PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Its primary product is a line of home video game consoles. The brand also encompasses handheld devices, online services, magazines, and various other media formats.
At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony revealed a Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM drive called "Play Station" (also known as SNES-CD).
In June 1992, a meeting was held, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board, to decide the fate of the PlayStation project. Sony President Ohga ultimately decided to retain the project.
On November 16, 1993, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) was formed by Kutaragi, Shigeo Maruyama, and Akira Sato.
In 1993, the PlayStation project was finally given the green light by Sony executives after several years of development. Phil Harrison was also recruited to attract developers and publishers to the PlayStation platform.
On December 3, 1994, the original PlayStation was released in Japan, marking the beginning of the PlayStation console series.
In December 1994, the PlayStation was released in Japanese stores and gained massive sales due to its lower price point than its competitor, the Sega Saturn.
In 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) was founded, with New York-based Sony Interactive Entertainment as its parent company.
In 1994, the PlayStation control pad was released as the first controller for the original PlayStation, featuring a basic design with a D-pad and four main select buttons.
In 1994, the first PlayStation home console was released in Japan, marking the beginning of the PlayStation brand.
In 1996, Sony released the PlayStation Analog Joystick for use with flight simulation games.
In 1997, the original digital PlayStation controller was replaced by the Dual Analog, which added two analog sticks.
In Spring 1997, Sony Computer Entertainment America began publishing PlayStation Underground, a quarterly magazine subscription including PlayStation CDs with demos, interviews, and game content.
In 1998, the DualShock controller for the PlayStation was released. It succeeded the Dual Analog and became the longest-running series of controllers for the PlayStation brand.
On January 23, 1999, the PocketStation, a Memory Card peripheral for the original PlayStation, was released exclusively in Japan.
On July 7, 2000, the PS One was released concurrently with its successor, the PlayStation 2. The PS one went on to outsell all other consoles, including its successor, throughout the remainder of the year.
In 2000, an optional 5-inch LCD screen (SCPH-131) was released for the PSone (a redesigned version of the original PlayStation).
Released in 2000, the PlayStation 2 is part of the sixth generation of video game consoles and is backwards-compatible with most original PlayStation games.
By 2001, Sony decided to phase out the PlayStation Underground magazine to focus on JamPacks with the release of the PlayStation 2.
In 2002, Sony released the Linux Kit for the PlayStation 2, which turned the console into a computer system running Linux, complete with a hard drive and software tools.
In 2002, the optional 5-inch LCD screen for the PSone was included as a pack-in bundle called the "Combo Pack".
By December 2003, the PlayStation and PS one had shipped a combined total of 102.49 million units.
In 2004, the PlayStation 2 Slimline was released, marking the first major redesign of the PlayStation 2.
On November 29, 2005, the PS2 became the fastest game console to reach 100 million units shipped, accomplishing the feat within 5 years and 9 months from its launch.
In 2005, The Age published an article featuring interviews that highlighted the impact of the PlayStation brand on the gaming industry. Jeffrey Brand noted PlayStation re-ignited our imagination with video games, Yoshiki Okamoto called it revolutionary, and Evan Wells said PlayStation made playing games cool.
In July 2006, an advertising campaign in the Netherlands, comparing the Ceramic White PSP and Piano Black PSP using white and black models, drew criticism for being potentially racist.
On November 11, 2006, the PlayStation 3 (PS3) was released in Japan.
In November 2006, a Sony marketing campaign using a website called "All I want for Xmas is a PSP", designed to promote the PSP virally, was exposed, leading to Sony admitting it was "poorly executed".
In September 2007, the PSP-2000, also known as the Slim & Lite in PAL territories, was released as the first major hardware revision of the PlayStation Portable. This new version featured a lighter and slimmer design compared to the original PSP.
In 2007, Sony began shipping a revision of the Slimline which was lighter than the original Slimline together with a lighter AC adapter.
In 2007, the PlayStation sponsorship of French Ligue 1 club AJ Auxerre ended.
According to lead system architect, Mark Cerny, development on the PlayStation 4 began as early as 2008.
In 2008, Sony released yet another revision of the Slimline which had an overhauled internal design incorporating the power supply into the console itself like the original PlayStation 2 resulting in a further reduced total weight of the console.
On June 2, 2009, PlayStation Move, a motion-sensing game controller platform for the PlayStation 3, was first revealed.
The redesigned PlayStation 3 "slim" model was officially released on September 1, 2009, in North America and Europe.
