Everybody's Favourite Exec Shuhei Yoshida Says Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Saved PlayStation

Although I had systems from a young age (commodore, Atari, NES, SNES) it was final fantasy 7 that made me really fall in love and become obsessive about gaming. I don’t know about PlayStation, but my recreational life would have been very different without it.

I'm not sure if I agree with that, I think it was the more mature offer that made the Playstation so successful, the launch was great with the likes of Ridge Racer, Battle Arena Toshiden, Tekken, Wipeout etc...coming from the platform friendly games snes and genesis provided at the time

The Last of Us Part II saved PlayStation

Yeah I'm not sure it was as big a factor in the west, sure Final Fantasy VII was a big success though I preferred VIII but that was 2 years after its western launch and it was already the dominant platform by then. I feel Playstation became a huge success more so because of the likes of Namco with Ridge Racer and Tekken which highlighted Sega's early fumblings with their Saturn ports of Daytona and Virtua Fighter, creating this image of the PS1 being the much more capable 3D console

To me this is confirmation Sony will acquire SE, they are just waiting for ABK to be sorted.

runs away

Not sure about those but different markets have different preferences.
I'd say Tomb Raider (Core original, thank you!), Wipeout and Doom helped the PS take off and ultimately smash backstabbing Ninty in the process.

@Hindenburg Yeah, it was really dying until that turd was plopped out.

PlayStation succeeded due to its brand management and marketing, it actually had very little to do with specific games. It marketed itself as a more mature gaming experience and won over a much broader base than any previous console. The preceding generation was won by the SNES with under 50M sales.

Here in the uk the marketing focused a lot on things like Wipeout and the soundtrack with the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy etc.

@NomNom I think it depends on the outcome of that acquisition. If Activision acquisition is successfully blocked, Sony won't acquire Square Enix and vice versa.

Tomb Raider has to be a major factor (i know it wasnt exclusive), but yes Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest will have made it THE de facto console in Japan at the time, no question - which is slightly odd in a way as i dont really associate Dragon Quest with Playstation as games have generally landed on Nintendo systems

@carlos82 I agree with you and played all FF games but when the 3D ones hit FF8 was by far my favourite over FF7. Crisis core really helped me like FF7. Excited to play reunion

put some R E S P E C T on JRPGs. Thanks Shuhei, and we miss you Shuhei!

@NomNom That's even if Square Enix are selling.

There's some black comedy in Sony throwing a fit about Xbox potentially taking games away from them that they've had for years when that's how Sony themselves started.

I say the support of all the publishers and a range of different genre really was PlayStation success.i was there day 1 on September 9 1995.good times.word up son

@Vivisapprentice. I didn't even look at your comments and i post the same thing.i agree with you.i was there in queens new york in September 9 1995.and different games help shape the playstation.their library of games are excellent and legendary.word up son

I would think that the success of PlayStation came down to great Third-Party support and it's impressive variety of games, from Crash Bandicoot, to Spyro the Dragon, to Ape Escape, to Twisted Metal, to Gran Turismo, to Metal Gear Solid, to Silent Hill, to Final Fantasy, to Resident Evil, to Tekken, to Mortal Kombat, to Tomb Raider, to MediEvil, to PaRappa the Rapper, to Tomba, to Croc, to Legacy of Kain, to Legend of Dragoon, to Dragon Quest, and many MANY more games.

@NomNom - I'd be surprised if Sony doesn't acquire Square Enix. Sony & Square Enix have been tight since PlayStation's inception, and Sony invested heavily into them when they were Squaresoft, and whenever Square Enix makes a few mistakes or releases a few poorly performing games, Sony/PlayStation always seems to swoop in to help them out.
However if Sony DOES acquire Square Enix, already established titles should remain Multiplatform, but if Square Enix decides to create any New IP's, then making them Exclusive to PlayStation & PC is fair game.

Final Fantasy has absolutely become synonymous with Playstation since the release of VII.

