful, and had its main mascot to back it up...Sonic x-treme I doubt could have held a candle next to the game-changer that was MARIO 64!

So while Nintendo and Sega would be fighting it out, with the likes of Neo Geo, Atari and 3DO, fighting amongst themselves....there would soon be a new challenger..MICROSOFT!
 

Celine

Member
And in this scenario they would have been exclusives.


You don't think they would have if there wasn't a PlayStation? Unless they decided against FMV and had seriously cut down the quality of prerendered backgrounds they would have basically had no other choice. Without PlayStation, the Saturn would have been the best choice (only choice, really) for any developer who wanted to release a CD game.
What I mean is that Sony attracted a wider pool of developers, something Sega could have never achieved.
Publishers would go were the money is and at the time Saturn was perceived as a lower performance system sold at a premium price because Sega could never reduce the cost of the board fast enough due to its complexity.

That perception would still hold without PS1.
Without PS1 both N64 and Saturn would have sold more (my guess is that the increment would be more pronounced in Japan for Sega and outside Japan for Nintendo) however the lack of a competitor wouldn't resolve the issues both platform (and platform holders) had.
Basically I don't think every PS1 buyer and PS1 game would have magically migrated to the Saturn or N64 if PS1 was never been there.

PS1 revolutionized console gaming but not because it introduced "adult gaming" as some said in this thread.
Games more geared to older males was a consequence of aging of gamers who started earlier because the ideal buyer for a videogame company was (is?) a guy with predicable tastes and enough income and time to play (thus buy) many games (read late teen, early '20).
What Sony really brought in was two ideas never seen before for console gaming at the time:
1- platform driven heavily by third party software with the financial help of Sony (SDK, co-marketing, acquisition).
A concept simply alien for gaming company like Nintendo, Sega, Hudson, SNK and Atari.

2- aggressive expansion in the european markets helped by Sony electronic distribution channels.
 

BasilZero

Member
It would of been pretty bleak if Nintendo and SEGA were still the only two main competitors.

Not sure if Xbox would of been made but if it did I guess it would of had a better standing?
 

ascii42

Member
What I mean is that Sony attracted a wider pool of developers, something Sega could have never achieved.
Publishers would go were the money is and at the time Saturn was perceived as a lower performance system sold at a premium price because Sega could never reduce the cost of the board fast enough due to its complexity.

That perception would still hold without PS1.

PS1 revolutionized console gaming but not because it introduced "adult gaming" as some said in this thread.
Games more geared to older males was a consequence of aging of gamers was started earlier because the ideal buyer for a videogame company was (is?) a guy with predicable tastes and enough income and time to play (thus buy) many games (read late teen, early '20).
What Sony really brought in was two ideas never seen before for console gaming at the time:
1- platform driven heavily by third party software with the financial help of Sony (SDK, co-marketing, acquisition).
A concept simply alien for gaming company like Nintendo, Sega, Hudson, SNK and Atari.

2- aggressive expansion in the european markets helped by Sony electronic distribution channels.

Didn't the Saturn get a second CPU thrown in because they saw what Sony was doing with the PlayStation? Without it the Saturn would have been less powerful, but it would have been cheaper.

I agree largely with your assessment, though. Particularly number 2.
 

gelf

Member
Didn't the Saturn get a second CPU thrown in because they saw what Sony was doing with the PlayStation? Without it the Saturn would have been less powerful, but it would have been cheaper.

Its really hard to guess what Sega would have done if Sony weren't around. There's also an argument the Saturn could have ended up better as they wouldn't have rushed it out the door and then on seeing what Nintendo where up to with the N64 they could have still pushed it in a more suited to 3D direction but with more thought put into it due to N64 being a way off. If you ignore the management mishaps there was a lot of talent at Sega, In the arcades their Model1/2/3 hardware where all ahead of the curve on release and it could have filtered down to their home consoles. Or we could have the original 2D only machine, its tough to say.

I can't abide by the idea that without Sony videogames would be stuck in a kid only ghetto and would have never gone HD. Maybe things would have moved slower and in different directions but there were definitely moves to make make games appealing to adults before then, and it completely ignores where PC gaming was going at the same time too.
 
Don't let PC-GAF and Nintendo-GAF tell you this isn't true. Well, for the West. For the East not so much, but I've got way too many friends whose origins in gaming come from the PS1. I started on the SNES, but I would never have stuck with the hobby if FF7 and the J-RPG era of the PS1 wasn't a thing.

I knew that post would be unpopular but that's just how it is. I started with the NES actually though I got it much latter when everyone else had a SNES. So, I experienced first hand the effect of the PS on the industry. Personally, I think if the PS didn't come around, Nintendo would have been duking it out with PC for some time before losing to it as PC were becoming more and more common.
 
Maybe 2D wouldn't have been such a rare pariah for around 10 years and perhaps SNK also wouldn't have gotten completely out of the console game.

A lot more people would love Guardian Heroes, Legend of Oasis & Dragon Force as much as I do.
 