On September 3, 2009, the redesigned PlayStation 3 "slim" model was officially released in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Released in October 2009, the PSP Go is a redesign of the PlayStation Portable that features 16 GB of internal flash memory instead of a UMD drive.
In 2009, PlayStation became the main kit sponsor of Olympique Lyonnais.
In 2009, ViTrue, Inc. ranked the PlayStation brand as number 13 on their "The Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands of 2009", based on social media presence.
In 2010, Gizmodo highlighted that the PlayStation brand was one of the last Sony products to stand out from its competitors as a top product.
In 2010, PlayStation Move was launched in Q3/Q4. Hardware available at launch included the main PlayStation Move motion controller and an optional PlayStation Move sub-controller.
In 2010, a firmware update removed the feature to install a second operating system on PlayStation 3.
In 2010, the PlayStation sponsorship of Olympique Lyonnais ended.
On January 27, 2011, Sony officially unveiled the PlayStation Vita at the PlayStation Meeting 2011.
On December 17, 2011, the PlayStation Vita was released in Japan. It was previously codenamed Next Generation Portable (NGP).
In 2011, PlayStation Europe CEO Jim Ryan emphasized that Sony wanted to avoid launching the next-generation console (PlayStation 4) behind the competition.
On February 22, 2012, the PlayStation Vita was released in North America. The original model features a 5-inch OLED touchscreen and two analog sticks.
As of April 2012, PlayStation became the "most followed" brand on Facebook, with over 22 million fans and followers.
PlayStation 2 shipments in Japan ended on December 28, 2012.
In 2012, Sony revealed a new "Super Slim" PlayStation 3 with a redesigned case and a sliding door covering the disc drive.
On January 4, 2013, The Guardian reported that PS2 production had ended worldwide.
On February 20, 2013, Sony Computer Entertainment announced the PlayStation 4 (PS4) at a press conference.
In September 2013, the PCH-2000 series, a lighter redesign of the PlayStation Vita, was announced at the SCEJA Press Conference prior to the Tokyo Game Show.
On October 10, 2013, the new PCH-2000 series, a lighter redesign of the PlayStation Vita, was released in Japan.
On November 15, 2013, the PlayStation 4 was first released in North America.
As of November 2013, the PlayStation 3 had sold over 80 million consoles worldwide.
In July 2014, Sony announced that the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita had sold a combined total of 100 million units.
As of 2015, PlayStation 2 has been ranked as the best-selling console of all time.
As of 2015, PlayStation is the strongest selling home console brand worldwide.
In 2015, Sony launched PlayStation Gear, an online store for merchandise and apparel.
On September 7, 2016, the PlayStation 4 Slim, a revised version of the original PS4 with a streamlined form factor, was unveiled. The new console features a smaller casing and a matte finish.
On September 15, 2016, the PlayStation 4 Slim was released with a 500 GB model, priced the same as the original PS4. The model number for this version is CUH-2000.
In 2016, PlayStation became the sponsor of the Fiesta Bowl.
In April 2019, Mark Cerny provided the first news regarding the PlayStation 5 in an interview with Wired. Sony planned to ship it worldwide by the end of 2020.
In October 2019, the specifications for the PlayStation 5 were released, detailing the console's use of an 8-core, 16-thread CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture and a custom AMD Navi family GPU with ray-tracing support.
As of December 2019, the PlayStation Network had over 103 million active users monthly.
The PlayStation 5 (PS5) was released worldwide on November 12, 2020, marking its entry into the ninth generation of video game consoles.
In 2020, the PlayStation 5, the most recent console in the PlayStation line, was released.
In 2022, PlayStation's sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl ended.
In 2022, Sony had plans to release the Spartacus subscription service, incorporating PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Now, and access to older PlayStation games.
On August 23, 2023, Sony officially unveiled Project Q as PlayStation Portal, a portable system that can stream PS5 games from a home console.
In October 2023, a revised slimmer design for the PS5, similar to past "slim" rereleases, was released. Besides the slimmer design, the slim model features 1 TB of internal storage and replaces one of the USB-A ports with USB-C. The base version also removes the internal optical disc drive, replaced by an external drive.
On November 15, 2023, the PlayStation Portal released for $199.99. It is a portable system that can stream PS5 games from a home console.
The PlayStation 5 Pro was released in November 2024. It features three main upgrades over the base PS5 model: a GPU that was about 45% faster than the base PS5 GPU, the inclusion of an image upscaling technology called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), and an increase of internal storage to 2 TB.
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