PlayStation 2 Timeline
Page: 1 2 3 4 5
March: Days after the launch, a bug is discovered that enables PlayStation 2 to bypass DVD regional coding, causing a recall. Other manufacturing problems would also surface, slowing console production.
March 10th: Bill Gates announces Xbox at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California.
March 30th: Tekken Tag is released for PlayStation 2.
"Street Fighter Ex3" had slowdown problems and other flaws. "Ridge Racer V" had bad aliasing problems. With the exception of "Kessen," which was considered a niche game, the PlayStation 2 launch line left people disappointed. "Tekken Tag," which slipped from the original launch date, was seen as the next big opportunity.
Because of the difficulty of programming for PlayStation 2, it took months before big ticket games like Sony's "Gran Turismo" and Capcom's "Onimusha" arrived in stores. For months after the release of PlayStation 2, the system was mostly used for watching DVD movies. (Prior to the release of PlayStation 2, the DVD market was small in Japan.) The biggest-selling disc for PlayStation 2 during this time was the DVD version of the hit movie, "The Matrix."
Kessen was perhaps the best PS2 launch title.
May 10th. Sony Computer Entertainment America President Kazuo "Kaz" Hirai announces plans for the U.S. launch of PlayStation 2. Sony will ship 1 million consoles, which will be slightly modified from the Japanese design. Sony announces that it will maintain the $299 launch price of the original PlayStation.
The slight changes made in the North American version of PlayStation 2 had big consequences for Sony. The North American version had space built into its shell for a hard drive and modem. More importantly, it had a different graphics synthesizer than the Japanese version. Early problems with the manufacture of this synthesizer came back to haunt Sony.
September 20th: PlayStation 2 gets its first hit game when Capcom releases Onimusha: Warlords in Japan.
September 20th: Sony Computer Entertainment America President Kaz Hirai announces that due to manufacturing difficulties, Sony will only have 500,000 PlayStation 2 consoles on hand for the U.S. launch. He promises additional shipments of 100,000 units per week through the end of the year.
Sony's inventory shortage gave Sega one last fighting chance. Sega of America Chief Peter Moore claims that if he can sell some 3 million units over the holidays the Dreamcast business would be profitable enough to sustain itself. Sega of Japan focused all of its energy into creating games that would appeal to U.S. gamers -- "They need to fish where the fish are biting," says Moore.
SSX launches with the PS2 in North America.
October 26th: Sony Computer Entertainment America Launches PlayStation 2.
Supplies were short to begin, but the inventory sold out immediately. PlayStation 2 became a big-ticket item on eBay with people paying over $1,000 for consoles. Sony's weekly 100,000-unit shipments only further agitated the market. Though PlayStation 2 units were readily available in Japan, the console remained virtually sold out in the United States through March, 2001.
"Sony had to respond to shortages," says Gartenberg. "You could not get a PlayStation 2 in the U.S. in that first holiday season, and that is one of the areas where success can actually hurt you -- when consumers are looking to buy your product and can't. Sony responded quickly."
Unlike the Japanese launch, the U.S. launch had a wide range of software -- some of which was good. Electronic Arts, already the largest and one of the most prestigious publishers, tapped into PlayStation's graphics power with the games "SSX" and "Madden NFL 2001." Rockstar Games, much smaller in its pre-"Grand Theft Auto III" days, had "Smuggler's Run" and "Midnight Club."
The successful launch of PlayStation 2 broke the back of Sega. Price drops no longer mattered. Superior library no longer mattered. Dreamcast never caught on in Japan; and now that PlayStation 2 had arrived, American consumers no longer had any interest in Dreamcast. On January 24th, Sega formally dropped out of the hardware business.
Next: Cars, cars, and more cars »
Page: 1 2 3 4 5
|
