Essentials (PlayStation)

Official Platinum and Essentials banners used on PlayStation game covers.

Essentials is the Sony PlayStation budget range in the PAL region, which covers Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Africa. It was launched in January 1997 as the Platinum range[1] but was later renamed for PSP in 2010 and PlayStation 3 in 2012. Similar budget ranges from Sony include the Greatest Hits and The Best labels for the North American and Japanese markets, respectively.

Platinum Range titles were recognisable by a platinum/silver coloured band on the game's casing. This band runs along the top of the case's front. In old PlayStation 2 platinum games it is also common for the silver band to act as a border and to contain the game's original cover, which is shrunk to fill about 75% of the platinum cover. The PlayStation logo is repeated twice on the front case, once on the platinum border, and once on the original game's case. The new PlayStation 2 platinum games feature a new layout. They have a black border, and silver outlines around the shrunk original game cover. There is also a red orb located at the bottom of the original game cover with the words Platinum on it. The platinum band can also be seen on the manual. The PlayStation 3 Platinum range box art replaces the black background of the PlayStation 3 logo on the left with a yellow background, and has the original box art shrunk slightly, with a gray border, and a yellow rectangle on top of it, with 'Platinum' written in black.

PlayStation and PlayStation 2 platinum game discs do not feature any of the original game disc's design, it is replaced with a simple silver design, which, along with the copyright notices around the edges, feature the game's name in the center surrounded by a black outline. PlayStation Portable platinum games use the original games disc design whilst PlayStation 3 platinum games use the original disc design with a platinum design on the disc.

To become a Platinum release it was required that a game have over 400,000 total worldwide sales after generally one year on the market[2] (PAL region sales in particular; games that sell over 400,000 units in another region alone, such as Japan or the U.S., do not necessarily qualify for a Platinum title).

For PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable releases, there is no specific target required to achieve Platinum status as indicated by SCEE Press Releases and the discrepancies between the Platinum status of specific titles and their chart performance.

After reaching the required level of sales, Sony often dropped the prices of the original title to Platinum pricing levels (generally about half of the original retail price), as a way to clear inventory for retailers.

The Platinum distinction has since been extended to the PSP (however since 2010 they have been renamed PSP Essentials) and the PlayStation 3. The first PS3 titles were released on August 1, 2008.[3]

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PlayStation (Platinum) Titles

PlayStation 2 (Platinum) Titles

PlayStation 3 (Platinum) Titles

PlayStation 3 (Essentials) Titles

PlayStation Portable (Platinum) Titles

PlayStation Portable (Essentials) Titles

References

  1. ↑ "PlayStation History in Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific - History of Events". Absolute PlayStation. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  2. ↑ PlayStation Games & Media News: - PS2 goes Platinum: Part 1
  3. ↑ "PS3 Platinum range in UK from August". Computer & Video Games. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  4. ↑ Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Platinum (PS2)
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