PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan Just Got A PS1-Style PS5 At His Retirement Party, But You Can’t Have It

It’s the end of an era at Sony, as outgoing PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan prepares to leave the company. After spending three decades at Sony, Ryan has earned a farewell party, as well as a touching reminder of the part that he played in establishing the PlayStation brand with a one-of-a-kind tribute to his career. As spotted by a Sony Interactive Entertainment employee and attendee at the party, Ryan was presented with a PS5 console decked out in the colors of the first PlayStation console.

While it might not be to everyone’s tastes–that grey bar in the middle is going to be polarizing–there’s no denying that the DualSense controller accompanying this ultra-rare console looks fantastic. It has inherited the colors of the original DualShock controller, right down to the face buttons. As an added touch, it even has a wide connector inserted into the PS5. That’s right, for those of you born in this century, the controllers of the very late 1900s had to be tethered to their respective consoles.

Is Ryan’s farewell-party PS5 a once-off? Only Sony knows for certain, but it’s not the first time that the company has celebrated the history of PlayStation with a special edition console. Back in 2014, Sony released the 20th anniversary PS4, PlayStation camera, and DualShock 4 controller bundle. This model also had a grey color scheme that paid tribute to the first PlayStation and was a limited-edition release. In the years since then, it has become a sought-after console by collectors and it commands an eye-watering sum on the resale market.

2024 mark 30 years since the PlayStation first launched, and it’s a safe bet that Sony will have something lined up to celebrate that pearl anniversary. As for Ryan, he’ll officially retire in March 2024, paving the way for SIE chairman Hiroki Totoki to take over as the company’s interim CEO on April 1.