The Chronology of PlayStation Consoles

Following the original PlayStation’s European and North American debut, Sony began receiving reports that retailers were not going to have enough PlayStation units to last them through the 1995 holiday season. Kaz Hirai, former chairman of Sony, called it “a feeding frenzy” in a documentary about the history of PlayStation. Sound familiar? 

Now it’s the PlayStation 5 (PS5) that has remained elusive to consumers who would love to get their hands on one (it’s me; I’m the consumer). Considering that this year’s holiday buying season is in full swing, there’s an added difficulty in finding the well-loved console on the shelves. However, the horizon is starting to look bright for fans in Japan and Asia following PlayStation head Jim Ryan’s announcement at the recent PlayStation Partner Awards that supply issues have been resolved. The PlayStation Partner Awards began as the PlayStation Awards in 1994; this year marks their 28th ceremony. Time flies and so do PlayStation consoles — off of shelves at least. 

It’s no question that the PlayStation has heralded many innovations in hardware, continuing to bring an enhanced gaming experience with each new release. With that said, let’s take a look at Sony’s journey to the PS5. 

 

Original PlayStation

 

The PlayStation was nicknamed PS-X (PlayStation X) in development as a reminder of Sony’s ex-partner Nintendo. Sony initially joined forces with Nintendo to release the SNES CD-Rom PlayStation add-on and a standalone SNES PlayStation console. When this collaboration ended abruptly, Ken Kutaragi (the “father of PlayStation”) set out to make a cutting-edge videogame console — the PS-X. Although the PlayStation entered a market dominated by Sega and Nintendo, its affordable price tag, boundary-pushing technology, and impressive game titles made the console a bestseller. By 2005 the PlayStation became the first console ever to ship 100 million units. 

The PlayStation was a 32-bit console powered by a RISC processor, offered real-time 3D graphics technology, and gave developers a larger toolbox to work with than any of the competing consoles. The console was bundled with a grey controller, featuring the directional pad along with the L1+R1 and L2+R2 buttons. The “Dual Analog” controller was then released in 1997, adding analogue sticks, and would eventually be replaced by the DualShock controller in 1998. The PlayStation was also part of the industry shift to CDs. The CD format came with slower loading times compared to cartridges, but still became widely used for their data storage capabilities. Before moving on to a new console design, Sony released the PS One (also known as PS1 Slim) in 2000; it was a smaller and cheaper redesign of the original PlayStation. This wouldn’t be Sony’s only revision of the original though. In 2018, Sony released the PlayStation Classic on the 24th anniversary of the 1994 console.

Premier games for the original PlayStation included Final Fantasy VII, Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, and Gran Turismo. 

PlayStation 2

In 2000, the PS2 brought along impressive features to meet the abundant amount of hype garnered from the success of the original PlayStation. Showcasing DVD support to backward compatibility with the original PlayStation games, it’s not surprising that the PS2 sold 100 million units faster than any of its contemporaries.  

The PS2 was commonly featured with a matte black exterior, but it did receive other variations in colour. Whilst the original PS2’s external setup included a disc tray, Sony also released the PS2 Slim in 2004, a smaller, quieter redesign that featured a top-loading disc drive and added an Ethernet port. The controller kept the prior console’s “DualShock” design, whilst adding pressure-sensitive buttons and force feedback vibration. As for internal hardware, the CPU was a RISC processor called the “Emotion Engine,” and it was expected to offer unprecedented gaming power. There was even a question echoed in news reports about whether it would replace your PC. It didn’t, but it was definitely a powerful gaming system. As far as graphics go, the GPU was the “Graphics Synthesizer,” which handled several hardware effects, such as 3D modelling processes and texture mapping. 

The PS2 unsurprisingly received high praise for its game library and online gaming capabilities. I’m sure you’ll recognise many of these popular games from the era: God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Devil May Cry, Kingdom Hearts, and Sly Cooper . The Final Fantasy series also released exclusively for the PS2. Its best-selling game was ultimately Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. 

PlayStation Portable

 

2004 saw the birth of the first handheld in PlayStation history. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was a powerful handheld system, containing the same amount of CPU power as the full-size PS2. The widescreen backlit monitor took up much of the device’s width; it had a 16:9 aspect ratio and featured a 480x272-pixel TFT-LCD screen. Flanking the screen on either side were the familiar directional pad, the analogue “nub,” and several other buttons which were ergonomically designed for the unit. Sony was definitely passionate about giving consumers a feature-packed system with each release. For instance, take a look at the PSP’s functionality features: Sony’s Memory Stick Pro Duo for storage, a built-in web browser, built-in stereo speakers, multimedia playback functionality, and Wi-Fi. Sony also developed a new medium of optical disc called the Universal Media Disc (UMD), which was capable of storing videogames, feature-length films, and music. 

PSP saw several revisions during its era: PSP-2000 (PSP Slim) was a slimmer redesign, the PSP-3000 had an improved LCD screen and was available in a variety of colours, there was a lighter and smaller PSP Go, and then came the PSP-E1000 (PSP Street) a budget-friendly model that removed Wi-Fi capability and came in a matte black finish or an ice-white version. 

