523: What It Was REALLY Like Working at Sony PlayStation in the 90s - The Retro Hour EP523
The Retro Hour (Retro Gaming Podcast)
The Retro Hour
4.9 • 558 Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 116 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alex Sulman joins us to share his journey from typing in code on the ZX Spectrum to designing major titles at Sony, Blizzard, DICE and beyond. We hear about his early days in QA at Sony Cambridge, working on classics like Medievil, Frogger and Primal, and hear behind-the-scenes stories from PlayStation’s golden era, the launch of the PS2 and PS3. Alex also discusses developing 24: The Game, contributing to God of War 3, and bringing his experience to Diablo 3, along with insights into how games were really made during the 90s and early 2000s—and how a simple fanzine helped launch his career. 
Dev to Dev podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ro/podcast/dev-to-dev/id1836754572
Contents:
00:00 – The Week’s Retro News Stories
57:56 – Alex Sulman Interview
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Show notes
Ex-Xbox Icon Joins Commodore: https://tinyurl.com/3mn8m48b
Lost Star Wars Xbox Game: https://tinyurl.com/2s3sz3w6
New Atari Jaguar Racer: https://tinyurl.com/bdfhdpke
Nightdive Sin Remaster Update: https://youtu.be/Tw5DMMTfk5o
Monkey Island C64 Port: https://tinyurl.com/msct5wnn
Mega CD Dev Kit Milestone: https://tinyurl.com/mry7m64s
Defender Of The Crown Remake: https://tinyurl.com/2rzj577c
Transcript
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| 0:37.1 | I sold them. They were too expensive. I got a great deal on these scooters though. You expect us to move a two-term palette on a scooter. It'll be fun. Just think of the core strength you'll build. This is a job for sponsored jobs. This is what happens when you don't sponsor your job on Indeed. So the next time you need someone to get the job done right, get matched with quality candidates with an Indeed sponsored job. |
| 0:56.8 | Visit Indeed.com slash Nexthire and sponsor your job today. |
| 1:00.1 | Coming up on this week's show, |
| 1:01.6 | a stunning new Monkey Island port on the way for the C-64. |
| 1:05.6 | The C-Synter remaster is finally coming. |
| 1:07.8 | And we chat primal and 24 of game with Sony designer Alex Sleman. |
| 1:16.7 | And the Retro Hour podcast is brought to you every week with our good friends and our sponsor |
... |
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