Dragon Quest, though? Not really. I - VI were Nintendo exclusives, even with console re-releases. VII was PS originally, but Nintendo-exclusive upon re-release. Ditto with VIII. IX was Nintendo exclusive. DQ X released across multiple platforms, but started on a Nintendo console. XI, at least in Japan, released simultaneously on Playstation and 3DS, and the updated re-release was Nintendo exclusive for a period of time. There is no argument to be made that the series is "synonymous with Playstation."

Funny the line about these games being synonymous with PlayStation… DQ I still feel is synonymous with Nintendo, since it thrived on the DS and 3DS, and I’m too old to ever forget that FF was a NEE/SNES rooted thing. I know Sony keeps trying to pay to foster the whole idea, though.

I will admit the reason I bought a PS2 was FFX.

@NomNom honestly, if Sony manages to shut down the ABK deal, every single topic they used to shut it down can be used to shut down them acquiring Square Enix.

FF7, MGS, Ico, and TLOU are my favorite games of all time. 3 out of 4 are from studios that partner with Playstation and help builds it's identity. Yeah, SE is part of the sacred symbols in my view.

@Tharsman not really. Why did the Bethesda deal go through? Bethesda made mostly single player experiences, third party would survive without it. Same as Square Enix. ABK is a multiplat multiplayer behemoth, not comparable.

@NomNom as Sony themselves said about CoD: it’s not always about market share. The Final Fantasy IP is just too big to be owned by any single platform owner. In Japan that’s even more so about Dragon Quest.

No Shuhei-san, it was your smile what saved playstation. Keep that.

@NomNom plus they can make the argument if xbox complains that literally 1% of the market comes from them. I would just continue to support some of the titles on nintendo if they can run and on PC

@NomNom I'm right there with you both companies seem to be making the same moves.

@Tharsman final fantasy games sell like hot garbage on Xbox and Nintendo hasn’t gotten a mainline final fantasy game at launch since the Super Nintendo. I think Sony could buy square enix and keep the smaller games on Nintendo consoles make the big games like mainline final fantasy games dragon quest and kingdom hearts exclusive to PlayStation.

Twisted Metal, Resident Evil, and Warhawk were the games that put the original PlayStation on the map for me. After that, God of War has been my favorite game series of every generation.

@Ralizah yeah dragon quest an odd example. we didn't even get any dqs for ps1 and ps3, and only one each for ps2 and ps4 (at least afaik).
though those 2 are considered to be highlights in the libraries.

Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style made me a PlayStation fan. Horrible game, but I bought a PlayStation just to play that game and it led me to buy other games and caused me to switch from Nintendo PlayStation.

@Balosi DQIII and V are particularly beloved entries in Japan.

Unfortunately, DQV didn't release on the SNES outside of asian territories. It took 17 years for the game to make its way outside of Japan officially, in the form of a Nintendo DS remake.

The PS1 actually did get a DQ game, though. DQ7. Which later enjoyed a Nintendo 3DS remake.

@Ralizah i wasn't aware of 7s origins, probably passed me by because it didn't appear to get released in europe. i've got the 3ds version though lol.

Final Fantasy is more of a PlayStation franchise but Dragon Quest has always been more of a Nintendo thing to me.

Imagine if Square Enix gave each console brand their own JRPG franchise.
PlayStation could have Final Fantasy, Nintendo could have Dragon Quest, while Xbox would have their own new JRPG IP.

This is really interesting to me. I remember being in high school having rented both the N64 and a Playstation (friend worked at Blockbuster!) I began saving up to buy a console but couldn't decide which I wanted to go with. I also had both EGM and GamePro magazine subs at the time so can't remember which one it was but once I read that FF7 was going to be on Playstation, my decision was made. That also became the beginning of the end of my Nintendo days.

It was Overblood that cemented PlayStation’s dominance. It wasn’t until you heard Raz Karcy’s death scream in CD quality audio that you realised PlayStation was the king.