PlayStation

The PlayStation brand has a wide series of magazines, from across different continents, covering PlayStation related articles and stories. Many of these magazines work closely with Sony and thus often come with demo discs for PlayStation games. Currently there are three magazines still in circulation namely PlayStation: The Official Magazine,[164] PlayStation Official Magazine,[165] Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia).[166] However, over the years, many PlayStation magazines have spawned while a few have also become defunct, these include the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine,[167] Official UK PlayStation Magazine,[168] Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine.[169]

PlayStation Underground

PlayStation Underground was a non-traditional magazine that Sony Computer Entertainment America produced and published between Spring 1997 to Spring 2001. Subscribers received two PlayStation CDs, along with a booklet and colorful packaging every quarter.[170] The CDs contained interviews, cheats, programmers moves, game demos and one-of-a-kind Memory Card saves. Several issues showed how a game was created from basic design to final product. Since the CDs could only be run on a PlayStation, it proved a useful marketing tool which spawned a line of PlayStation Underground JamPacks Demo CDs and which contained highlights from recent issues of PlayStation Underground, along with seemingly as many game demos that could be packed on a single CD. Unlike PlayStation Underground these were available in most stores for $4.95, were published twice a year in Summer and Winter and usually spotlighted newly released or coming soon games. By 2001, Sony had decided to phase out Underground to focus on the JamPacks with the release of the PlayStation 2. PlayStation Underground CDs are mainly in the hands of collectors these days.[171]

Advertising slogans used for each PlayStation console iteration:

• "eNoS Lives" (The first letter 'E' was printed in red to denote the word, ready. Enos stood for Ready, Ninth of September)[21]


• "U R Not e" (The letter 'E' was printed in red to denote the word, ready, as in You Are Not Ready)[21]


• "Do Not Underestimate The Power of PlayStation." (From the S.A.P.S. – Society Against PlayStation — series of adverts)[172]

• "Wherever, Whenever, Forever."[173]

• "The Beginning."[174]


• "Live In Y ur W rld, Pl y In  urs." (The PlayStation face button icons were used to denote certain letters: Live In Your World, Play In Ours)[174]


• "(Welcome to the) Third Place."[174]


• "Fun, Anyone?"[174]


• "The ultimate just got better – PlayStation 9 – teleport yours today."[174]

• "PSP Hellz Yeah" (PSP-1000 Series)


• "Dude, Get Your Own..." (PSP-2000 Series)[175]


• "Everywhere Just Got Better" (PSP-3000 Series and PSPgo)[176]


• "It's GO Time" (PSPgo)[177]


• "Your Whole World In Your Hands" (UK & Europe Territories)[178]


• "Step Your Game Up" (US Territory, PSP-3000 Series and PSPgo)[179]

• "The Wait Is Over"


• "Welcome Chang3" (the number three is used to denote an 'e' and was printed in red)[180]


• "This is Living."[181]


• "Play B3yond" (the number three is used to denote an 'e' and was printed in red)[174]


• "It Only Does Everything" (US Commercials) (PS3 Slim)[182]


• "The Game Is Just The Start. Start PS3." (EU countries)[183]


• "Long Live Play" (PS3 Slim)


• "Never Stop Playing" (PS3 Slim)


• "Greatness Awaits" (PS3 SuperSlim)

• "This Changes Everything"[184]


• "Move Into The Action"[185]

• "Download, Play, Connect."

• "Never Stop Playing."


• "The World is in Play." (EU only)

• "See the Future"


• "Push the boundaries of Play"[186]


• "Greatness Awaits"


• "This is 4 the Players"


• "Where the Greatest Play"[187]

Notable advertising campaigns

It Only Does Everything

The most notable of recent PlayStation commercials is the series of "It Only Does Everything" commercials featuring a fictional character called Kevin Butler who is a Vice President at PlayStation. These commercials usually advertise the PlayStation 3 and its games through a series of comedic answers to "Dear PlayStation" queries.[182] These commercials garnered popularity among gamers, though its debut commercial received criticism from the Nigerian government due to a reference to the common 419 scams originating in Nigeria. Sony issued an apology and a new version of the advert with the offending line changed was produced.[188]

A spin-off of the campaign has been created for the PlayStation Portable which features similar campaign commercials called the "Step Your Game Up" campaign featuring a fictional teenage character named Marcus Rivers acting in a similar fashion to Kevin Butler but answering the "Dear PlayStation" queries about the PSP.[179]

Netherlands Ceramic White PSP Commercials

In July 2006, an advertising campaign in the Netherlands was released in which a white model dressed entirely in white and a black model dressed entirely in black was used to compare Sony's new Ceramic White PSP and the original Piano Black PSP. This series of ads depicted both models fighting with each other[189] and drew criticism from the media for being racist, though Sony maintains that the ad did not feature any racist message.[190]

All I want for Xmas is a PSP

In November 2006, a marketing company employed by Sony's American division created a website entitled "All I want for Xmas is a PSP", designed to promote the PSP virally. The site contained a blog which was purportedly written by "Charlie", a teenage boy attempting to get his friend Jeremy's parents to buy him a PSP, and providing a "music video" of either Charlie or Jeremy "rapping" about the PSP. Visitors to the website quickly recognized that the website was registered to a marketing company, exposing the campaign on sites such as YouTube and digg. Sony was forced to admit that the site was in fact a marketing campaign and in an interview with next-gen.biz, Sony admitted that the idea was "poorly executed".[191]

In 2005, Australian newspaper The Age wrote an article about the PlayStation brand. Among the numerous interviews conducted with various people in the industry was an interview with Dr Jeffrey Brand, associate professor in communication and media at Bond University who said, "PlayStation re-ignited our imagination with video games". Game designers Yoshiki Okamoto called the brand "revolutionary — PlayStation has changed gaming, distribution, sales, image and more", while Evan Wells of Naughty Dog said "PlayStation is responsible for making playing games cool."[192]

In 2009, ViTrue, Inc. listed the PlayStation brand as number 13 on their "The Vitrue 100: Top Social Brands of 2009". The ranking was based on various aspects mainly dealing with popular social media sites in aspects such as Social Networking, Video Sharing, Photo Sharing and Blogs.[193]

In 2010, Gizmodo stated that the PlayStation brand was one of the last Sony products to completely stand apart from its competitors, stating that "If you ask the average person on the street what their favorite Sony product is, more often than not you'll hear PlayStation".[194] As of April 2012, the PlayStation brand is the "most followed" brand on social networking site, Facebook, with over 22 million fans and followers in total which is more than any other brand in the entertainment industry. A study by Greenlight's Entertainment Retail has also shown that the PlayStation brand is the most interactive making 634 posts and tweets on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.[195]

In July 2014, Sony boasted in a company release video that the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita sold a combined total of 100 million units.[196] It was announced at Tokyo Game Show on September 1, 2014, that PlayStation home game consoles claim 78% market share of all home consoles in Japan.[197]

As of 2015[update], PlayStation is the strongest selling console brand worldwide.[198]