PlayStation

The PlayStation exists because Nintendo double-crossed Sony in front of the entire industry. In the early 90s, Sony and Nintendo were partners, building a CD-ROM add-on for the Super Nintendo called the SNES-CD. Sony had a working prototype and a real deal. Then, at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1991, Nintendo walked on stage and announced they were partnering with Philips instead, on the exact same category of product, blindsiding Sony publicly and killing the SNES-CD deal on the spot.

Sony didn't fold. Ken Kutaragi, the engineer who'd championed the partnership internally against a lot of skepticism at Sony, pushed to keep building anyway, just without Nintendo attached. What came out the other side was a standalone console instead of an add-on: the PlayStation, launched in Japan in December 1994 and in North America in September 1995.

It worked. Fast. The PlayStation became the first console to ship over 100 million units, dragged 3D gaming into the mainstream, and turned a spurned add-on project into the console line that's outlasted almost everything Nintendo threw at it since.

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