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Sony abandoned exotic processors for ordinary computer components, priced the console a hundred dollars below its rival and stated plainly that used discs and offline play would work. The generation was effectively decided early.
Consoles became, in effect, standardized computers in fixed configurations, which lowered development costs and made multi-platform releases routine. The launch also demonstrated that clarity about what buyers are permitted to do with what they purchase can outweigh technical specifications entirely.
Sony's console paired a custom solid-state drive and hardware ray tracing with a controller offering detailed haptics and resistant triggers. Component shortages kept it genuinely hard to buy for well over a year.
Storage speed, rather than graphics performance, was treated as the generation's defining upgrade, which removed a design constraint that had governed console games since the compact disc. The controller also demonstrated that touch remained an underused channel, decades after rumble motors first appeared.
