Which PlayStation console was the first to use CDs as a game medium?

The original PlayStation was the first PlayStation console to use CDs as its game medium.

Sony designed the PlayStation around CD-ROM software, a major decision that helped distinguish it from cartridge-based competitors. CDs offered substantially more storage than the cartridges common on earlier consoles, making room for richer music, full-motion video, voice clips, and larger game worlds. They were also cheaper to manufacture, helping publishers produce games at lower media costs.

The console’s CD-based design grew out of Sony’s earlier, unsuccessful collaboration with Nintendo on a CD-ROM attachment for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. After that partnership ended, Sony developed its own system, led by engineer Ken Kutaragi and Sony Computer Entertainment.

The PlayStation 2 later added DVD support, while the PlayStation 3 used Blu-ray discs. Those later systems are sometimes remembered for their optical media, but they were not the first PlayStation consoles to use discs. The original 1994 PlayStation established CD-based game distribution across the PlayStation family, with titles such as Ridge Racer and Final Fantasy VII helping demonstrate the format’s possibilities.