1,370 games were released for the PSP. Don’t worry, I’m not going to list them all, but there are many well-loved games deserving a mention: Spider-Man 2, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. 

PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 (PS3) had a rough start during its 2006/2007 launch. Entering the seventh generation of videogame consoles, the PS3 was competing with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii. The console featured a sleek, glossy black finish paired with a high price tag initially putting it last in the console race. However, the PS3 did receive praise for backward compatibility with PS2 games as well as being the first console to include Blu-ray disc technology. It’s clear Sony saw their consoles as more than just videogame consoles, continuously optimising them for other forms of entertainment. 

For internal technology, Sony, Toshiba, and IBM designed a CPU called the “Cell” processor, which was meant to be scalable for different performance needs. A new GPU was also created; it was the “Reality Synthesizer” (RSX), a 550-Mhz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip based on Nvidia’s GeForce graphics technology. The architecture proved difficult for game developers to develop on, which ultimately led to one of the PS3’s initial problems — a lack of games. That’s not to say the PS3 didn’t have a great game library, though. Some titles simply missed the launch window and were delayed in development. 

Here are some popular games released in this generation of PlayStation gaming: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, LittleBigPlanet, Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, God of War III, and Red Dead Redemption. 

 

PlayStation Vita

The PlayStation Vita launched in 2012. It featured an OLED screen, dual analogue sticks, and a rear trackpad. Its internal technology mirrored smartphones and tablets, using a quad-core Cortex-A9 CPU and a PowerVR SGX54MP4+ GPU. It also featured front and rear cameras along with optional 3G connectivity. Unfortunately, the Vita was considered a commercial failure as it sold just over 16 million units. Mobile gaming was on the rise in 2012. Plus, the Vita was contending with its overall lack of backward compatibility for PS2 titles and drop in content following its launch. 

With that said, the Vita did become a fantastic platform for more niche, indie games with titles like Luftrausers, Spelunky, Fez, Guacamelee!, and Bastion. 

PlayStation 4

A year later, the PlayStation 4 released to critical acclaim. Sony was praised for its performance difference compared to the Xbox One along with its social integrations, such as pressing the DualShock 4 controller’s “share” button to immediately broadcast your in-game actions to friends on the PlayStation Network. The aforementioned controller featured a trackpad, a light strip on the back of the gamepad, and it connected to the console using Bluetooth.

The PS4 was a return to form for Sony following the PS3 and Vita. Sony learned from the development difficulties of the PS3 era and replaced the “Cell” architecture with an 8-core AMD Jaguar X86 64-bit processor, 8GB of GDDR5 RAM (16x the amount of RAM found in the PS3), and an AMD Radeon GPU. Essentially, the PS4 was optimised for graphics-intensive gameplay. Most of all, it was developer-friendly and its game library reflects that with great titles. To name a few: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, Marvel's Spider-Man, and Ghost of Tsushima. VR gameplay also hit the scene with the PlayStation VR headset. Notable VR titles included Resident Evil 7, Ace Combat 7, and Beat Saber. Although the console did not offer backward compatibility with the PS3 and PS2 libraries, some games were rereleased as “Classics” titles for digital download. 

The PS4 would become the second highest-selling home console of all time by 2019. Sony later released a limited 20th-anniversary edition of the PS4, sporting the grey finish of the original PlayStation and its classic logo. 

 

PlayStation 5

 

November 2020 brought the release of the PS5 as part of the ninth generation of videogame consoles. There are also two variants: the PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition. The standard PS5 includes an optical disc drive compatible with Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, whilst the Digital Edition lacks this drive and can only play digital games as a result. This does mean that the Digital Edition is a more affordable option, which makes it a good deal for players looking to save money.  

Let’s break down the internals (but not literally; these things are hard to find after all). The PS5 includes a solid-state drive customised for high-speed data streaming, an AMD GPU capable of 4K resolution display at up to 120 frames per second for smoother performance, hardware-accelerated ray tracing for realistic lighting and reflections, and the “Tempest Engine” which allows for hardware-accelerated 3D audio effects. Externally, the PS5 is designed with white side panels and a black centre. The DualSense Controller comes with the addition of shoulder triggers that can simulate resistance and improved haptic feedback, which uses special motors that can accurately simulate subtle effects better than normal rumble vibration does. With this innovation, we’re able to feel more precise sensations.

Unlike the PS4’s overwhelming lead over the Xbox One, the PS5’s sales are not far from the sales of the Xbox Series X|S, a formidable competitor in this console race. So far, the PS5’s total worldwide sales are close to 24 million units whilst the Xbox Series X|S has sold 17 million units. This could be a result of many factors ranging from the PS5’s supply issues and/or the widely popular Game Pass available through the Xbox Series X|S. For the time being, the PS5 is in the lead, but only time will tell what console comes out on top. What I can tell you right now is that Sony has succeeded in bringing us memorable games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarök, Deathloop, and Resident Evil Village. 

We’ve come a long way from the original PlayStation to the PlayStation 5, and Sony still has the best problem — exceptional demand for its ambitious consoles. Originally an underdog in the industry, Sony truly changed the future of videogaming; I’m excited to see where Sony takes the future of gaming next.