Celine

Member
Didn't the Saturn get a second CPU thrown in because they saw what Sony was doing with the PlayStation? Without it the Saturn would have been less powerful, but it would have been cheaper.

I agree largely with your assessment, though. Particularly number 2.
Sega didn't simply "throw in" a second CPU they redesigned the board to be more powerful.
My guess is Sega arcade division was a big influence (directly or indirectly) during Saturn development.

Thinking about the reception surrounding Sega first (bad) conversion of their arcade games, I can't imagine a weaker Saturn being received well at all.

BTW I agree with you that without PS1, Saturn would have been seen as the leading CD based console, just I don't think Sega could drive the "cd based" market to the same extent Sony did.
I expanded my previous post.

Maybe 2D wouldn't have been such a rare pariah for around 10 years and perhaps SNK also wouldn't have gotten completely out of the console game.
Nothing would have stopped that from happening, sadly.
 

Vormund

Member
A Sony/NIntendo partnership vs a Microsoft/Sega partnership could have been where we are today. Which I would be fine with.
 

Shion

Member
The old SEGA and Nintendo are probably my favorite game companies of all time, but that's only because they used to be amazing developers. Truth is both were always horrible corporations with incredibly shitty management and myopic views on the industry. They were great developers, sure, but the industry would be a worse place with them in charge.

Sony's entrance in the industry was very important because it finally gave developers and publishers what they've always wanted, a friendly and healthy environment where they can be in charge of things.

All those CD games would have been put on here instead.

uvEkJsK.jpg

They wouldn't because, without the PS1, Saturn would have been a 2D-only console.

Another genius decision by SoJ.
 
I think the gaming industry would've crashed in early 2000 in that event.
-Sega console business was dying since the early 90s
- Nintendo was selling less and less consoles each gen
- N64 as the market leader in Gen 5 not adopting CD would cripple and damage the evolution of the industry to disc based gaming.
-Gaming would still be seen as children's toys due to no mainstream interest and absence of PS1's appeal to young adults
-The dying industry would also mean no more Xbox being invented(reaction to Sony). Imagine 2 bombing consoles DC vs GC duking it out

I imagine with the dire state of the industry, someone else might've tried their hand in the console business.
 

emalord

Member
The first playstation was sismic for a thousands reasons: new genres were introduced, coin-ops were "faithfully" reproduced, we had the impression gaming was no more a niche hobby

In other words: maturity of the medium achieved

Wut if never was? Mh, we would be 10 years behind in gaming, maybe mobile was the only form of gaming on the market now
 

MrT-Tar

Member
I think we would have seen a large divergence between Japan and the West. Saturn would have likely dominated Japan (didn't it already outsell the N64 there?) and the N64 would have likely dominated the US, and most likely Europe too.
 

Zok310

Banned
Video games without PlayStation would be the same as personal computers without Apple.

The innovations that Sony brought would have came eventually most likely by Nintendo but not until 2012 when the WiiU launched.

Sony not being in the industry would not change Nintendo's outcome the Wii and WiiU would still happen.
It would more likely affect SEGA by giving them a bigger market share, but Sega would still be the underdog, because instead of innovation like the would be PlayStation, Sega would just copy Nintendo and played follow the leader. Microsoft would have also not entered. PC would be where all the mature content would be.

Home consoles would not have matured as it did, or at the time it did. All of the revolutionary PS software would have been on PC.
 

Celine

Member
The innovations that Sony brought would have came eventually most likely by Nintendo but not until 2012 when the WiiU launched.
May I ask what innovations are you referring to?

Home consoles would not have matured as it did, or at the time it did. All of the revolutionary PS software would have been on PC.
Also what revolutionary PS software have you in mind?
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
- Sega burned their bridges with consumers, so they were finished no matter what.

- Nintendo would likey be the top dog with N64, but the cartridge format was so awful you have to wonder if a third party would've entered the console space to fill the spot Sony took? If so then there's a chance they would've given Nintendo a run for their money, but who knows? If not then I just see Nintendo ruling a shrinking console business that might not be around today.

-Would there even be an Xbox? Perhaps not.

Edit: Forgot until seeing it in a previous post that yes, Saturn would've been a 2D machine. They tacked crappy 3D on when they found out Sony was focusing on it.

- Also there wouldn't have a been a Wii, since Nintendo went that direction because they felt they couldn't compete directly against Microsoft and Sony, and had to take a different route.
 

-Setsuna-

Member
Instead of being a pale shadow of itself, an empty shell, SEGA would still be a console manufacturer, putting out dozens of gems, fresh IPs, year after year, in order to push its own hardware...
The industry, as a whole, greatly suffered from SEGA's withdrawal and decline, IMO.
 

alstein

Member
Predictions of my own:

Nintendo wins with N64. Sega Saturn does well enough to remain viable, leading to a better dreamcast. Saturn is more of a 2D machine, and import carts become a huge thing. Dreamcast does flop some financially due to piracy, but online play becomes bigger earlier, as Sega pushes it hard. (they had it on the Saturn) Overall sales aren't massively better, as some folks "grow out" of gaming who wouldn't have with the PS1.

