30 Years of PlayStation
Looking back on the 30th Anniversary of PlayStation
The PlayStation brand is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. Thirty years ago, Sony launched its revolutionary 3D gaming console in Japan and would eventually topple Nintendo’s console dominance by focusing on teenagers and young adults, taking a page out of Sega’s book, and taking advantage of several missteps from the big N. Believe it or not, it wasn’t easy, as many in the newly created division Sony Computer Entertainment faced being laughed at by the other divisions in the iconic electronics company. The head of Sony’s music division openly told people around him that Sony would fail to make any headway in the gaming industry. As we can attest to thirty years later, he was clearly wrong. While the PlayStation was started out of Sony’s anger at Nintendo stabbing them from the back, its focus goes beyond just one company.
In the Beginning…
The PlayStation launched on December 3, 1994, and their main rival was the Sega Saturn. Thanks to multiple major third-party partnerships, the system sold well out of the gate. Sega’s new console was hard to make games on, so many developers began to prefer making games for Sony’s consoles. Sony would eventually take advantage of Nintendo’s mistakes, including the N64's lack of a disc drive and the company’s controversial hardball tactics, catching up with them with many major players like Square, Konami, and Capcom. The PlayStation was marketed specifically with the age of 19 as the focus, with the belief that everyone wanted to be 19 no matter how old they were. With Sega and Nintendo tripping, Sony’s PlayStation became the go-to console brand in the new era of 3D gaming.
I like to call the PlayStation the NES of the 3D era. The console established many norms in the 3D gaming space and began to show games as storytelling mediums in a more cinematic style. The console had a solid catalog, including Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Legend of Dragoon, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, PaRappa the Rapper, Twisted Metal, and so many more. Like the NES, PlayStation set the stage for all the major franchises of the new era. The system went on to sell over 102 million units.
The Gold Standard
In March 2000, Sony launched the PlayStation 2, with high-end 3D graphics that pushed to get closer to more realism with its Emotion Engine chip. The leap from the PS1 to PS2 was massive and showcased the growing technology in video games. The system also had a fully playable DVD player, making it a must-buy for media enthusiasts. Once again, Sony was able to get some luck with the competition. Sega’s Dreamcast was discontinued faster than expected, and Sega decided to publish games. Nintendo would launch its N64 successor a year later, and while the GameCube has a better legacy today, it struggled to be seen as a serious system at the time. Microsoft launched the Xbox in 2001 and would prove to be Sony’s closest competitor, but they were still getting their feet wet. But luck wasn’t all that helped.
The PlayStation 2 became what some of us call a “legacy system”. These are consequential consoles that are immortal thanks to the era and the amazing catalog of titles that were part of them. This was the Super Nintendo of the 3D era. The console had iconic titles such as Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2, Resident Evil 4, Grand Theft Auto III, Gran Theft Auto: San Andreas, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Kingdom Hearts, Silent Hill 2, God of War, and so many more such as the Madden games when they were at their popularity peak. The system was such a juggernaut that it alone is seen as the face of that console generation. To this day, the PlayStation 2 is the peak of the brand. The system went on to sell over 155 million units, with a controversial adjustment made ten years after it was discontinued that it sold 160 million units (something that I raise an eyebrow to). Whatever the debate on the actual number sold, it doesn’t take away that it is the gold standard in all console gaming.
Going Handheld… Briefly
There was one space Sony wasn’t dominant in regarding dedicated gaming consoles - the handheld market. Nintendo had dominated the market so well that many newcomers, from Sega to Nokia, had been obliterated by the power and brand of the Game Boy, led by the biggest media franchise in Pokemon. If they had beaten Nintendo before, Sony could do it again and launched the PlayStation Portable (better known as the PSP) in December 2004. The system had impressive graphics that were closer to PS2. It had a slower start, but eventually, it got a fanbase and sold over 80 million units. The system could sell itself by providing console-like experiences in handheld form. However, Sony didn’t beat Nintendo as their Nintendo DS almost surpassed the PS2 sales record and proved that Nintendo was the handheld market king.
In December 2011, Sony launched the PlayStation Vita to succeed the PSP. It had the same graphics technology as the iPad lineup at the time and produced some stunning visuals for a portable at the time. The system initially had a 5-inch OLED screen and was one of the best-looking portable-based devices you could lay your eyes on. At first, much like the PSP, Sony supported the Vita pretty well, but then you could see their focus shift once the PS4 launched. The Vita failed to get any headway, and Sony had almost no first-party support. The indie scene kept the system up and is one of the reasons it gained a cult following. As a result, the handheld became Sony’s worst-performing gaming system of all time, with an estimated 10-15 million units sold. While the system ended Sony’s run in the handheld market, it has gained a strong following that defends and supports the little guy to this day.
