PS-X was the code name used for the original PlayStation during development.
The name came from Sony’s early work on a CD-ROM-based console created through its proposed partnership with Nintendo. After that relationship collapsed, Sony continued developing the hardware under Ken Kutaragi’s leadership. During this period, PS-X appeared as an internal and industry-facing designation for the project and prototype system.
The project’s identity changed as Sony moved toward launch. The console was officially branded PlayStation, and it reached Japanese stores in December 1994 before launching in North America and Europe in 1995. The final product’s CD-ROM format and emphasis on 3D polygon graphics helped distinguish it from Nintendo’s cartridge-based systems and Sega’s Saturn.
PS-X is sometimes confused with PS1, but PS1 is a later shorthand for the released console, especially after Sony introduced the redesigned PSone. SNES-CD refers to the abandoned Nintendo–Sony CD-ROM project, not the final PlayStation hardware. The “X” in PS-X is therefore best understood as part of the project’s development-era name rather than the console’s eventual retail branding.