When an elderly loved one passes on to the next world, there’s often comfort to be taken from the Britishism “well, he had a good innings.”
That’s certainly true of the Sony PlayStation 3, which is finally meeting the end of its mortal coil. Sony will reportedly end production of the console in Japan, this month, following a glorious decade of gaming and Blu-ray playback.
It was first released in November 2006 in the US and Japan, although Europeans had to wait until the following March to grab the console.
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While Sony has dominated the current console cycle through the PS4, its predecessor lost handily to the Xbox 360 early on. Much of that was down to Sony’s outlandish starting price of £425, more than double the £209 RRP for the most basic Xbox 360 model.
The PlayStation 3 would gather steam, of course, and was instrumental in deciding the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray format war.
Sony had a vested in the success of Blu-ray and, although Microsoft favoured HD-DVD, only sold an optional optical drive.
Following a tough start the PS3 recovered to match the Xbox 360 with both thought to have sold around 84 million units globally. The Nintendo Wii, with over 100 million sales, beat them both.
Given Sony consoles have generally have a ten year life span, the decision isn’t surprising, but it’s always a little sad when a beloved machine makes the trip to Silicon Heaven.
What are some of your favorite PS3 games and memories? Share them below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
