The PlayStation was named as the antithesis of a “workstation” PC—a machine for play rather than work—a concept credited to Ken Kutaragi and later confirmed by former Sony executive Shuhei Yoshida. 1)
The original PlayStation became the first video game console in history to sell 100 million units, a milestone Sony reached in May 2004. 2)
The PlayStation 2 has sold 160.01 million units worldwide, remaining the best-selling video game console of all time. 3)
A Japanese survey found that 74% of early PS2 buyers purchased the console for both games and DVD movies, while 6% bought it for DVD movies only—evidence that the console doubled as a home entertainment device. 4)
Sony continued producing the PlayStation 2 until early 2013, giving it a lifespan of roughly 13 years—one of the longest production runs of any video game console. 5)
More than 10,000 games were released for the PlayStation 2 during its lifetime, contributing to its record-breaking sales and cultural staying power. 6)
Although reports initially suggested the PS2 was only ending production in Japan, Sony confirmed in January 2013 that manufacturing had stopped on a worldwide scale. 7)
In December 2019, Guinness World Records certified PlayStation as the “best-selling videogame home console brand ever,” with 450.19 million units sold across the original PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 as of November 7, 2019. 8)
At its 25th anniversary, PlayStation held the top three spots for best-selling home consoles of all time: the PS2, the PS4, and the original PlayStation, in that order. 9)
The PlayStation 4 has sold approximately 117 million units worldwide, making it one of the best-selling home consoles ever. 10)
By early 2026, the PlayStation 5 had sold around 92.2 million units, surpassing the PlayStation 3's lifetime total of 87.4 million. 11)
Analysts expect the PS5 to soon overtake both the Nintendo Wii (101.63 million) and the original PlayStation (102.49 million) in lifetime sales. 12)
The Cell Broadband Engine inside the PlayStation 3 was described as a “supercomputer on a chip,” capable of up to 192 billion floating-point operations per second. 13)
The Cell Broadband Engine was jointly developed by Sony, IBM, and Toshiba specifically for the PlayStation 3, with a design optimized for graphics and numeric computation. 14)
The US Air Force Research Laboratory assembled a cluster of 1,716 PlayStation 3 consoles into a supercomputer called the “Condor Cluster,” using the Cell processor for image processing and computation. 15)
The DualShock 4 introduced a dedicated Share button that let players broadcast gameplay, capture screenshots, and share clips with a single press—a first for a major console. 16)
Within weeks of the PS4's launch, players had already streamed over 20 million minutes (more than 330,000 hours) of gameplay using the Share button. 17)
The PS5's DualSense controller uses adaptive triggers in the L2 and R2 buttons to create physical resistance, letting players feel the tension of drawing a bowstring or the kick of a weapon. 18)
The DualSense controller includes an integrated microphone array, allowing players to talk to friends or issue voice commands without needing a headset. 19)
Sony's first PlayStation VR headset surpassed 5 million units sold worldwide by the end of 2019, making it one of the best-selling high-end VR systems of its generation. 20)
The Gran Turismo series has sold over 100 million units worldwide as of June 2025, making it the best-selling exclusive franchise in PlayStation history. 21)
Gran Turismo holds seven Guinness World Records, including the record for the most cars in a racing game, achieved by Gran Turismo 6 with 1,237 cars. 22)
God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarök combined generated more than $1.4 billion in revenue, with the 2018 title alone selling over 23 million copies. 23)
The Last of Us exceeded 3.4 million units sold worldwide within three weeks of its June 2013 release, becoming the fastest-selling PS3 title of that year. 24)
The Last of Us sold more than 17 million copies across PS3 and PS4 by June 2018, making it one of the best-selling survival-horror games ever and a Guinness World Record holder. 25)
Naughty Dog's first PlayStation game, Crash Bandicoot, was developed by just eight people. 26)
The Legend of Dragoon, Sony's attempt at a classic turn-based RPG on the original PlayStation, was not part of a grand strategic push—it came together almost by chance. 27)
Guinness World Records estimated that 157.68 million people owned a PlayStation 2 in their lifetime, ahead of the Nintendo DS (154.90 million) and Game Boy (118.69 million). 28)
In April 2011, Sony shut down the PlayStation Network after a major security breach that compromised the personal data of approximately 77 million user accounts. 29)
It took Sony more than a month and nearly $175 million to restore the PlayStation Network after the 2011 hack. 30)
The PlayStation Network counted 125 million monthly active users by March 2026, and Sony has shifted its strategy toward monetizing that existing base. 31)
About 38% of PlayStation Plus subscribers are on the Extra or Premium tiers, up from 30% in FY2022. 32)
The PlayStation 2's ability to play original PlayStation games helped sustain its sales momentum, giving buyers access to a massive existing library from day one. 33)
Sony's 2018 PlayStation Classic mini-console was criticized for its limited game lineup and poor emulation, becoming a rare misstep in the PlayStation brand's hardware history. 34)
Former PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan credited Sony's early willingness to embrace third-party developers—providing tools and technology to create expansive worlds—as a cornerstone of the brand's success. 35)
Sony Corporation was originally called Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation; it changed its name to Sony, a word that did not exist in any language, combining the Latin “Sonus” (sound) with the American slang “Sonny.” 36)