I am very excited as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first release of the Gran Turismo series.
In 1992, Gran Turismo was the first blueprint I created out of nearly 100 others that came to mind when I started my career in the industry, so it meant a lot to me.
Although making video games is something I started as a hobby when I was 10 years old, I never thought I would turn it into a career.
When I was 14 years old, I organized a film club and started producing films, so I initially joined Sony hoping to make films. But the department they assigned me was not what I expected.
This was the division where the PlayStation console was being prepared for launch, and it was here that Kutaragi-san worked feverishly to bring the PlayStation concept to life.
The place was not what I expected, but now, looking back, I can say that I was very happy.
Fascinated by the real-time 3D graphics that many have been waiting for, I create and imagine plans for all types of video games, not limited to racing, but also RPGs, adventure games, action games, puzzle games and much more.
As a result, Gran Turismo took on the more fantasy racing format of Motor Toon Grand Prix, becoming one of the first in-house games for the PlayStation, but if there were plans for something other than a racing game, that's what happened. approved, there's a good chance I'll be able to do something other than Gran Turismo today.
The Gran Turismo project later began with the assembly of a team of two part-time artists and three engineers.
Since then, the number of employees has grown steadily for more than a quarter of a century, and Polyphony Digital is now a company with more than 200 employees.
I don't think there are many video game franchises in the world that have been around for 25 years with the same name and the same team.
The company's founders are still on the front lines, and I'm grateful and proud that all of our 200 employees are a team that shares the same motivation and love that started the company in the first place.
Over the past 25 years, the series' combined total sales have reached over 90 million copies as of November 16, 2022.
And this result was something that could not have been achieved alone.
Behind the 90 million figure, all media representatives expressed the appeal of Gran Turismo to their readers. PlayStation has people all over the world who are interested in selling us GT, and the resellers that our users are connected with get tremendous support.
My sincere thanks to all of them for their support.
And most of all, I am very grateful to the GT users and people in the GT community who played our new game, which can be called very experimental at times.
We are here today thanks to everyone who supports us.
I believe that the Gran Turismo series has always been haunted by "Beauty". The beauty of the car, the beauty of the scenery, the beauty of the lighting, the beauty of the ride, the beauty of the sound/music, and the beauty of the graphics.
"The pursuit of beauty" is the motivation behind the creation of Gran Turismo.
We have a newfound determination to continue our progress into the future with a strong sense of purpose.
We appreciate all your support over the past 25 years. Thank you.