I just knew from the very start that Fizz Films (Jonathan Beales) would uncover some really neat and hidden gems from the past in their PlayStation documentary “Playstation game changer documentary”. And i was right!
Because Fizz Films has just released some evidence on that Ian Hetherington (Psygnosis) predicted the future of Sony´s success over 24 years ago (1990).

The “Playstation game changer ” documentary will be released on DVD and Blu-ray, sometime next year.
And all of that evidence can be seen in the interview with Mr Ian Hetherington that i´ve added to this post. And there´s one more thing, don´t forget to checkout the Kickstarter page for “Playstation game changer documentary”.
Because Fizz Films is going to need all the help they can get! And guess what? THE Dave Perry backed the PlayStation documentary earlier today =)
Press release:
December 05 2014 – London,England
New PlayStation documentary uncovers evidence of UK video game publisher’s incredible prediction for Sony’s future success from over 24 years ago.
As PlayStation’s 20th anniversary is celebrated worldwide,the earliest correct prediction of Sony’s success has been found in an extraordinary unseen archive video interview with games publisher Psygnosis,filmed in the Spring of 1990.
The interview clip with Psygnosis boss Ian Hetherington was filmed in Liverpool England at the games publisher’s Albert Dock HQ and is taken from a forthcoming documentary PlayStation:Game Changer,to be released by Fizz Films next year.
In the interview Hetherington talks about the evolving technologies and how the bigger electronics and mass consumer corporations would enter the global video game market place.No other video games company or journalists went on record to make such a bold and specific prediction at the time.
The general narrative from the games media in 1990 was mainly about 16 Bit cartridge games as Sega had stolen a lead over the hugely dominant Nintendo with their Genesis/Megadrive system.The makers of Super Mario had still yet to respond with their own rival console which stoked up a big rivalry in video gaming.The games magazine media of the day couldn’t see what lay ahead and didn’t even speculate what would evolve later in the decade.
At the time of the interview,video gaming was dominated by 8 and 16 Bit computers and consoles from Commodore,Sega and Nintendo.The games were stored on floppy disks and cartridges and the advent of games on CD-Rom was still yet to happen anywhere in the world.
Ironically,the Sony Corporation of Japan purchased Psygnosis Ltd and the expertise of Ian Hetherington in 1993 to boost their games development output ahead of the PlayStation launch in Japan one year later.
“Making any video gaming prediction is always very hard but to actually state on record what would happen in five years time is incredible,”,says Jonathan Beales,Producer of PlayStation Game Changer.
“I interviewed Ian that day in Liverpool,there was never any doubt in his mind what would happen later in the decade.You have to remember back then the market was dominated by Nintendo,and Sega were the new kids on the block with their Genesis/Megadrive.Consoles had only just arrived in Europe and the industry was only talking about the cartridge market.It’s no wonder Sony bought Psygnosis,they were way ahead of so many other developers and the deal was really a marriage made in heaven.”
PlayStation GameChanger Documentary features a host of leading PS1 games developers,journalists & industry experts who describe the incredible journey of PlayStation’s rise to the top from the early years before launch,the console hardware and the rich variety of games which appeared from 1995 to 2000.
The documentary also contains unseen footage of Sony’s first ever game launch in 1993,a year before the release of PlayStation.There’s also full archive of a Wild 9 gameplay presentation from David Perry & a stunning official Diablo theatrical stage opera,both filmed in 1998.Other notable archive includes unseen interviews with Sony,Sega,Electronic Arts,Philips,3DO,Virgin Games,Mindscape,Interplay and Codemasters
PlayStation Game Changer will be produced in English,French,German,Italian, Spanish,Japanese,Portuguese,Norwegian,Swedish,Finnish & Danish languages.Worldwide release 2015.
About Jonathan Beales:
Jonathan Beales has worked in the video games industry since 1986.A career which spans four decades in all forms of games media,marketing promotion,events and broadcasting.
![]()
Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
More by Robin Ek:
Tags: Fizz Films, Kickstarter, Playstation, Playstation game changer documentary, PlayStation's 20th anniversary, PS1, Sony