When Sony announced it was getting into the videogame market back in 1994, I personally recall the feeling of many, as being overwhelmingly doubtful. The vibe of most gamers, at least the ones in my neighborhood, felt Sony was being rather imprudent jumping into a sector it new very little about. There were however, some cheering them on and I can say I was one of them. You see we we're a Sony family. Not just in the sense of owning TV's and stereo equipment, no, my mom and brother and for a small stent of my own life, literally worked for the company. So it was no surprise for me, that anything Sony produced was like an automatic response that was labeled, "instant hit". You can say I was a Sony fanboy before Sony had fanboys, at least in the traditional sense. The anticipation was building and my excitement could not be hidden, could Sony really pull this off?
There was the dark reality. I just experienced that same hopefulness for the Atari Jaguar, nearly two years earlier. The unfortunate outcome: an almost immediate failure. Then came the the friends. Oh would they remind me of not only Atari's failure but that also of Phillips CD-i, the 3DO and lets not forget the poster child for console failures, the Turbo Grafx 16. Yes, those voices would resonate in the far reaches of my mind but I kept telling myself they were wrong about Sony's console. They will see.
With only 1 more year of high school to go I scrapped up any and every coin I could and was able to pick my own Ps1, approximately 2 weeks after initial launch.
Once home and connected, I was nothing less than blown away by not only the quality of the hardware but the high production value of the first group of launch titles. Ridge Racer was the game I purchased with the system but a trip to my local Blockbuster Video store, other games were at my disposal for rent. Games seemed to carry a consistent caliber which further embolden my allegiance to this new and amazing console. I didn't feel in any sense that this console would have the the same demise as other game systems. Oh and just a side note, IMO the Sony Playstation was THE nail in the coffin for the Arcades. This was the system that truly gave the arcade experience and in some cases beyond.
Today the Playstation is Sony's bread and butter, which started out over 20 years ago as a huge gamble. Its safe to say they won and to all my friends from back in the day, "I told you this system would be a hit!"