PS4 could have been the end for PlayStation.
According to Shahid Ahmad, a former director at Sony Interactive Entertainment, the "difficult period of PS3" turned the company from a "hubristic" organisation into the "humble, passionate and excited" team that launched PS4, leading to more success than ever.
Speaking in new documentary 'The PlayStation Revolution', viewed by VideoGamesChronicle ahead of its release, Shahid said: "PS3 was many things to many different people. It was definitely a difficult period, because a lot of work had to be done to turn around the technical deficit and the monetary deficit created by the launch of this extraordinary piece of hardware.
"Because it was an extraordinary piece of hardware, but it was also extraordinarily difficult to get the best out of. And people did, and it did eventually turn into a success. but my god was that a war of attrition. The PlayStation that emerged at the end of PS3 was a much more gritty, determined, focused entity - and I'm not saying this from a personal perspective, but from a corporate perspective - than the much more hubristic organisation at the beginning of the PS3 era."
And, he admitted that the company was shocked by the success of PS4.
He said: "I think even we were surprised by just how rapturous the reception was for PS4, because it was a kind of redemption as well. We'd been through the fire with PS3 and now everything was on the line. We had to get this right and if we didn't, it could've been the end."
