Playstation

PlayStation, a leading brand in the video gaming industry, offers a comprehensive suite of products including four home video game consoles, a media center, an online service, a diverse range of controllers, two handheld devices, a phone, and multiple magazines. Established by Sony Interactive Entertainment on December 3, 1994, PlayStation has been a pioneer in the gaming world since its inception. The original PlayStation console, launched in Japan, was the first of its kind to ship 100 million units within 9 years and 6 months of its release. This was followed by the launch of the PlayStation 2 in 2000, which holds the record for being the best-selling home console to date with over 155 million units sold as of December 28, 2012. The PlayStation 3, released in 2006, has sold over 87.4 million consoles worldwide as of March 2017. The PlayStation 4, the latest console in the series, was launched in 2013 and set a new record by selling 1 million consoles in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling console in history.

In the handheld console market, the PlayStation Portable (PSP) has sold a total of 80 million units worldwide by November 2013. Its successor, the PlayStation Vita, launched in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in most other major territories in February 2012, had sold over 4 million units by January 2013. PlayStation TV, a micro-console and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita, is another innovative product in the PlayStation series.

The PlayStation series also includes the PSX, a digital video recorder integrated with the PlayStation and PlayStation 2, and a Sony Bravia television set with an integrated PlayStation 2. The DualShock, a line of vibration-feedback gamepads, is the main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series, with 28 million controllers sold as of June 28, 2008.

The PlayStation Network, an online service with about 110 million registered users as of June 2013 and over 94 million active users monthly as of May 2019, offers an online virtual market, the PlayStation Store, for the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia. It also provides a subscription-based online service, PlayStation Plus, and a social gaming networking service, PlayStation Home, which had over 41 million users worldwide at the time of its closure in March 2015. PlayStation Mobile is a software framework that delivers PlayStation content on mobile devices.

7th generation PlayStation products use the XrossMediaBar, an award-winning graphical user interface. The PlayStation Vita features a touch screen-based user interface called LiveArea, which integrates social networking elements. The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles also supported Linux-based operating systems, though this has since been discontinued. The PlayStation series is known for its innovative marketing campaigns, the latest of which is the “Greatness Awaits” commercials in the United States.

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, a group of fifteen first-party developers owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment, is dedicated to developing first-party games for the series, contributing to a strong line-up of first-party titles. In addition, the PlayStation series is committed to delivering high-quality gaming experiences to its users worldwide.