PlayStation has turned 30 – and to celebrate the gaming system’s triple-decade history, Sony is blending tech with art in a collectable photography book. PlayStation: The First 30 Years is a photo book that looks at some of the gaming system’s past, from iconic models to never-before-seen prototypes to portraits of the team behind the console’s development.
The photography book features work by Benedict Redgrove, a UK photographer known for a fascination with technology and a clean, minimalist aesthetic. Redgrove’s background in design and fascination with technology have previously led to the photo book NASA: Past and Present Dreams of the Future.
Sony says the commemorative PlayStation photobook includes “unprecedented access” to the system’s prototypes, sketches, and models, including never-before-seen mockups “that never left the studio.”
Along with photographs of the system’s past and present tech, the book includes portraits and insight from the engineers and designers behind PlayStation.
The 400-page book will come in both a standard edition and a limited edition Deluxe that pairs the book with select prints, exposed binding, and a presentation box. That limited edition will only offer 1,994, in honor of the year that the first PlayStation launched.
The design of the book is also a subtle nod to the gaming system’s history, from the ribbon bookmarks in the PlayStation logo colors to an embossed circular design that mimics the first console’s disc tray and open button.
The photobook, published by Read-Only Memory, is art directed by Michael C Place, who worked on the design of WipEout, one of the first PlayStation games. The book is designed by Nicole Motby. Place and Motby also worked with Studio.Build.
The original Sony PlayStation launched in Japan in 1994, coming to the US and Europe the following year. The original console alone went on to sell more than 102 million copies.
The 30th anniversary PlayStation: The First 30 Years photography book will begin shipping in the second quarter next year, with pre-orders for the book open on the publisher’s website. The standard edition retails for $125 / £95 and the Deluxe edition for $325 / £245.
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