25 jaar klinkt als een lange tijd, maar als het gaat om PlayStation lijken de jaren voorbij te zijn gevlogen. Vandaag bestaat de Japanse grootmacht immers alweer 25 jaar. Op 3 december 1994 leverden Ken Kutaragi en zijn consorten een visie om de gaming-industrie naar een nieuw niveau te tillen. Een missie die ze – naar onze mening – behoorlijk goed volbracht hebben.

Natuurlijk is dit ook Jim Ryan, president en CEO van Sony Interactive Entertainment, niet ontgaan. In een mooie brief op het PlayStation Blog blikt hij terug op de vroege dagen van PlayStation en het harde werk wat volgde. Na al die jaren zwoegen is PlayStation niet meer weg te denken uit het huidige gaming landschap en ze kunnen niet wachten om samen de toekomst tegemoet te gaan:

“On 3rd December, 1994 – 25 years ago this week- the first PlayStation made its global debut in Japan. Starting from a humble beginning as an upstart within Sony, Ken Kutaragi and team delivered on a vision to elevate video games as a form of entertainment that everyone could enjoy, and to make a platform for game developers to express their creativity. The original PlayStation sold 100,000 units in Japan on its first day and went on to become the first-ever home console to surpass 100 million units sold globally.

We struck a chord with the gaming community because PlayStation offered experiences beyond what anyone could ever imagine was possible with a home console. From the very start, we opened our arms to developers, providing them with the tools and technology to create beautiful, expansive worlds, and to experiment with new ideas. That approach led to the diversity of games PlayStation is known for, a true hallmark for our brand across multiple generations of hardware platforms.

Over the past 25 years, PlayStation has stood at the forefront of gaming, and I’m honoured to have been a part of the team since the early days. As I was helping set up the business in Europe, I remember having to start from scratch with many things, from hiring employees to ordering furniture.

Back then, we focused on catering to local markets to ensure that a gamer in Poland would feel a part of the broader PlayStation community just as much as someone in the UK, or Japan, or the U.S. Supported by passionate fans all around the world, our business has grown significantly and our focus on community is more important than ever.

It’s truly humbling to see fans who grew up on PlayStation passing down their love of gaming to their children, who are now playing on PS4.

On behalf of all of us at PlayStation – thank you for taking this journey with us. We can’t wait to celebrate what comes next with you!”