PlayStation (console)

PlayStation (console)

The PlayStation (Japanese: プレイステーション, Hepburn: Pureisutēshon?, officially abbreviated as PS; sometimes referred to as PS1, or unofficially as the PSX) is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, 1994. The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. In 2000, a re-designed, "slim" version was released, called the PSone, replacing the original grey console, and also being renamed to avoid confusion with its successor, the newly-released PlayStation 2.

The PlayStation was the first "computer entertainment platform" to ship 100 million units, which it had reached 9 years and 6 months after its initial launch. The last game for the system was FIFA Football 2005 released in October 2004, and the last PSone units were sold on Christmas 2004 for a total of 102 million units shipped. Games continued to sell until Sony ceased production of PlayStation games on March 23, 2006; eleven years after it was released, and just over half a year before the release of the PlayStation 3.