Essentials is the Sony PlayStation budget range in the PAL region, which covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 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 design; instead, it is replaced with a simple silver design – which, along with the copyright notices around the edges, features the game's name in the centre 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 reported initially that a game required over 400,000 or 500,000 sales in its first six months of release.[3] [4] By 2006, the requirements had been revised to over 400,000 sales after six months on the market[5] (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[6] 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.[7]
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 / £15.99 each.[8] [9]