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First PlayStation Console
To start their journey, PlayStation released their first console back in December of 1994. It was originated in Japan and began the new era of Video Gaming for teenagers. Its advancement of using a CD drive gave the public an excitement to towards a new gaming experience with advanced graphics. -
PlayStation 2
In March of the year 2000, the PlayStation 2 came with drastic improvements. The biggest improvement was the console evolving to use a DVD-ROM. This meant gaming wasn't it's only use but now users could watch Movies as well. The change caused the VHS tape era to come to a slow end with DVDs becoming increasingly popular. According to Sherif from Statista, this is the "best-selling video game console of all time" (Sherif 2024), selling over 158 Million units across the world. -
PlayStation Portable (PSP)
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was their first portable handheld gaming console. This mobile device became popular for having features that had advanced capabilities compared to its competitions. It was able to connect to its other Playstation systems, to computers using a USB device, and was online accessible. During this time, computers were popular and being used to download music. Being able to download music to a PSP was the new popular way to listen to music on the go and with friends. -
Playstation 3
The PlayStation 3 was released in Japan and North American in November of 2006. Sony put in additional funds to making this console unique by incorporating Blu-Ray, HD DVD formats, and wireless controllers. However, this complex architecture made production and list price costly. This decreased their sales as it was not as affordable as the public expected. They spent the next few years improving the defects and releasing a more affordable console called the PS3 SLIM on September of 2009. -
PlayStation 4
After the rough patches with the PS3, Sony released the PlayStation 4 in November of 2013 with many improvements. The new features included faster processors, increased memory, and thousands of games to choose from on and offline. According to Sirani on IGN (2024), the PS4 had "massive sales success" selling over 117.2 million units and more than billion software units. The popularity for this console changed American Culture by making it main source of entertainment in both teens and adults. -
PlayStation 5
The Playstation 5 was released in November of 2020. They came with drastic improvements with their visual graphics, subscriptions, comfortable controllers, and their game quality. In addition, a world wide pandemic forced people to stay indoors leading to an increase of its console use for entertainment. Their fast online processing made the tremendous positive impact on its sales and American Culture because it led to the use of gaming online (solo or multi-player) as a new source of income.