This week marks the 10th anniversary of PlayStation 3’s European launch. Also this week, it’s been announced that Sony are ceasing production of the PS3 – at least in Japan.
Ten years is a good, long run for a console – especially one that had such a rough start in life, like the PlayStation 3. Released over a year after its competitor, the Xbox 360, and with a massive difference in price, it’s a wonder that it somehow managed to thrive – eventually. Sure, it brought with it the advent of Blu-ray, but for $500? No thank you.
Eventually, the PS3 had a lot going for it. It took a while – even the trophy system wasn’t available at launch, and not to mention how big and ugly the original model was – but throughout its life it evolved into something rather great.
I didn’t join the PlayStation 3 club until much later in its life – 2012, actually, with a PS3 Super Slim. I may have missed out on some of the earlier classic titles, like Motorstorm, Resistance: Fall of Man and Demon’s Souls, but I couldn’t be happier that I got to play classics in the making like The Last of Us and Ni No Kuni.
The last time I turned on my PS3 was probably a good six months ago. Until recently it was used as a media player in the bedroom – but even this has since been upgraded to a PS4. Three years into the current generation, and it’s hard to go back to the PlayStation 3’s convoluted menu system and ridiculous response times. It had its heyday – eventually. Now it’s time to put it to rest in the annuls of gaming history.
With Japanese production grinding to a halt soon, it’s not going to be long until European and North American production stops, too. And it’s about time – the vast majority of developers have stopped releasing their games on the previous generations now, with only a very small trickle of indie and Japanese releases making it through. Persona 5 will come to PS3, but perhaps this will be its swansong.
If you’re still playing on a PS3 – now’s the time to upgrade and see what you’re missing out on. Happy birthday and thank you for the games, PlayStation the Third, but now it’s time to go have a nice long sleep in a box somewhere.
