Playstation is a video gaming brand that encompasses several home consoles, handhelds, media centers and even a smartphone. It’s owned by Sony and includes a subscription service, an online gaming community and multiple magazines.
When the first PlayStation roared into the scene in 1995, it marked an important moment for gaming. Its use of CD-ROM’s heralded a shift away from cartridge-based systems and allowed it to manipulate 3D polygon graphics in ways that the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn couldn’t match. The PS1’s massive library, popular franchises and aggressive youth marketing also contributed to its overwhelming success.
The PS2 built upon the polygonal groundwork of the first PlayStation by offering a bigger and richer gameplay experience with killer franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Kingdom Hearts, and Silent Hill 2. Its low price and emergence into the DVD market also helped its sales to balloon to around 155 million worldwide units.
The fifth generation of PlayStation consoles started with the release of the PS4 in 2013. Its slim and sleek design and powerful processing power allowed for faster load times, higher frame rates and a huge catalog of games including PlayStation exclusive titles like The Last of Us Part 1, Horizon Forbidden West and Marvel’s Spider-Man. The standard PS5 and the slim digital-edition models both support backward compatibility with older PlayStation games and have significant hard drive space for playing these discs, though you will save on storage by purchasing a digital version of a game from the PlayStation Store.