PlayStation's 30th Anniversary Edition: A Celebration or Just Another Cash Grab?

Sony is at it again.

Riding on the wave of the PlayStation 5 Pro announcement, they've decided to sprinkle some nostalgia with their 30th Anniversary PlayStation 5 collection.

It's a masterstroke in marketing, of course.

Wrap the newest, most powerful PlayStation hardware in a grey shell that harks back to 1994, slap on the words "limited edition," and voilà! You've got a collector’s dream, or at least a corporation's idea of one.

So, what’s in the box?

A PS5 Pro, but this one is sporting a retro grey.

The original PlayStation’s muted, industrial tones still hold some kind of mythical allure. Along with the console, you get a bunch of matching accessories—the controllers, the charging station, and even a Vertical Stand.

All tastefully grey. They’ve even thrown in a limited edition poster, some face-button cable ties, and the pièce de résistance: a controller cable connector housing designed like the original PlayStation controller.

This, they claim, is the “most exciting” part of the bundle. Sure, if what gets your heart racing is a cable accessory.

And then there's the exclusivity.

Sony’s only releasing 12,300 units of the Pro bundle, each with its own number etched onto the console.

Because nothing says “exclusive” like mass-produced scarcity. At least they’re giving non-Pro owners something to salivate over, with a similar anniversary edition for the regular PlayStation 5, but without the DualSense Edge controller.

Lucky them.

There's also the PlayStation Portal Remote Player in retro grey, which, to be fair, looks pretty good.

Whether it will actually be useful in the era of streaming sticks and ubiquitous smartphones is another question entirely, but hey—it looks nice on a shelf.

Of course, we can’t talk about any of this without acknowledging the fact that no prices have been announced yet.

Always a great sign when you're about to sell a "collector's item." Sony, as expected, is making fans jump through hoops.

Pre-orders are only available if you're in a region that supports direct.playstation.com, unless you go the retailer route.

So what do we make of all this?

It’s classic Sony. Take a momentous anniversary, and instead of focusing on meaningful fan celebration or innovation, they’re leaning into the "limited edition" hype machine.

You can almost hear the collective wallets opening already.

After all, nothing says "thank you" to three decades of loyal fans like a reskinned version of the thing you're already selling.