Kickstarter Campaign for PlayStation Documentary

Gaming history buffs and nostalgia addicts will be thrilled to know that Gracious Films, aka Nicola and Anthony Caulfield, have launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new feature-length documentary entitled The PlayStation Revolution.

Their previous outings include From Bedrooms to Billions, an authoritative account of the birth and evolution of the UK games industry, and The Amiga Years, the story of the ground-breaking and much-beloved Commodore Amiga (you can read my review here), both of which were marvelously entertaining, informative, and engaging. During the production of these two features, apparently so many contributors commented on how the release of the Sony PlayStation was such a “game changer” that the Caulfields decided this should be the subject of their next documentary.

The intention is to explore the creation and the impact of the PlayStation and how it brought gaming to the mainstream. The PlayStation Revolution will be around 90 minutes and feature a whole set of new interviews, this time also including influential Japanese game makers, along with developers, publishers, and musicians from across the world.

The documentary will examine where the global games industry was prior to the PlayStation’s conception in the mid 1990s, how it bulldozed its way into a fiercely competitive market dominated by console giants Sega and Nintendo, the significance of moving from expensive cartridges to easily and cheaply produced CDs, and the evolution of arcade games and their role in the PlayStation’s success.

The focus will be on the first PlayStation, but they’ll also be covering each system right up to the current PS4, taking a look out how hardware and game development has changed over the past two decades. You can take a look at the trailer below.

The Kickstarter campaign is progressing rather nicely, having already hit £16,000 of their target £50,000, with 27 days still to go. The entry level £10 will bag you a digital copy of the film plus access to the “Backers Zone”, where you’ll be able to view and discuss screenshots, clips, and early sequences shared during the production of the film.

Higher level rewards include DVD and Blu-Ray editions, collectible cases, your name in the credits, and postcards and posters of Oliver Frey’s cover artwork, whose brilliant fantasy illustrations were synonymous with British computer magazines and game box art throughout the 80s and 90s. Oh, and for five grand you can become an executive producer!

If successfully funded, which I’m sure they will be, the Caulfields are hoping to finish shooting the interviews by December and release the documentary in May 2017.