Man, how time flies. It was five years ago today that Sony originally introduced the world to the PlayStation 4, which is quickly becoming one of the company’s most popular consoles. And to commemorate the occasion, it recently posted a blog looking back on the weight of the announcement, and how far it’s come over these past few years.
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First up, Mark Cerny, who serves as the lead system architect for the PS4, noted the excitement behind the announcement. “It was a thrill ride of a day, that’s for sure!” he said. “I’d been working on the console for about five years and had really no idea what the reaction would be – would it be welcomed? Would our event even get any attention? The response was pretty quick, though – by the end of the day, we were on the way to 34 million views of our launch trailer and it was clear that gamers really did appreciate the concept and execution of PlayStation 4.”
One of the games revealed during the showcase was Sucker Punch’s Infamous: Second Son, and that led to some reflective thoughts from the company’s own Nate Fox. “Everyone participating was so passionate about making games. In the years since then, we’ve all got to play some magnificent stuff made possible by the new hardware. For me it’s all best summed up in the two words – robot dinosaurs.”
He’s talking about Guerrilla Games‘ Horizon Zero Dawn, which has become one of the bigger games for the PS4 since its release last year. And that led to some thoughts from that team as well. Managing director Hermen Hulst noted the “amazing opportunity and crazy challenge” from the team’s original PS4 project, Killzone: Shadow Fall, which showcased just what the hardware was capable of.
“While standing onstage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC that day, all I could think was: ‘Please, please, don’t crash!’ Well, it didn’t.
“Back then, we wanted to show that the PS4 was the real deal. Laser-focused on gamers, with perfectly balanced hardware specs for developers…that winning combination has led to a generation of incredible titles.”
Capcom producer and Street Fighter mastermind Yoshinori Ono also chimed in. “It made me remember how exciting it is to be on board from the ground floor and create awesome content for a powerful new machine.
“The people responsible for the design of the PS4 gave us all manner of tools to scratch our creative itches and they were always eager to hear how we thought things could improve. They were very developer-centric in their approach. It’s not an overstatement to say that this philosophy is the driving force behind the amount of great content now available on the platform.”
Square Enix’s tech demo also played a big part in the presentation. Shinji Hashimoto noted, “It was an incredible honor to be invited to speak at the New York announcement! I tend to get a little nervous even with events in Japan, but traveling all the way to New York took it to a whole new level.”
You can read more about the nostalgic memories here, but, yeah, the PlayStation 4 has come a long way. And things will get even bigger for it, with titles like God of War and Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man coming this year.
Here’s to five more great years! Relive the epic announcement with the full broadcast above!
