Sony Says PS3 Will Last Another Couple Years

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida hopes the PS3 will continue to thrive due to its low-cost and expanding geographical availability.

The PlayStation 4 and the next-gen revolution that comes with it may be the talk of the town, but what about the humble PlayStation 3, that is being pushed to the wayside in favor of its newer, shinier brother? Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida isn’t worried, and believes that the PS3 will continue to thrive for at least a couple more years. He states its low price, and expanding geographical availability as key reasons for its continued survival.

“There’s still a lot of price difference in terms of the hardware and the games, and PS3 has been doing great – but it’s not like everyone owns a PS3 already. There’s always a group of consumers who come late in the cycle, people who wait for the price to come down.”

Yoshida also talked about how the company is expanding geographically with the PS3 as well. He also reminds us that the PS2 was still supported by Sony long after the release of the PS3. He doesn’t quite think the PS3 will last another 5 years like the PS2 did, but is hopeful for at least “the next couple of years.”

“The demand from Latin America, for example, is really, really strong for PS3. So we’ll have a parallel strategy with PS3 and PS4, like we had between PS2 and PS3. PS3 was launched in 2006, in the sixth year of PS2, but PS2 lasted for another five years. I don’t know if PS3 will last another five years – but definitely for the next couple of years, because of the price difference, the great library of games and the publisher side being able to support both.”

He also mentioned a rather unique phenomenon occurring with this generational transition, that is, cross-generation games such as Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz via VG24/7