Game news Before the success of the PS5, this console could have cost PlayStation very expensively…
This year, PlayStation is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Thirty years where the Sony console has had a series of notable successes, but has also, on rarer occasions, experienced significant setbacks. Let’s come back together to the most resounding of them, the failure of the PS3, to discover in our JV Legends!
Expensive and uncertain technology
Let’s go back to the early 2000s. The PS2 has just been released and Sony then saw its first golden age. Convinced of its strengths, the Japanese firm quickly thought of a new console: the PlayStation 3. Sony’s objective is then clear, they want to create a console capable of being a complete multimedia center, while offering a memorable gaming experience. A desire for versatility which, for several reasons that we clarify in our JV Legends associated, will carry damn performance impairment of the console. Proof of this is that when it was released in 2006, many cross-platform games ran less well on PS3 than its competitor. Funny, when we know that the Xbox 360 is older and less expensive. Many developers of the time then virulent remarks towards Sony. Like Gabe Newellboss of Valve, who declared: “The PlayStation 3 is a waste of time for everyone”.
Harsh wordsbut which translate well the difficulty PlayStation got itself into. Too high technological ambitions therefore, which also come at a great price. The manufacture of the CELL then leads to over $800 the ex-factory price of each console. Obviously, players are not ready to pay that much and Sony must therefore lose money on each console sold, and sells off its PS3 at €600. An amount that still remains extremely high for buyers, and which is especially opposed to the DNA that the Japanese company had developed by selling its first consoles at prices lower than the competitionas we explain to you in our JV Legends.
A tough time for Sony
A ridiculously high price and a technology far from being up to the mark, to which are added the catastrophic changes that occurred between the announcement of the console and its release. Like the controller for example, whose boomerang shape was depreciated by fans when it was presented in 2005. A miss which forced Sony to rework on its controller, before presenting a silhouette more in line with the habits of players. So this is one of the last minute changes that had to undergo PlayStation and which contribute to the poor start of the PS3. Errors which then lead to record losses for the brand: $4.7 billion in losses globally.
Faced with this situation, Sony has only one solution left., keep a low profile and work as much as possible. And Sony employees know how to do that! Proof of this is the complete overhaul of the machine which arrives after these 3 years of ordeal. A console that is thinner, less noisy and sold at half the price. Let us then add to this the output of notable games who will develop a new incredible catalog. God of War 3, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid 4, The Last of Us : so many titles that have made the prestige of the PS3 era and who helped erase the errors of Sony on this generation. Thanks to all this, and other decisions that we summarize for you in our JV Legends on the subject, the PS3 will ultimately surpass the sales of its rival, the Xbox 360. Quite a story! Just as incredible as all the other legends you can discover on our JV Legends channel!