Exhibit: Sony PlayStation 3 (2006–2017)
Released: November 11, 2006 (Japan) · March 23, 2007 (UK)
Manufacturer: Sony Computer Entertainment
Units Sold: 87.4 million worldwide
Status: Gaming's greatest comeback story
The Difficult Birth
The PS3 launched in 2007 at £425 — an extraordinary price that immediately handed the advantage to Microsoft's Xbox 360. Its Cell processor, while powerful, was notoriously difficult to develop for. Early multiplatform games ran worse on PS3 than 360. The press declared Sony finished.
They were wrong. Sony's first-party studios — Naughty Dog, Guerrilla Games, Santa Monica Studio — learned to harness the Cell's power and produced some of the most technically and artistically accomplished games ever made.
Iconic Games
- The Last of Us — the game that proved interactive storytelling could rival cinema
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves — cinematic action-adventure perfected
- Metal Gear Solid 4 — Kojima's epic conclusion to the Snake saga
- Demon's Souls — the game that launched the Soulsborne genre
- LittleBigPlanet — creative platforming unlike anything before it
- God of War III — a technical showcase and a brutal masterpiece
Blu-ray and the Format War
The PS3's built-in Blu-ray player was a decisive weapon in the format war against HD DVD. As PS3 sales grew, Blu-ray adoption grew with them — and in 2008, HD DVD was discontinued. Sony won the format war on the back of their games console.
Explore More Gaming History
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