Nintendo PlayStation prototype auctioned for $360,000

Remember the ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation prototype that went up for auction last month? It has finally been sold. The lucky new owner of the only existing physical product of Nintendo and Sony’s failed joint venture now belongs to Greg McLemore, founder of Pets.com and Toys.com.

McLemore submitted the winning bid for the Nintendo PlayStation, nabbing the console for US $360,000. While this is a hefty sum for a piece of video game history, it’s a far cry from the reported $1.2 million private offer the former owner, Terry Diebold, apparently turned down.

The prototype is quite the footnote in gaming history. Born of a deal between Sony and Nintendo to develop a CD add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the king of 16-bit consoles, the Nintendo PlayStation is the lone orphan left after that deal fell through. Sony went on to make their own console, the PlayStation, which ruled the console market during the mid-90s and catapulted Sony to the top of the video game console pile.

The Nintendo PlayStation prototype was discovered in a box of office supplies belonging to a former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Olaf Olafsson, who likely took the prototype upon his departure from the company in 1996. Terry Diebold purchased the console in an auction for $75. After realizing what he had, Diebold decided to put the prototype up for auction, where it passed on to Greg McLemore.

For his part, McLemore purchased the prototype to add it to his video game collection. McLemore has expressed intentions to use his collection to create a permanent museum of video game history. The Nintendo PlayStation prototype will surely be the centerpiece of his collection for a long time.