Shuhei Yoshida Says PS3 Will Last A Few More Years


Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida talked with GamesIndustry about the future of the PlayStation 3 with their next console on the horizon. He says that the current generation console will continue to thrive for the next couple of years due to its lower price and expansive library of games.

“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.

“We’re expanding geographically as well. 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.”

We would do well to note that Sony launched the PS3 saying they had a 10-year plan for the console. At minimum that would put its last planned hurrah in 2016. And while they did fall out of the public eye, both the PS1 and PS2 were sold and supported long after the focus has moved on to the next generation.