PlayStation ‘celebrates 25 years of play’ in anniversary message
Sony’s first home console launched in Japan on December 3, 1994
Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan has posted a thank you message to fans to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the original PlayStation‘s release this week.
Sony’s first home console launched in Japan in December 1994 and went on to sell some 102.5 million units, a figure only bettered by PS4 and PS2.
Ryan’s letter was originally posted on the PlayStation Blog, which is planning a week of celebrations to mark the anniversary. His message is republished in full below.
On 3rd December, 1994 – 25 years ago this week- the first PlayStation made its global debut in Japan. Starting from a humble beginning as an upstart within Sony, Ken Kutaragi and team delivered on a vision to elevate video games as a form of entertainment that everyone could enjoy, and to make a platform for game developers to express their creativity. The original PlayStation sold 100,000 units in Japan on its first day and went on to become the first-ever home console to surpass 100 million units sold globally.
We struck a chord with the gaming community because PlayStation offered experiences beyond what anyone could ever imagine was possible with a home console. 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.
Over the past 25 years, PlayStation has stood at the forefront as gaming, and I’m honoured to have been a part of the team since the early days. As I was helping set up the business in Europe, I remember having to start from scratch with many things, from hiring employees to ordering furniture.
Back then, we 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. Supported by passionate fans all around the world, our business has grown significantly and our focus on community is more important than ever.
It’s truly humbling to see fans who grew up on PlayStation passing down their love of gaming to their children, who are now playing on PS4.
On behalf of all of us at PlayStation – thank you for taking this journey with us. We can’t wait to celebrate what comes next with you!
PlayStation has spent the past two years centralising its operations into one global organisation, headquartered in San Mateo, California.
The process has resulted in a significant number of layoffs across Europe in the past 12 months, most recently culminating in dozens more staff being put up for redundancy at SIEE as PlayStation restructured several divisions.
However, commenting on the restructuring in November, PlayStation boss Ryan dismissed suggestions the company is becoming Americanised and claimed the new-look organisation has been designed to be more efficient ahead of the PlayStation 5 launch in 2020.
An image claiming to show a PlayStation 5 development kit and controller appeared online over the weekend.
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