Essentials (PlayStation)

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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 and Africa as well as Australia and South Asia. It was launched in January 1997 as the Platinum range^[1] but was later renamed for PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. 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, both the front and the spine. The PlayStation design used the same logo that was introduced in early 1997 for all PAL region game cases,^[2] the differences being the colouring and that it indicates itself as Platinum. The PlayStation 2 design of the platinum games had a 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 early platinum games that were released prior to 2003 had the PlayStation logo repeated twice on the front case, once on the platinum border, and once on the original game's case. (with the original game's case dropping the PlayStation logo after 2002.) In 2005, a new featured layout was introduced; these have a black border, and silver outlines around the shrunken original game cover. There is also a red orb located at the bottom of the original game cover with the words Platinum The Best of PlayStation 2 and Platinum The Best of PSP (PlayStation Portable) for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable games respectively. 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 grey border, and a yellow rectangle on top of it, with Platinum The Best of PlayStation 3 written on it.

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 UMD 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^[3] (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^[4] 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, however since 2010 they have been renamed Essentials for the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4. The first PS3 titles were released on August 1, 2008.^[5]

For PlayStation 4 games the name was changed to PlayStation Hits. The first games under the new label were released on 18 July 2018 in PS Store and in retail stores for €19.99 each.^[6]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (August 2008)

Platinum range[]

PlayStation titles[]

PlayStation 2 titles[]

PlayStation 3 titles[]

PlayStation Portable Titles[]

Essentials range[]

PlayStation 3 titles[]

PlayStation Portable titles[]

PlayStation Hits range[]

PlayStation 4[]

• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag
• Batman: Arkham Knight
• Bloodborne
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse
• Driveclub
• Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition
• Dynasty Warriors 9
• EA Sports UFC 2
• Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair
• Friday the 13th: The Game
• God of War III Remastered
• God of War (2018)
• Gran Turismo Sport
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• inFAMOUS: Second Son
• Killzone: Shadow Fall
• The Last of Us Remastered
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Mortal Kombat X
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
• Need For Speed
• Need For Speed Rivals
• Nioh
• One Piece Pirate Warriors 3
• Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2
• Project CARS
• Ratchet & Clank
• Rayman Legends
• Street Fighter V
• Tales of Berseria
• Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
• Until Dawn
• Watch Dogs
• Yakuza 0
• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

References[]