There are huge fanboy debates over which console has better RPGs- Nintendo would have FF7, but Sega would have a ton of well-regarded games. Due to this, Nintendo makes a deal or acquires Falcom in the late 90s, and Ys games become a good hit on the Gamecube.

Most of the PS1-era innovations get pushed back a few years to the Dreamcast/Gamecube-era, and are done with slightly better technology. Those folks who "grew out" of gaming either end up PC gamers or go back during this time.

Tekken bombs and Harada is currently working on Idolmaster games. The Neo-Geo 64 has more success, and SNK limps on into the present day without going bankrupt.

The lack of opportunity in Japanese gaming compared to current timeline has an impact on anime, and the anime boom in the US of the late 90s/early 2000's lasts another couple of years. This might allow some companies to survive.

VF3 becomes a major arcade hit, and the Dreamcast's killer app for next gen, going up against KI2. Dreamcast wins the following gen vs the Gamecube, though both consoles have profitability concerns due to piracy. The Wii U happens around the original timeline due to this. The increased success of the CPS3 and SNK's better fortunes butterfly away Arcsys, so no Guilty Gear, and SNK remains relevant.

The big fighting games of Evo 2000 are VF3, SF3:3rd strike, KI3, and Darkstalkers 4 (on CPS3 hardware) , and a SamSho game of some sort.

Arcade decline in the US gets staved off a couple more years, but still happens.

Piracy and Emulation become more of a thing then what happened in our timeline, due to the games being more emulatable, and a desire for translation patches.

PC gaming continues on as is, with few changes until 2010 or so, where you see fewer PC ports of old console/Japanese games due to Sega not dabbling in PC.
 

TVC 15

Neo Member
Lol some bullshit in this thread. Have people been reading a little two many of Sam Pettius bullshit articles again. When where they written. 2000? Whilst completely lacking any credible sources, with the journalist in questions own made up 'narrative' filling in the gaps.

I think Sega would have had to get its shit together sooner or later, there was already attempts to steer the ship when the dream cast came along. The N64 in whatever shape would always be successful, but it depends how far 'back to the future' you want to go, are we suggesting a Nintendo having a successful relationship with Sony or Nintendo ditching them and Sony never bothering to enter the race.

The Saturn would have released either earlier with slightly less capable but bug free hardware and better balanced design or later with a significantly revised chipset. By 1995 3d accelerators were going mainstream with early consumer technology, even Yamaha a principal partner for Segas Saturn project had a 3d board in 95' that was quickly forgotten.

Nobody is 100% what happened with Saturn, the design does suggest being rushed with unnecessary parts from a simpler design, but nobody from Sega as far as I'm aware has raised there hand up to suggest how and if it's the truth. The earliest rumoured specs in Edge from 93' suggested a powerful system more 2D orientated system, but the Saturn was always designed with 3D graphics in mind, just much more modestly. I'll have to dig up the old mag scan from Sega 16.

However in a scenario where Sonys looming PSX was no longer existing Sega may have changed the performance target for the Saturn hardware. Prototyping goes on all the time. I'm quite sure Nintendo where prototyping some hardware pre-N64 that was much less advanced. It may simply be Sega had to use the pre-existing Saturn prototypes to get a 94' release date in Japan. Until Hideki Sato head of Segas consumer hardware (consoles) ever gives us clear info on this it's just internet chinese whispers.

It's a pity how young the industry is and likewise how there is little credible fact seeking gaming press, just the same churned out rumours from the early 90's recounted in another IGN editorial. Authorative historical accounts of Japanese video gaming are desperately needed before we're left with 3 books about Nintendo in the 80's since people oddly assume Nintendo WAS the gaming industry in the 80's ignoring it's wider context, it's nuances and all the other players.

Sega and Nec/hudsonsoft in particular and their respective histories are quickly being forgotten, or at least mis represented.
 

gelf

Member
Yeah you can't deny Sony did a lot of good things at the time but I do think there is a lot of the old saying that "history is written by the winners" in this thread. Plenty of innovations should have still happened without them.
 
Gaming would be quite different, that's for sure. I'd say it's probably the third most important home console ever made, after the NES and Magnavox Odyssey.
 
I was the "gamer" amongst my friends and family because I had nintendo consoles, but those were always second fiddle to my PC anyway.

Ps1 (and then ps2, ps3, etc) have been the only consoles that have ever grabbed my attention for some reason. Nintendo and Xbox games i'd rather seek out elsewhere(emulators, ports) but there are games that I will only play on PC, and games that i'll only play on Playstation regardless of their availability/features on other platforms.

CG cut scenes would not have become a thing.

No Advent Children, One Wing Angel, Sephiroth fan girls, none of that.

This seems like a fucking utopia.

fixed
 
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