PlayStation turns 20: how Sony became a video game giant

The PlayStation celebrates its 20th anniversary today as one of modern gaming's undisputed giants, but in 1994 its success was far from certain. The Sony device began its life as a total outsider in a home gaming market dominated by Sega and Nintendo, but alongside Microsoft's Xbox it now dominates the market, having delivered such iconic titles as Tomb Raider, Little Big Planet, Gran Turismo and Uncharted.

Here are the ten milestones in PlayStation's history as it turned itself from 90s pretender to video gaming kingpin:

1. From music to gaming

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The first Sony PlayStation launched in Japan on 3 December 1994, but didn't reach Europe and the US until the following September. At the time of its launch, "nobody really knew what to expect from the Walkman maker," says Push Square. Competing largely with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn, the first generation system went on to sell 102 million units and quickly establishing itself as the console to beat in the gaming market.

2. Tomb Raider

In November 1996, Lara Croft made her debut on the comparatively new system. The game went to number one in a matter of hours and stayed there for months. "Lara arrived on the leading edge of 3D gaming with an innovative, engrossing game and, as luck had it, more sex appeal than Mario," says IGN. The character's popularity drove PlayStation sales and soon, Lara appeared on the front page of the Financial Times.

3. Shocking controls

PlayStation launched its first DualShock controller, the first control system for the console that offered physical feedback, with rumbles and vibrations to add depth to the on-screen action. Some developers used the controller's twin motors to provide stereo vibrations – "the helicopter scenes in the original Metal Gear Solid were particularly impressive in this respect," the PlayStation blog says.

4. PlayStation 2

In 2001, PlayStation launched the successor to its original console – the PlayStation 2. By the end of 2008, the games machine had sold more than 130 million units making it "the best-selling video game console ever", IGN says.

5. Online gaming

In 2002, the PS2 went online with the launch of a new online adaptor, allowing players to compete against one another over the internet. The BBC predicted that "Online gaming has the potential to transform the economics of the computer gaming industry". Today, the most successful games in the world such as Call of Duty and Halo are primarily played online, with offline gaming a comparative afterthought.

6. Pocket play

The PlayStation Portable, or PSP launched in 2004. The system could play games, video and music prompting then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Jose Villeta to call the device the "Walkman of the 21st century". Over 200,000 units sold on the first day of its release. In total, the device sold around 80 million units, a feat PlayStation could not match with its later handheld offerings.

7. Games and Blu-Rays

The launch of the PlayStation 3 in 2006. Over the course of the console's life, exclusive games including Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Killzone 2, Flower, Warhawk, LittleBigPlanet and Infamous helped drive sales, but by now Sony faced stiff competition from Microsoft as the Xbox 360 threatened to overtake its rival. The 360 got the jump on the PS3 by launching seven months earlier, but according to TechRadar, the console war was ultimately won by PlayStation, as the device sold much better in its twilight years. By the end of their life cycles, the Xbox 360 had sold 78.84 million units and the PlayStation 3 had sold 80.29 million.

8. Get moving

In 2010, PlayStation came late to the physical gaming party with the PlayStation Move motion controller. The device used motion sensors to detect players' movements, but competing with the Wii Remote Plus and the Xbox Kinect, the device did not go on to become a huge success. In an interview with the official PlayStation magazine, Sony Vice President Fergal Gara admitted that the Move had failed to live up to the company's expectations.

9. La (not so) Dolce Vita

In February 2012, PlayStation launched the successor to the PSP, the portable PlayStation Vita. Despite solid critical reception, the handheld failed to live up to its predecessor in part because portable gaming had already come to be dominated by mobile phones. Wired published an article titled "seven signs PlayStation Vita is a failure", which was in itself surely sign number eight.

10. PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4 launched in November last year slightly after arch-rival, the Xbox One. Just a year after launch, however, the PS4 is now streets ahead of its rival, becoming the fastest selling console of all time along the way. While the next generation console battle is in its early days, PlayStation has reasserted its dominance over the gaming market, luring new players in with PlayStation Plus subscriptions and outselling Xbox for eight straight months.