Seibu Kaihatsu hesitated to partner with Sony's PS1 because staff 'had beards'

Seibu Kaihatsu, the original Raiden studio, was reportedly skeptical about working with Sony around the launch of the first PlayStation because lead Hitoshi Hamada found some Sony employees’ facial hair off-putting, localization veteran Richard Honeywood told Time Extension.

Honeywood recalled other early doubts too, saying the company worried about issues like “pocketing my Japanese Nenkin,” since they thought foreigners would never use Japan’s social security system.

On the beard issue, Honeywood quotes Hamada saying, “I don't want to work with them because they've got beards. Japanese people shouldn't have beards. Sending out someone with a beard to do business like that is bad.”

Honeywood said “we went back and forth,” and “we eventually agreed that we've got nothing to lose,” a decision that led to what the piece describes as a beloved collaboration with Sony.

Honeywood also noted that “everybody was a bit skeptical of it,” and despite those early cultural concerns the studio and Sony ultimately moved forward together.

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