When Xbox 360 launched the current generation of consoles in 2005, it was all alone on the market for a full year. But if Sony stuck to its original plans for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 would have had some immediate competition. In interviews conducted for IGN’s History of Naughty Dog , multiple sources independently confirmed that PlayStation 3 was originally scheduled to come out in 2005.

“ Then we found out that [PS3] was going to be delayed by a year. So [Amy Hennig] worked on Jak III.

“ For a while, [PS3 had] no GPU, it was going to run everything with SPUs.

Jak X – the late-generation racing title created by Naughty Dog for PlayStation 2 – was intended as a “stopgap” game for the studio after “the entire system (PlayStation 3) was delayed by a year,” according to one source. Originally, Naughty Dog was going to jump from Jak III to its first PlayStation 3 project, codenamed, at the time, Project Big. Had PlayStation 3 hit its original launch window, Jak X may have never existed.“That’s the reason why we got Amy [Hennig, creator of Uncharted] down here, because we needed a game director to start coming up with ideas for our first PS3 game. Then we found out that it was going to be delayed by a year. So she worked on Jak III.”The source continued, “Then she started working on [Jak III]. Then we realized that we needed to stick another project in there, and we wanted her to be able to work on the PS3 game. That’s why we did Jak X, to fill in that extra year there. I guess we had really crazy ideas of what the PS3 might be capable of.”“For a while, [PS3 had] no GPU, it was going to run everything with SPUs. The ICE team proved to Japan that it was just impossible. It would be ridiculous. Performance-wise, it would be a disaster. That’s why they finally added the GPU, closer to the end.”Another source confirmed that, during the delay, Sony was “still trying to figure out the hardware” it was creating, and mimicked the notion that “for a while, it didn’t even have a GPU," hence the delay. It's important to note that, before PlayStation 3 was even named, there were very early rumors that it may launch in 2005 , but by the time it was officially revealed at E3 2005 , an accelerated release schedule was likely already abandoned.A fourth source noted, “I think that the hardware guys focused too much on getting the [Sony’s proprietary processor] CELL working that the GPU project [for PlayStation 3] ultimately fell behind.”Sony didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.For more on Naughty Dog, check out Part One (1982-1994) and Part Two (1995-1999) of our History of Naughty Dog, and stay tuned to IGN for parts three through five, which will chronicle the studio’s development of Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us.(Note: This version of the article has correct the typo "XPU" to "SPU".)

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.