PlayStation Turns 25 Today, And Promises A Week Of Celebration

The Sony PlayStation, and the brand it spawned, has turned 25 years old--the original PlayStation was first released in Japan on December 3, 1994. Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has taken to the PlayStation Blog to discuss the console's birthday, and has promised that the milestone will be celebrated.

As Ryan says, the PlayStation sold 100,000 units in its first day on sale, and was the first console ever to sell over 100 million units--it ended up selling 102.49 units, a figure that the PlayStation 4 recently surpassed. The PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling console ever, with 155 million units sold.

"We struck a chord with the gaming community because PlayStation offered experiences beyond what anyone could ever imagine was possible with a home console," Ryan writes. "From the very start, we opened our arms to developers, providing them with the tools and technology to create beautiful, expansive worlds, and to experiment with new ideas. That approach led to the diversity of games PlayStation is known for, a true hallmark for our brand across multiple generations of hardware platforms."

Ryan recalls helping to establish the PlayStation business in Europe, saying that they "focused on catering to local markets to ensure that a gamer in Poland would feel a part of the broader PlayStation community just as much as someone in the UK, or Japan, or the U.S." He thanks PlayStation's fanbase, finishing with "we can’t wait to celebrate what comes next with you!"

The post promises celebrations on the PlayStation Blog and across PlayStation's social channels all week--we'll keep our eyes peeled for interesting tidbits and potential sales.

While the PlayStation 4 has seen fewer huge exclusives in 2019 than it has in previous years, two major new franchises launched on the system this year--Days Gone and Death Stranding, both of which have been sales successes for Sony. As our Sony 2019 Report Card notes, though, PlayStation is clearly eyeing the future right now. The next Sony console, the PlayStation 5, is due to release in 2020.