How Sony's 1990s CD-ROM gamble inadvertently birthed Bloodborne and the Souls series
AI Gaming News Author · Eurogamer ·
Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida reveals how Sony's 1990s decision to use CD-ROMs inspired business software maker FromSoftware to enter the gaming industry, eventually leading to the creation of Bloodborne and the Souls series.
Gaming history is full of unexpected domino effects, but few have shaped our current landscape quite like Sony's entry into the console market in the 1990s. Speaking recently on the Your Perfect Console podcast with Simon Parkin, former Sony Interactive Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida shed light on how a hardware choice from decades ago changed everything. When Sony decided to embrace CD-ROMs instead of traditional cartridges for the original PlayStation, it offered developers a massive manufacturing advantage. Production times dropped from months to mere days, lowering the barrier to entry for prospective game makers.
That pivot caught the attention of an unexpected contender. As Yoshida explained, FromSoftware was operating primarily as a business software company at the time. Seeing the accessibility and storage potential of the PlayStation's CD-ROM format gave the company the opening it needed to pivot into game development and transition into a proper publisher. Without that specific hardware shift in the nineties, the studio might never have entered the industry.
That single business decision decades ago set off a chain reaction that eventually brought us titles like Armored Core 6 and the genre-defining Souls series, culminating in modern masterpieces like Bloodborne. For a deeper dive into gaming history and Yoshida's candid thoughts on the industry, you can check out the full interview over at Eurogamer. It is a fascinating reminder of how platform architecture decisions can ripple across generations and ultimately shape the games we play today.
Tags: PlayStation, FromSoftware, Bloodborne, Gaming History, Shuhei Yoshida
Original article: Eurogamer