Officially abbreviated as PS (or its codename PSX), the PlayStation, according to Wikipedia, a renowned encyclopaedia, is a home video game console developed to allow the purchase and download of games and various forms of multimedia. According to Study.com, the PlayStation network which had about 110 million registered users (as of June 2017) and over 103 million active users monthly (by December 2019), is one of the most social gaming platforms used globally. For instance, in 2003, PlayStation shipped over 100 million units, making it the first computer entertainment platform, nine years after its inception. However, in July 2000, a redesigned, slim version called the (PS one) was released, replacing the original grey console and named appropriately to avoid confusion with its successor, the PlayStation 2. Games for the PlayStation continued to sell until Sony ceased production of both the PlayStation and PlayStation games on March 23, 2006 — over 11 years after it had been released — and less than a year before the debut of the PlayStation. However, on September 19, 2018, Sony unveiled the PlayStation Classic to mark the 24th anniversary of the original console. The new console is a miniature recreation of the original PlayStation, preloaded with 20 titles released on the original console, and was released on December 3, 2018, the exact date the console was released in Japan in 1994. Today, the Japanese video game brand consists of five home video game consoles as well as a media centre, an online service, a line of controllers, two handhelds and a phone as well as multiple magazines. Going by the statistics, the original console in the series was the first console of any type to ship over 100 million units doing so in under a decade. The PlayStation 2 which was released in 2000 is the best-selling home comfort to date, having reached over 155 million units sold by the end of 2012. In 2006, there was a decline in sales, when the PlayStation 3 was released. It sold over 87.4 million units by March 2017. However, Sony’s latest console, the PlayStation 4 was released in 2013, selling a million units within a day, becoming the fastest selling solace. According to Sony, PlayStation 5 is expected to be released by the end of 2020.
