The world’s only known Nintendo PlayStation has been sold at auction for an eye-watering $360,000 (£275,000), generating twelve times its opening bid of $30K.
As spotted by Polygon, that $360K includes a 20 per cent “buyers premium” fee, but it’s still a bargain, really, given how quickly the bid accelerated when the lot was first put up for sale.
It’s unclear if Oculus VR founder and Oculus Rift designer, Palmer Luckey, secured the console, but we do know he was the highest bidder earlier this month.
The Nintendo Playstation – a console that was thought to be a myth, and a subject of video game lore – was available to buy via auction on Heritage Auctions after the system resurfaced in an estate sale in 2015.
“This prototype has been around the world and back again, admired and appreciated by video game enthusiasts from all over,” the item description teased when it went up for sale. “Even though this is the closing of this portion of its narrative, it will continue to remain a pivotal piece of video game history no matter where it ends up.”
As we explained when the prototype first went to auction, when Sony Entertainment’s CEO, Olaf Olafsson left to join Advanta Corporation, he took the Nintendo PlayStation with him. After Advanta filed for bankruptcy in 1999, they began gathering everything up in their corporate office to sell at auction. The Nintendo PlayStation prototype was grouped together with some miscellaneous items and boxed up ready for one lucky bidder.
The console can load standard Super Famicom cartridges as well as a “data cartridge” for compatible CD ROMs, too. Unfortunately, it doesn’t play PlayStation games.
