On December 3rd, Sony Corporation celebrated their 20th Anniversary of the original PlayStation with special edition PlayStation 4 that was for sale for $499.
The original PlayStation was launched in Japan back on December 3rd, 1994, but wasn’t released here in the US until September 9th, nearly 8 months later. With a starting price of $299, The PlayStation became a huge hit across the world because of its wide array of video game genres including sports games, racing, fighting, and action games. What made the original PlayStation special were the titles that became available over the course of lifetime. Games like Rayman, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, and Tomb Raider all got sequels in later PlayStation models, along with hundreds of other titles.
Undoubtedly, the original PlayStation led the way to the future of Sony’s gaming consoles, leading to generation after generation of PlayStation unveils. Each new console was an idea based off the original PlayStation, and last year on November 15th, the new iteration of PlayStation was sold to the public. We have talked about the features and specs of the PS4 4 on The Declaration before, but the PS4 featured many next gen features that have been worked on for a long time. Currently, the PS4 has sold 13.5 million units worldwide, a huge success for a console that’s only one year old.
When December arrived, Sony announced they would do something special for the 20th Anniversary of the original PlayStation, and soon after announced that they would be selling a limited edition PS4 with the color scheme of the original PlayStation, and a custom badge on the corner showing what console you bought, and featured the original PS1 logo instead of the current gen logo. Fans of the PS4 were greatly surprised and excited about the “classic” PS4; however, since it was a special item only 12,300 consoles would be sold to the public. Sony chose to sell 12,300 units to match the launch date of the original PlayStation, December 3, 1994, or 12/3. The PS4 DualShock controller is also grey as part of the anniversary bundle, and the whole thing comes in a special box.
As soon as preorders started for the 20th Anniversary, consumers bought a edition of the console before it could sell out. In only one day, all the preorders Sony had for the special edition PS4 sold out, and the last known copy’s was put on eBay for a starting price of $0.99. One sold for an astounding price of $20,100 after 34 bids, while the other sold for $15,100 after 106 bids. “It’s crazy how much money it went up to, considering it’s just a regular PS4 with a paint job” Angel Rosa, a senior here at CHS stated. He’s not the only one to share this idea either. On PlayStation forums, many fans considered the idea “awful” or “a poor way to celebrate such a huge accomplishment.”
Any way you can look at it, the 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4 commemorates the original looks of its predecessor for way back in 1994.
