Sony's PlayStation retrospective digs into the console's 30-year hardware history

Sony has released a retrospective for its PlayStation consoles ahead of the original PlayStation's 30th Japanese anniversary on December 3.

In it, the console maker looks back on the history and significant milestones of major PlayStation hardware. For example, the now 20-year-old PlayStation 2 has sold over 160 million units—corroborating what PlayStation boss Jim Ryan first stated back in April. It continues to be one of the highest-selling consoles ever.

Along with the sales, Sony recognized the PS2 for taking "giant steps forward in home console gaming," and touted then-revolutionary features such as online play, "hugely attractive" DVD playback, and backwards compatibility with PlayStation 1 titles. Praise was also given for first-party titles like Team ICO's Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, plus franchises like Sly Cooper and God of War that have since expanded to other PlayStation systems.

Sony goes on to note the PlayStation 4 sold 117 million units sold in its lifetime, while the original PlayStation and PlayStation 3 respectively sold 102 million and 87 million units. Hard numbers weren't given for the PlayStation 5, the PlayStation Vita, or either of the PlayStation VR headsets, but Sony's latest fiscal report reveals the PS5 has sold over 65.5 million lifetime units.

PlayStation 5 is still riding global waves

The PS5's writeup acknowledged the console was PlayStation's biggest global launch (and equally big for game consoles overall), despite releasing in "challenging global conditions." It came out in 2020 during the early days of the COVID pandemic, and its supply was impacted by a component shortage. During that time, Sony increased the console's price in several territories, including Japan, and made more PS4s to make up for the new system's shortage.

As of last year, those supply issues have been rectified, and Sony has since released Slim and Pro versions of the PlayStation 5, plus the PlayStation Portal cloud streaming device. Earlier this week, reports claimed the company is developing a new portable console that can play PlayStation 5 games, making it the first dedicated PlayStation handheld since the PlayStation Vita.

You can see the full timeline of PlayStation history here.