Rough Years and a Comeback
Sony finally faced adversity with its dominant line of home video game consoles when it launched the PlayStation 3. While it was one of the most hyped consoles of all time, Sony started off badly with the infamously bad 2006 E3 presentation and the shocking $599 price announcement (about the equivalent of $899 today!). To add to that, their competition wasn’t fumbling around anymore. Microsoft hit it out of the park with their Xbox 360 system, which, in my eyes, is the NES/PS1 of the new HD era of gaming. Nintendo didn’t jump to HD graphics yet, but instead opted to launch a system based around motion controls that would become a pop culture phenomenon and sell the most systems in the generation. Meanwhile, Sony was stuck with a pretty darn powerful system and their step into the next big leap for gaming graphics, but it was too expensive and lacked compelling exclusives in the first year.
Sony’s PS3 sold well for three years but at a much slower rate than the competition. They did several price cuts and bundles to prop the system up. Luckily for them, games like Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted helped give consumers a reason to buy one. The main reason the system was so expensive in the first place was the Blu-Ray player it had. However, while it was the cheapest way to get into the new home media format for a good while, it didn’t move the needle the way DVDs did for the PS2. Things would turn around when Sony launched the slim system version, with a much more consumer-friendly $299 price in 2009 (around $429 today). Add in the brilliant Kevin Butler marketing campaign, and the company saw the system begin one of the greatest comebacks in console history. The system was also aided by titles like Uncharted 2, The Last of Us, Resistance: Fall of Man, Final Fantasy XIII, Resident Evil 5, God of War III, and the golden age of the Call of Duty franchise. After a bad start, it ended with over 87 million units sold - barely surpassing the Xbox 360 in its final moments.
The PS4 and PS5
Sony took advantage of some mistakes from Microsoft and their Xbox One launch, as well as Nintendo stumbling with the Wii successor to launch the immediately successful PlayStation 4. They delivered a solid console closest to a “legacy console” for the HD gaming era. The system saw Sony shift to a more third-person adventure cinematic gaming style for its exclusives, meaning they would focus more on major AAA titles with high critical acclaim. The PS4 had titles like Bloodborne, God of War (2018), Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gran Turismo Sport, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Shushima, Red Dead Redemption II, Grand Theft Auto V, and Marvel’s Spider-Man. The brand was back on top when it came to premium HD consoles. They even started a Pro lineup with the PS4 Pro.
In 2020, despite the challenges of launching during a worldwide pandemic and yet another polarizing US election, Sony launched the PlayStation 5. The system has already become a sales juggernaut, but Sony has said it’s still finding it harder to get people to switch over. There are some new issues in the industry that the PlayStation brand is going to have to navigate. Despite all of this, we already have some bangers: Returnal, Elden Ring, Gran Turismo 7, Final Fantasy XVI, God of War: Ragnarok, and more. With the recent PS5 Pro launch, Sony is chugging along and continuing the style and marketing strategy they established with the PS4.
What PlayStation Means
To end things, I’m going to tell you what the brand has meant to me and gaming as a whole. I’m pretty open that out of the “big three,” Sony’s PlayStation brand is last for me. However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t meant anything to me. One of my first 3D gaming experiences was walking into a friend’s house, where they played Final Fantasy VII. That was my first time seeing a PlayStation. I stood from afar wanting a PlayStation for its JRPGs, but I was an N64 kid and eventually would get a GameCube and Xbox. My first PlayStation was the PS3, and it provided some of the best gaming memories I had of the HD era. In fact, the biggest catalog of titles I own is on the PS3.
The PlayStation has given me my first Soulsborne experience, including one of my all-time favorite games in Bloodborne. It’s given me some truly awesome games and characters I wouldn’t want to let go of. Even if I am at heart a Nintendo guy and more with Xbox when it comes to the premium HD consoles, I still respect PlayStation for what they’ve done, and their brand is the second most nostalgic after Nintendo’s when it comes to memories and history.
For gaming, you cannot deny how important the brand has been to the industry. PlayStation came in and completely changed everything. It was the PS1 that set the standard for 3D gaming for the industry as a whole; it brought in new consumers and helped make it more mainstream. It showed games could be more than just expensive toys for kids, and it established a great way for third-party companies to showcase their titles beyond Nintendo’s troubling policies at the time. The PlayStation brand is the most dominant console brand for a reason: it is, in many ways, the central hub of the gaming world. Nintendo is the Disney of video games, and Xbox is just finding itself as what will most likely be the Netflix of gaming, but PlayStation feels like the one you look at to understand eras in gaming. It’s been an incredible 30 years of ups and downs, memories, great adventures, storytelling, and art, and all I can hope for is another 30 more years and beyond. Happy Anniversary PlayStation.