【PlayStation 5】 Released on November 12, 2020! Truly near-future! Not to mention the comfort of online matches, let's celebrate the day when PlayStation 5 was born, a multifunctional home game console that fulfilled visual beauty and even sub-functions!

If you like games, wouldn't many people remember the date November 12, 2020? This day is the memorable day when “PlayStation 5 (PS5)” was released by Sony Interactive Entertainment! While the previous generation's PS4 was released overseas in advance, for PS5 sales started simultaneously in 7 countries including Japan. Exactly because it was the new hardware that game fans all over the world were waiting eagerly for, its appearance became a major topic. PS5, which not only simply had visuals become beautiful, but greatly evolved even in operational feel, acoustics, and game comfort. It gathered attention as a game console that makes one feel new possibilities of play different from conventional PlayStations.

When the figure of PS5 was officially released for the first time was the video event streamed from 5:00 AM on June 12, 2020, “THE FUTURE OF GAMING: The Future of Gaming Experience is Here.” Despite early morning, many fans were waiting for the announcement in front of screens, but one was surprised by the main unit design unveiled there, wasn't one? Differing from linear shapes common in conventional game consoles, the stylish black and white exterior boldly incorporating curves was just like a device appearing in sci-fi movies. From that original silhouette, voices saying it resembles an air purifier even popped out on SNS. In addition, along with the regular model equipped with a disc drive, “Digital Edition,” where one enjoys mainly digital download software, also appeared simultaneously. The point that one can choose the main unit according to how games are purchased was also a feature symbolizing a new era.

When seeing PS5 in person for the first time, people who were surprised by its size should not be few. The model at the time of release was particularly large among successive PlayStations, and wouldn't there have been people who reconsidered installation locations? However, into this imposing body, ingenuities to efficiently cool high-performance internal parts are packed. That a design suppressing operational noise while demonstrating high processing capability is adopted is attractive, isn't it? And, what makes it easy to feel PS5's evolution physically is the reduction of load times by the ultra-high-speed SSD. Waiting times when starting games or when scenes switch decreased significantly, becoming able to play at a good tempo. Once experiencing this comfort, one might find it quite hard to return to previous long loading screens.

What cannot be left out when speaking of PS5's charm is the new wireless controller “DualSense.” Both the name and exterior were renewed from the conventional DUALSHOCK series, and new features enhancing immersion into games were mounted. Impressive among them is “Haptic Feedback.” Differing from simple vibration, this is a mechanism conveying fine touches to hands matching situations in games. For example, soft sensations when walking on sandy ground, or hard feedback when stepping on a metal floor, differences that cannot be known by visuals alone are expressed through vibrations. Furthermore, sound effects flowing from the controller's built-in speaker also produce a sense of realism. It makes you feel as if you are experiencing events happening beyond the screen yourself.

Another feature we want to pay attention to is “Adaptive Triggers.” This is a function where the resistance force of L2 and R2 buttons changes according to game situations, being able to express different pull sensations between a handgun and an assault rifle when shooting a gun, for example. That information in games is conveyed even to operating fingers is an interest not present in conventional controllers, isn't it? Furthermore, PS5 also supports 3D audio, and being able to feel directions where sounds are heard and spatial spread three-dimensionally is also a feature. Footsteps approaching from behind, ambient sounds echoing around, etc., in supported works sound itself enriches the game experience. In addition to beautiful graphics, by utilizing even sense of touch and hearing, firmly shortening the distance to the game world is PS5's major strength.

PS5 steadily grew sales units even after release, exceeding 10 million units in cumulative global actual sales as of July 18, 2021. Domestically in Japan as well, cumulative sales units exceeded 1 million units in September of the same year. Furthermore, in 2024 cumulative global actual sales reached a scale of 56 million units, having been supported by many users. Even within the history of evolution continuing from PS2 to PS3, and then to PS4, PS5 can be called an existence that brought changes to how games are enjoyed itself. Comfortable play through high-speed loading, DualSense's delicate operational feel, and sounds making one feel space. “PlayStation 5,” where such technologies became one, is an impressive home game console that brought gaming closer from something merely watched to something enjoyed with the senses of the whole body!