PlayStation’s First Japanese Office Location Was Chosen for an Unusual Reason

Sony Computer Entertainment is widely known for its massive contributions to the gaming industry under the PlayStation brand. With all hard work comes time for even the highest executives to take a break, and when the company first established the flagship brand back in 1993, the chief concern is one that, while not entirely unfamiliar to some, may come off as an unusual choice for a multinational conglomerate.

The main concern on the executives’ list was making sure that the company’s first offices were located in an area with late-night bars. According to Ken Kutaragi, known as the father of the PlayStation, they started in Aoyama-Itchome mainly due to the fact that they wanted to drink together.

Speaking with Bandai Namco‘s Katsuhiro Harada on his new YouTube show, Harada’s Bar, Kutaragi said that the main Sony office at the time was located in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward, where all watering holes were closed by 8 PM. When opening the first location for Sony Computer Entertainment, he and his associates thought it would be best to find a “sleepless city,” one in which they could take clients from other companies out for drinks. They settled for Minami-Aoyama, a wealthy neighborhood in Tokyo located in the northwest portion of Minato Ward.

Along with Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment was influenced by the tradition of its other parent company, Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Kutaragi mentioned that the subsidiary often would throw huge, celebratory parties with its recording artists, blowing far past midnight. As such, the video game executives grew fond of it and wanted to bring it over to their fledgling business. Given their success, it’s clear that the executives kept the parties and drinking to a minimum so as not to push themselves a little too hard.

More interestingly, Harada recalls Kutaragi gifting the Tekken team with expensive sake every time they shipped a game. The director of Bandai Namco became so accustomed to the treatment that, apparently, he was surprised that Microsoft hadn’t sent any liquor after the launch of Tekken 6 in 2007, the first game in the series to be featured on an Xbox platform.

It’s pretty cool to learn about how Sony executives were kicking back and enjoying themselves during their downtime. Then again, it took years for the console developer to see the levels of success it’s seeing now, although with the Play At Home Initiative being the next big push on Sony’s plate, those same executives are no doubt enjoying a few drinks from the safety of their own homes.

In other business news, PlayStation most recently partnered with Jade Raymond through her independent studio, Haven. Roughly a month after leaving Google Stadia, the producer has plans to work on a new IP and shared plans via the PlayStation Blog website.

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Source: Kotaku

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