PlayStation Officially Releasing Brand-New $325 Release With Pre-Orders Open Now

PlayStation fans have a lot to look forward to this holiday season, including one hefty $325 surprise that isn’t a game at all. Instead, it’s a celebration of the console family’s 30 years of success.

Read Only Memory are releasing a celebratory and expensive book to mark the occasion, albeit a little late. Titled PlayStation: The First 30 Years, it comes in two editions. One, the Standard Edition, sits comfortably at a price point of $125; the other Deluxe Edition costs a full $325.

Fans of the PlayStation console family will have to act fast to get their hands on a copy of PlayStation: The First 30 Years, as the Deluxe Edition is limited to 1,994 copies to commemorate the original PlayStation’s Japanese release in 1994. It’s a thoughtful homage, but perhaps a little inconvenient for collectors of Sony memorabilia.

Whether you’re a fan of Sony or not, there is no denying their impact on gaming through the decades. The first PlayStation was released in the US in 1995 and marked the big jump from cartridge-based to disc-based gaming media and changed the landscape of gaming forever. Later, the PlayStation 2 released across in regions in the year 2000 to bring the DVD format to households across the globe. These both marked huge jumps in gaming, and brought with them games that the community still talks about to this day.

In 2006, the PlayStation 3 brought with it the Blu-Ray format, another jump in media technology we still use to this day. And later, the PlayStation 4 (2013) and PlayStation 5 (2020) further refined the principles set by Sony in its earlier years.

PlayStation: The First 30 Years celebrates the innovations Sony has brought to the market through the decades, and a whole slew that didn’t make it to market. Surprisingly artistic with its presentation, the book features 400 pages in a large format, showcasing prototypes for consoles, controllers and more in sketches and development models.

The book also features insights from some of the bigger names at Sony through the decades, including Ken Kutaragi, Teiyu Goto, and Yujin Morisawa. Its artistic imagery and photographs were taken by Benedict Redgrove, of NASA: Past and Present Dreams of the Future fame. Akin to many of Sony’s advertising ventures through the years, the book is artistic and at times obtuse.

The full $325 Deluxe Edition of PlayStation: The First 30 Years doesn’t offer much more than its $125 Standard Edition counterpart. It features an exposed binding and special foil clamshell presentation box, but most importantly, it comes with a photographic print signed by Benedict Redgrove and Teiyu Goto. For fans of either name, that makes this a must-buy.

PlayStation: The First 30 Years will be releasing in November on Read Only Memory at both price points, but pre-sales are available now. With only 1,994 copies being made of the full Deluxe Edition, it’s very possible there won’t be any available once the book releases. Fans will have to act fast to get their hands on either edition of this celebratory release.