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In 1995, when preparing for the unveiling of the PlayStation to North American audiences during that year's [[E3 1995|Electronic Entertaintment Expo]], or "E3", the American branch of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) came into conflict with the Japanese branch over how the console was marketed. Market research had shown their consumers had reacted negatively to the PlayStation name and wanted to use "PSX", a contraction of the console's codename. Concerns were raised to SCE President Teruhisa Tokunaka, who dismissed them noting a similar initial reaction to the Sony [[Walkman]].<ref name="Edge"/> The American branch's Head of Development, Steve Race, was still concerned however, and felt the console would need an "edge feel" to sell it to North American audiences.<ref name="egm-race">{{cite web |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |page=81 |issue=77 |date=December 1995 |title=Sony Loses Race}}</ref>
In 1995, when preparing for the unveiling of the PlayStation to North American audiences during that year's [[E3 1995|Electronic Entertaintment Expo]], or "E3", the American branch of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) came into conflict with the Japanese branch over how the console was marketed. Market research had shown their consumers had reacted negatively to the PlayStation name and wanted to use "PSX", a contraction of the console's codename. Concerns were raised to SCE President Teruhisa Tokunaka, who dismissed them noting a similar initial reaction to the Sony [[Walkman]].<ref name="Edge"/> The American branch's Head of Development, Steve Race, was still concerned however, and felt the console would need an "edge feel" to sell it to North American audiences.<ref name="egm-race">{{cite web |magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |page=81 |issue=77 |date=December 1995 |title=Sony Loses Race}}</ref>


Chiat/Day, SCEA's advertising agency had conducted consumer research and identified a target age of 17, with younger audiences wanting to be that age while older audiences wanted to feel that age again. The American branch wanted to aim their advertising at that audience, so Polygon Man was conceived. A floating, purple spikey head with glowing yellow pupils in black eye sockets, the character and ad campaign were by the successful anarchic Pirate TV campaign in the UK by Sega in the early 1990s.<ref name="Edge"/> In an interview with ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'', Race stated the character "from a U.S. perspective was the kind of spokescharacter that was leading edge. He never was expected to be a central character like a Mario but rather to be a master gamer who was hip and rather edgy".<ref name="egm-race"/>
Chiat/Day, SCEA's advertising agency had conducted consumer research and identified a target age of 17, with younger audiences wanting to be that age while older audiences wanted to feel that age again. The American branch wanted to aim their advertising at that audience, so Polygon Man was conceived. A floating, purple spikey head with glowing yellow pupils in black eye sockets, the character and ad campaign were by the successful anarchic Pirate TV campaign in the UK by Sega in the early 1990s.<ref name="Edge"/> In an interview with ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'', Race stated the character "from a U.S. perspective was the kind of spokescharacter that was leading edge. He never was expected to be a central character like a [[Mario]] but rather to be a master gamer who was hip and rather edgy".<ref name="egm-race"/>


The branding was the opposite of the minimalist branding vision that Sony Japan had for the console. Looking back at the events, Chris Deering, former head of PlayStation Europe, commented that SCEA's actions upset Sony in Japan because they interpreted it as SCEA fighting against the PlayStation brand, whereas Deering said he could see that SCEA's actual aim was to dodge the PlayStation brand.<ref name="Edge"/>
The branding was the opposite of the minimalist branding vision that Sony Japan had for the console. Looking back at the events, Chris Deering, former head of PlayStation Europe, commented that SCEA's actions upset Sony in Japan because they interpreted it as SCEA fighting against the PlayStation brand, whereas Deering said he could see that SCEA's actual aim was to dodge the PlayStation brand.<ref name="Edge"/>

Revision as of 19:32, 16 July 2023

Polygon Man
PlayStation mascot character
The original design of Polygon Man from 1995
First appearanceE3 1995
First gamePlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012)
Created byChiat/Day[1]
Steve Race[2]

Polygon Man was an early marketing character for the Sony PlayStation in North America.[1] He appeared in the consoles pre-launch ads commenting on various launch games but was dropped before the launch of Sony's first console[1] and replaced by a series of popular game characters starting with Sofia from Battle Arena Toshinden.[3]

History

In 1995, when preparing for the unveiling of the PlayStation to North American audiences during that year's Electronic Entertaintment Expo, or "E3", the American branch of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) came into conflict with the Japanese branch over how the console was marketed. Market research had shown their consumers had reacted negatively to the PlayStation name and wanted to use "PSX", a contraction of the console's codename. Concerns were raised to SCE President Teruhisa Tokunaka, who dismissed them noting a similar initial reaction to the Sony Walkman.[1] The American branch's Head of Development, Steve Race, was still concerned however, and felt the console would need an "edge feel" to sell it to North American audiences.[2]

Chiat/Day, SCEA's advertising agency had conducted consumer research and identified a target age of 17, with younger audiences wanting to be that age while older audiences wanted to feel that age again. The American branch wanted to aim their advertising at that audience, so Polygon Man was conceived. A floating, purple spikey head with glowing yellow pupils in black eye sockets, the character and ad campaign were by the successful anarchic Pirate TV campaign in the UK by Sega in the early 1990s.[1] In an interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly, Race stated the character "from a U.S. perspective was the kind of spokescharacter that was leading edge. He never was expected to be a central character like a Mario but rather to be a master gamer who was hip and rather edgy".[2]

The branding was the opposite of the minimalist branding vision that Sony Japan had for the console. Looking back at the events, Chris Deering, former head of PlayStation Europe, commented that SCEA's actions upset Sony in Japan because they interpreted it as SCEA fighting against the PlayStation brand, whereas Deering said he could see that SCEA's actual aim was to dodge the PlayStation brand.[1]

Phil Harrison, then head of Sony's European game publishing business, recollected the reaction of Ken Kutaragi, global head of the PlayStation brand, when Kutaragi saw the Polygon Man for the first time.

