Former Sony CEO Thought PlayStation Was Just 'a Toy'
Although PlayStation is now one of Sony's most profitable divisions, it wasn't too long ago that the company as a whole thought of the PlayStation console as simply a toy. Ken Kutaragi, father of the PlayStation, was originally involved in designing toys for Sony, but many of the top brass didn't like that the Sony brand was being placed on a toy, which ultimately led him to the creation of the original PlayStation, or PS1.
In an interview in Game Informer, Andrew House said:
When I told my former boss at Sony that I was going to go work for Ken, his first reaction was, "But it's a toy! How can you go work on a toy?" I said that I thought it has more potential than that, but that was exactly the reaction.
Ken Kutaragi elaborated, that the original reason for calling the department "Sony Computer Entertainment" was because it aligned with the names of other Sony departments, such as Sony Pictures Entertainment, Music Entertainment:
Former CEO Norio Ohga-san suggested that, "Sony Computer Entertainment was such a big name, why are you using that - such a grand name - for a video game?" But I personally believed computer entertainment would become a big industry, all around the world, in the future.
Say what you will about Ken Kutaragi's vision with the PS3, but his decisions with the PS1 and PS2 are still having a massive effect on the way gaming has been moving forward.
http://www.playstationing.com/features/former-sony-ceo-thought-playstation-was-just-a-toy/370