Now that the PlayStation 4 is out in the US and Canada, the PlayStation 3’s sales are likely to slow down considerably from now on, but it did manage to sell-through 80 million units during its first 7 years.
Jack Tretton, President of SCEA, still believes there’s a “bright future”for the PS3, though he admitted to Forbes that the PS4 may hamper the PS3:
[…] There is less of a gap between this generation and the next generation, so it is gonna be easier for people to migrate up to the PlayStation 4 for an incremental investment. So I do think we’re gonna see a sharper ramp to the next generation, and it may come at the expense of the current generation. But you know… 80 million units in, if it ended tomorrow, I think would be a great success.
With 2014 “looking very strong,” Tretton added how he thinks “there’s a good long tail for the PlayStation 3.”
When Nintendo and their first party support was brought up, Tretton was asked if he feels Sony has enough first party franchises characters and sales:
I do think, in comparison to Nintendo and their business model, they’re more about their first party franchises, where we’re very proud of our offerings and our differentiation, but a good 70 to 80 percent of the key franchises are gonna come from the third party community.
Do you think the PS3 is a great success after selling 80 million units? Let us know in the comments below.