The Original PlayStation Prototype To Be Sold For Over Rs 8.5 Crore

Dhir Acharya - Dec 18, 2019

In February, the original PlayStation prototype will be auctioned. Its owner turned down offers worth Rs 8.5 crore and now he's ready to sell it.

In February, the original PlayStation prototype will be auctioned. It’s a Super Nintendo created in a partnership between Nintendo and Sony, with a CD-ROM drive. Previously, its owner turned down offers worth a million dollar, and now the market will decide how much it’s worth.

Sony would have manufactured this prototype, under the official name “Play Station,” for Super Famicon cartridge games as well as running games off the CD-ROM drive. However, it was canceled in about 1991 due to disputes between the two partners, then Sony created its own PlayStation in 1994.

Then ten years ago, Terry Diebold bought this prototype at an auction among many abandoned items from a former executive of Sony. In 2015, Diebold’s son found the extremely rare machine in his family attic, which stirred the collecting, preserving, and historical communities. Diebold and his son have since brought the “Play Station” prototype to classic gaming expos among other venues acorss the globe to build its reputation as the perfect example of collectables. He is now ready to sell it to who pays the highest and get the money.

Diebold said to Kotaku via email:

Sony XZ4;

Herritage Auctions, where the Play Station will be sold just began selling video games this January. It has since aunctioned auctioned some games such as the sealed copies of Bubble Bobble and The Legend of Zelda for almost Rs 14.2 lakh each, a sealed copy of Donkey Kong 3 for almost Rs 2.1 lakh, especially a Mega Man original copy for Rs 5.3 lakh.

And the price can go even higher. In February, Herritage soled a first-printed Super Mario Pros sealed copy for Rs 71 lakh. And in October, a man bought 40 collectable games with a total amount of Rs 7.1 crore.

All that considered, the Play Station original prototype may splash out the auction in February. Diebold himself said that he turned down a Rs 8.5 crore offer before. According to Herritage, the auction will kick off February 27 and there won’t be a reserve price.

Though the aution usually lists estimates for value of the items it auctions, director of video games at Heritage Valarie McLeckie said that it won’t do that this time as it's never been sold in public before.