"I remember walking onto the E3 booth in 1995 with Ken and seeing the Polygon Man design on the side of the booth. Ken just went absolutely insane," said Harrison. Kutaragi was upset that SCEA was spending its limited budget on an alternative brand. "But the thing that really upset Ken was that the Polygon Man design wasn’t Gouraud shaded, it was flat shaded! So Polygon Man was taken out into the car park and quietly shot."[1]

In 2012, Polygon Man resurfaced as the main antagonist and final boss of fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. It is assumed that he gathers famous PlayStation mascots to fight each other as a form of revenge.[4]

Critical reception

As a mascot, Polygon Man was poorly received, with PSM magazine commenting that "a lot of consumers found him way too creepy."[5] They elaborated further in a later issue, with Randy Nelson calling the campaign one of PlayStation's biggest blunders and adding "We'd bet there are still people at Sony Computer Entertainment that, to this day, still wonder the same thing we do: What the hell were they thinking?" Nelson further stated the character "looked scary, displayed no emotion, and shouted meaningless phrases in Japanese. That's how you sell your totally unproven game system".[6] Other outlets shared similar sentiments, with the staff of Edge magazine calling the ad campaign "tacky" and describing Polygon Man as "surely the antithesis of PlayStation's abilities."[7] Kotaku's Caroyln Petite echoed a similar statement, calling the character "a sloppy jumble of spikes whose aim was apparently to depict the system as a home for ugly 3D character models."[8] Jeremy Parish in an article for Electronic Gaming Monthly felt that Sony "mercifully came to their senses" by ditching the character prior to the PlayStation's North American release, and further stated "Farewell Polygon Man. We'd miss you, except you sucked."[9]

Sebastian Moss and Dan Oravasaari of PlayStation Lifestyle both bemoaned the reveal of Polygon Man as the antagonist of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, with Moss in particular noting that the choice was baffling due to not only the North American exclusivity of the campaign, but also concerns that the reference would go over the heads of much of the game's target demographic. More importantly Moss emphasized that Sony themselves had rejected the character, adding "Polygon Man didn’t represent [PlayStation graphics], and he shouldn’t represent PSASBR." Oravasaari on the other hand felt that while those concerns were minor, the character reminded him too much of the character Master Hand from Nintendo's Smash Bros., a franchise he felt the game was trying to distance itself from. He further added that while Sony did not have a particular main flagship title, other characters from PlayStation-related titles would have made better choices and still fit the game's identity.[10]

Not all the reception was negative, with Game Players magazine stating that the campaign had "dominated" E3, and the staff saddened to see it stopped.[11] The book The Golden Age of Video Games cited the ad campaign as a positive example of Sony's willingness to "address the teenage crowd" in a direct and aggressive manner,[12] and the staff of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine stated that while those that recalled Polygon Man "have few kind words to say about him", in light of the showings from Sony's competitors at E3 1995 they felt the company's advertising "seemed remarkably strong."[13] Other sources praised the character's role as the villain and final boss of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale,[14] and Edge calling him "a wonderful symbol of the schisms that characterise both Sony's corporate structure and the game that has been designed to celebrate its output," and demonstrated welcome self-deprecating humor on the part of the developers.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "The Making Of: PlayStation - Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. 24 April 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Sony Loses Race". Electronic Gaming Monthly. December 1995. p. 81. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. ^ Taves, Scott (1 December 1996). "Crash Course". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  4. ^ Moriarty, Colin (8 November 2012). "Polygon Man: PlayStation All-Stars' Final Boss - IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on 20 May 2020 – via www.ign.com.
  5. ^ "Wha' Happened?". PSM. No. 88. September 2004. p. 37.
  6. ^ Nelson, Randy (May 2006). "PlayStation's Biggest Blunders". PSM. No. 110. pp. 24–25.
  7. ^ "Hip or Hype". Edge. No. 28. January 1996. p. 60. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  8. ^ Petit, Carolyn (29 September 2022). "How Sony Launched The OG PlayStation And Brilliantly Won The Console War". Kotaku. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  9. ^ Parish, Jeremy (November 2005). "EGM Retro: PlayStation Turns 10". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 197. p. 172.
  10. ^ Moss, Sebastian (8 November 2012). "Daily Reaction: PS All-Stars Bosses we Want Instead of Polygon Man". PlayStation Lifestyle. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  11. ^ "Game Gossip...". Game Players. No. 87. August 1996. p. 18.
  12. ^ Dillon, Roberto (2016). The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry. A K Peters/CRC Press. p. 154. ASIN B008KZUPNE.
  13. ^ "PSOne: Happy Birthday PlayStation". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 96. September 2005. p. 100.
  14. ^ Parkin, Simon (12 November 2012). "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review". Eurogamer. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Post Script". Edge. No. 249. January 2013. p. 100.
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