When Sony Computer Entertainment first launched its flagship PlayStation brand in 1993, its directors’ main concern was to ensure that the company’s first offices were located in a nightclub area. At least that’s the story of Ken Kutaragi, widely known as the father of the PlayStation, for Katsuhiro Harada of Bandai Namco, in his new YouTube show, Harada’s Bar.
“I started in Aoyama-Itchōme,” Kutaragi explained to Harada, adding Tekken director in the history of video games. “The reason I chose this as an office was because we wanted to drink together.”
The main Sony office at the time, Kutaragi said, was in an area of Tokyo’s Shinagawa section, where the watering holes closed at 8 p.m., so when it came time to open the first Sony Computer Entertainment location , he and his associates thought it might be best to find a “sleepless city” where people could take drinks from other companies. Aoyoma, a neighborhood in the nearby Minato section, became that place.
In addition to Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment had another parent company in Sony Music Entertainment Japan. According to Kutaragi, the branch would often hold huge, festive parties with recording artists that stretched out after midnight. As such, video game directors fell in love with tradition and wanted to bring it to the beginning of their business.
Harada even remembers that Kutaragi gave him a present Tekken team up with an expensive bottle of sake every time they deliver a game. He was so used to the treatment, apparently, that he was surprised when they didn’t receive any drinks from Microsoft after the 2007 launch. Tekken 6, the first game in the series to create an Xbox platform.
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Harada’s conversation with Kutaragi also covers some narrow moments in their common history, as well as discussions about current trends in technology, such as artificial intelligence and robotics. Check if you are interested in two game legends having a nice discussion in a bar.