Sometimes the obvious needs an explanation, because sadly, there are a lot of people who lack common sense. Lately, there’s been some confusion about Sony’s goal of giving the PS3 a “10 year life cycle”. This is for everyone saying the PS4 won’t come out until 2015-16. Here’s what would happen if the PS3 was Sony’s “only” console for a decade.
The Cell is powerful—but Sony couldn’t stay competitive with it for 10 years. In a couple of years, we’ll have smartphones that are stronger than it. Everything in this world has limits (except numbers), and the Cell will hit one in the near future. Look at the gameplay demos for Uncharted 3; it’s not a major graphical leap like it was from the first to the second game. Sure developers could squeeze more juice out of it, but they won’t because the law of diminishing returns would be in place, it wouldn’t be worth it. They’d just pour money into other more powerful consoles.
For some reason, core gamers love to bash the Wii—it’s like a sport. They call it a “last gen” console, and a waste of space, etc. I bring this up because if the PS3 lasted 10 years this is the place it would be in. It would be weak in comparison to the other consoles on the market. Sure it would still sell, but it wouldn’t get a lot respect, à la the Wii.
If the PS3 was still Sony’s “only” console for a few years after the Next Xbox is in stores, even hardcore Sony fans would break down and “switch teams” once they see all the amazing next-gen games the competition is getting. I’m sure we all know someone who hated the original Xbox, but picked up the Xbox 360 because it was first to market, and the hype got to them. Loyalty when it comes to consoles is a joke, gamers want to experience the best, and when they can’t, they’ll seek other alternatives.
Sony is a business, and they can’t survive without innovation, no company can. It’s absurd to believe that a tech giant would rely on one static product to carry a whole division for a decade. Doing that would be like playing Russian roulette with six bullets—that’s pure suicide.
Hopefully these misunderstandings come to an end, and honestly most of the people online arguing about consoles, and using the 10 year thing to get their point across won’t even benefit from it. If you’re that engrossed into gaming (yes, I’m talking to you), there’s a good chance you’re going to upgrade as soon as possible. The way I see it, the 10 year support is more for people that’s going to pick the PS3 up on a budget. Parents buying one for their kids at Christmas, or someone who can’t afford to dump tons of cash into gaming.
This has been an exercise in the obvious, I’m aware (first sentence). If you already knew all these things, this piece wasn’t for you, so please don’t waste your time complaining. Okay, let’s pretend that everyone misunderstanding is correct, could the PS3 compete for a decade if it was Sony’s one and only?
